Working with Manny Pacquiao saves me from suicide thoughts, reveals Freddie Roach

Many boxing fans know that Freddie Roach is afflicted with Parkinson's disease.

 

But many followers of the sweet science don't know just how badly the condition is affecting Manny Pacquiao's Hall of Fame trainer.

 

"I have a new neurologist and I told him that sometimes I think about killing myself. He asked me why and I said: ‘It’s just f------ difficult sometimes dealing with this s---’. He said maybe I should see a psychologist. I said: ‘Doc, I’m just kidding. I might think about it but I would never hurt myself. I am not that brave,'"  Roach told Gareth Davies of The Telegraph.

 

Roach admits though that it's a prospect he has thought about.

 

"I had a lot of questions after Robin Williams, the actor who had Parkinsons and had a lot of other problems, killed himself," said Roach.

 

"I’m on the same medications that he was on. The medicine helps in a bad way. You go to training camp and you’re in this little hotel room for several weeks – you think about jumping out the window some days. But that would hurt too much if I got the landing wrong. I’m just killing time. I’m not going to hurt myself. I have to convince my neurologist that I’m not that sort of person."

 

Roach's cure? Working in the gym with Pacquiao, who will face Mayweather on May 2 (May 3 PHL time).

 

"I don’t get sick too often. When I’m sick, I just go to the gym and it goes away. With Parkinson’s, sometimes you wake up and think: ‘Why the f--- did they pick me?’ But, you know, that’s part of life. Some of the medications do cause depression and so forth and some mornings I’ll think about bad things. But then I’ll go to the gym and go to work and everything bad goes away," said Roach.

 

Meanwhile, Roach remains confident about Pacquiao finally putting a blemish on Mayweather's undefeated record.

 

"I believe that Manny being a southpaw will be a factor in this fight. Manny showed me tape of Floyd fighting a southpaw and told me that that is exactly what we are going to do in this fight. I can tell how much this fight means to Manny because he has watched tape on Floyd. Manny has never watched tape on any fighter before. This could be our greatest night," said Roach. -- JST, GMA News