We're talking about Freddie Roach.
The interesting thing is that Arlovski was always a good boxer that just needed a little bit of smoothing out, according to Roach.
"He does have great boxing skills and he has good hand speed and he has great foot speed."
The tutelage that has gone on, in fact, has seemed to focus on improving a perceived strength of Arlovski's in preparation for taking on a fighter in Rothwell that stands 6-foot-5 and weighs in at 265 pounds.
"Rothwell is a big guy who's gonna be in front of us, and the thing is he has good power," said Roach. "So with our footwork and so forth, if we give this guy some movement, we're gonna give him a lot of trouble, I feel."
In fact, Roach, once a lightweight professional boxer himself, even let us in on a little bit of advice in relation to footwork and movement that he gave to his newest and first MMA fighter. "[Arlovski] asked me one time, should I fight like a heavyweight or should I fight like a little guy because I can move really well? I said fight like a little guy because the little guys are better than the big guys -- at least technique wise -- in my opinion."
Working with Roach, of course, will no doubt improve Arlovski's boxing skills. This would seem to serve two purposes. First, there is every indication that at some point the Pitbull will decide to step into a professional boxing ring. The second purpose would be to help him in his upcoming MMA fight(s). Some might believe that depending on the way boxing is taught -- many believe that things need to be tweaked in order to accommodate the unique challenges that an MMA fight, as opposed to a boxing match, might present -- which may determine how helpful such tutelage would be to an MMA fighter.
Roach doesn't seem to wholly agree with this premise. Along with this, when asked if Arlovski could be effective taking the same stance as a boxer in his MMA fights, Roach said, "without a doubt, I think he'll use it very effectively. Yes." This of course goes against some conventional MMA wisdom. On the other hand, Roach later noted that there were some subtle differences to what he was doing with Arlovski as opposed to the other fighters he works with. "It's a process, yes," he said. "The thing is I have to make adjustments a little bit sometimes because obviously the stance is different, the business is different. That's the most difficult thing because sometimes the boxer will get a little bit closer than an MMA fighter would because of the striking with the legs, of course. Small adjustments, and I'm learning how to make those adjustments. Sometimes me and Andrei -- we go to a situation and he's got to explain to me what the person might do..."
Regardless, Roach made it abundantly clear that his job was to work on the boxing game with his fighter and that there were other people capable of working on the ground game with him. He noted that when Arlovski did finally decide to jump into the boxing ring, conventional thoughts regarding a need to suppress his MMA instincts probably wouldn't apply.
"I think he separates the sports pretty well," said Roach. "When it comes time for him to box I don't think that it will be difficult for him to separate the two [sports]." Roach also reiterated just how talented a boxer Arlovski was, stating that, "he's boxing some world class boxers in my gym. One Carlos Gomez, and guys like that, and he's done very well."
Arlovski notes that one major thing that Roach has gotten him to do is, "work all the time, every single minute in the round."
So Andrei Arlovski is getting some rather traditional boxing training from one of the best in the business. It will be interesting to see how he incorporates this against the bigger Ben Rothwell on July 19th in an MMA style match. Watch for the footwork, people. And if the Pitbull looks better in this fight on his feet than he has in the past -- which, by the way, is no short order as Arlovski has always looked good on his feet -- expect to see more of this Andrei Arlovski-Freddie Roach combination in the future.
Possibly even in a boxing ring.
See Also: Ben Rothwell is ready for "The Pit Bull"
