It didn’t take Adrien Broner 33-3-1 (24) long to win the race to the bottom on the press tour to officially announce his fight against former eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao 60-7-2 (39) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 19.
At the Los Angeles media event the 29-year-old Broner, who goes by the nickname ‘The Problem’, delivered a distasteful response when asked by Showtime broadcaster Jim Gray what his thoughts were on Pacquiao’s decision to bring former trainer Freddie Roach back into camp.
“You bringing Freddie back? Nah, I don’t have nightmares. I’m happy he bringing Freddie back so we can get this thing shaking,” said Broner.
Roach has long suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, a condition that manifests itself in shakes and tremors.
Pacquiao and Roach split in acrimonious circumstances after the Filipino superstar lost a unanimous decision to Jeff Horn in Brisbane, Australia in July last year.
It is believed the pair have not spoken since with Pacquiao appointing his best friend and former assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez as his head coach.
Earlier Pacquiao announced his intention to appoint Roach into a “supervisory” role in his team. According to Pacquiao this would see Roach provide strategic support for Fernandez, who would handle the day-to-day aspects of training such as pad work.
Broner went on to tout his successful record against left-handed fighters.
“I ain’t hoping. Hope ain’t no strategy. This ain’t going to be no luck. I just feel like he can’t beat me,” continued Broner.
“Look at my resume. What do I do to southpaws? I stop them. So going into this fight I’m very confident, he’s a southpaw and I’m going to do what I always do — dismantle him.”
Broner is coming off a majority draw to Jessie Vargas in April. Prior to that he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to pound-for-pound level fighter Mikey Garcia in July last year.
Pacquiao bounced back from his loss to Horn with a seventh round TKO of Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last July with Fernandez taking on the role of head coach for the first time.
