By Luis Sandoval

Earlier today BoxingScene ran an article with comments Freddie Roach made about the upcoming fight with his fighter Ruslan Provodnikov and WBO Welterweight champion Timothy Bradley. Roach said he didn’t believe Bradley would take the fight to Ruslan like he’s promised and that they’d make him look like Forrest Gump as he would be running all night long.

Roach and Team Bradley have traded verbal jabs before when Timothy Bradley took on Manny Pacquiao this past June. Things seem to be heating up again with Roach’s recent comments but both Bradley and trainer Joel Diaz are firing back.

During Bradley’s media workout, BoxingScene caught up with both Diaz and Bradley and asked about their reaction to Freddie’s comments.

“It don’t bother me at all. If you’re a winner, you got the right to say whatever you want. Floyd Mayweather, he’s a winner [so] he can talk all he wants and he has all the right to because he keeps winning. But when you lose every fight the previous year? hen you get [Jorge] Linares beat, when you get [Amir] Khan beat, when you get Pacquiao knocked out and every other one of your fighters and then you go help the Olympic team and nobody gets a gold medal? – all he wants is attention” fired Diaz.

“It doesn’t bother me. Hey, I’ll see Freddie Roach that night and he better bring his A game if he has a game. I got to feel a little sympathy for him as last year wasn’t a good year for him but if he wants attention we’ll give it to him. Maybe I’ll lend him a shoulder to cry on one of these days but for now, he has Provodnikov and I have Bradley”.

Bradley and his trainer were amused but not surprised the war of words is on again. Bradley has said he’s ready to go toe to toe, box, or do whatever it takes to beat Provodnikov and successfully defend his title. Bradley warns Roach that he won’t be running but he will be out boxing his pupil.

“I’ll just tell Freddie, this is boxing Freddie. Alright? This ain’t MMA. This is boxing. There’s a difference between being a runner, sprinters, they run – I don’t run. I box. That’s what I do. It’s called sweet science, it’s called boxing. That’s what people need to realize that this is boxing. Look at some boxers. Look at Muhammad Ali, look at Sweet Pea [Pernell] Whitaker. Look at Floyd Mayweather. They’re boxers. It’s a hit and don’t get hit sport. A lot of people can’t deal with that. Ruslan Provodnikov ain’t gonna be able to deal with that. So guess what we’re going to do? We’re going to outbox him” Bradley would tell BoxingScene.

While we may not see a rematch with Pacquiao and Bradley this year, Roach will have a second chance to get a victory over Team Bradley March 16th.

You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter @Truewest007. You can also tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene’s official audio show every Tuesday from 6-8PM PST with hosts Ernest Gabion, Luis Sandoval, and Ryan Burton.