By Mark Vester
Former junior welterweight champion Paulie Mlaignaggi has lashed out at trainer Freddie Roach, trainer of WBA champion Amir Khan. Roach made a recent prediction that Khan will stop Malignaggi "in three rounds" on May 15 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Roach doesn't think Malignaggi will be able to deal with Khan's combination of speed, power and ring ability.
The former champ told BoxingScene.com he doesn't pay attention to anything Roach says. Malignaggi thinks Roach makes unrealistic comments to grab press clippings because the media goes wild over the quotes. He said Roach had a poor pro career as a fighter and is trying to grab the spotlight through his career as a trainer.
"Wow, I'm worried man [being sarcastic]. Look at how scared I am. Amir is being a bit naive but Roach knows what he's getting himself into. He just likes to talk it up. He's a bit of an ego maniac. Maybe because he had a sh*tty career as a fighter. So as a trainer, maybe now he's trying to get it back. He knows that everything he says, the media says 'oh my God, Freddie Roach said something' and they want to write it," Malignaggi told BoxingScene.com.
"So it's getting to that point now where once a week, every two weeks you get a nice quote from Freddie.....'Amir Khan is faster than Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan is going to stop Paulie Malignaggi in three, four rounds.' He knows what he's doing, he wants his name in the press. The guy is an ego maniac. That's not what he believes. He know what he's getting himself into. He knows it's a tough fight and if he doesn't, when they're peeling his fighter off the canvas next week, he'll know then. Either way he's going to find out."
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