Freddie Roach Thinks Andrei Arlovski Can Beat Fedor, Then Be a Successful Boxer

The legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach is dabbling in mixed martial arts, and I asked him a few questions about working with Andrei Arlovski, who will fight Roy Nelson Saturday night:

"All I train Andrei for is boxing," Roach said. "That's all I really know. I'm not a wrestler or grappler or anything like that. I just teach him how to use his hands. He likes boxing quite a bit, and I do feel that Andrei will be the first MMA fighter to cross over into both sports. And I think he'll be successful in boxing also."

Roach said he thinks that if Arlovski beats Nelson on Saturday night, he will fight Fedor Emelianenko next. That meshes with what Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told me.

"I think Andrei's the only guy out there who can beat Fedor, because of his movement," Roach said. "Obviously, that's a real tough fight, but it's certainly a fight I'd like to see.

After the jump, see another video with both Roach and Arlovski.
Here are Arlovski and Roach talking to Sherdog.com:

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-02-2008 @ 10:14PM

peter p. said...

wow, andrei arlovski studying boxing, no way. where are all the do so called " die hard" mma fans? why aren't all the hard core mma fans up in arms about one of their own possibly going into boxing. is this the begining of a smooth relationship between mma fans and boxing fans? maybe...or will the typical adolecent mma fan fight tooth and nail about this relationship. i have said all along that mma fighters would be almost unstopable, if they would master to some extent the skills of boxing. now, not in the manner a typical adolecent mma fan might think, but in the way, that boxing increases ones hand speed, increases balance, feet movement, sets your range, it can do so much to increase your fight game. striking has now become to dominant force in mma. im not saying the ground game has vanished, but fighters now suffer losses due to strikes more than submissions. gsp boxes, anderson silva boxes ( wanted to fight roy jrs. jr. ) andrei a. boxes and these are a few of the top fighters in the world. having said that i'm sure more and more mma fighters will begin to devote more of their training time in the boxing ring and slowly moving away to some extent from the mat..........

10-03-2008 @ 11:09PM

ken e said...

no way would Andre beat Fedor. He has no guts to take punisment and mix it up with anyone. Fedor would walk right thru him. Andre has alot skills and abilities but no guts.

10-03-2008 @ 8:41AM

andrew said...

i agree with ken e, fedor will be altogether too much for andre. i see roach's point, arlovski has great movement and could be the most athletically gifted hw today. but fedor is mentally tougher, smarter, stronger, more explosive, has better submissions, and (despite all andre's boxing) will outsrike andre come fight time. there's my opinion for what it's worth (not much)

10-03-2008 @ 11:53AM

Eric said...

If you look at Arlovski's list of fights, you wonder why he is so highly regarded ... many believe he is #2 in the world at heavyweight. He has never beaten a great fighter (Werdum is a good fighter, not great in my opinion), and he lost 2 of 3 fights to Tim Sylvia so it's hard to count the 1 victory. He has been KOed 4 times in a 18 fight career that has been against somewhat limited opposition. Fedor has 30 fights against a much higher level of competition, and only has the one KO loss that we all know isn't a KO.

If that fight ever happens (not holding my breath) Fedor will do what Fedor does, win by whatever means necessary. We have seen him rocked by Fujita & suplexed on his head by Randleman only to see his arm raised in victory moments later.

If he retired right now and never fought Arlovski, Barnett, or Couture he would still go down as the best fighter in MMA history. But if I had to guess he'll bust up a couple of those guys before he does.

Oh yea, this was supposed to be about Arlovski boxing ... who cares ... boxing is BORRRRING!

10-03-2008 @ 1:23PM

Rockaday said...

Arlovski could not beat the premiere fighters in UFC. That is why he no longer fights in UFC. So all of a sudden he can beat the premiere heavyweight in the world, Fedor? Are you kidding?

10-03-2008 @ 5:37PM

hey smoke a " rockaday", what premiere fighters in the ufc are you talking about? can you name a few or do you just think the word "premiere" makes you sound like you know what you are talking about?..... you must be one of those mma fans who is only an mma fan if the fight is an ufc fight..... thats great, an mma fan with conditions. get off the ufc's sack and realize, the ufc does not have the capacity to host every mma fight in the world and just because a fighter does not fight for the ufc, does not make him or her less of a fighter. grow up. we are trying to build up something big here, so all fighters have a shot at making the money they are worth. ( you know like to support one self )

10-03-2008 @ 10:43PM

Peter, he gave Fedor his props ... we all know that he has never fought in the UFC. Since you are obviously an Arlovski fan, name one great victory he has had ... take your time, I know there aren't many - or any actually. Don't say the Werdum decision!

Arlovski is a classic example of wasted talent. He doesn't have the heart and guts of a true MMA fighter.

I'm tired of all the UFC hating. Personally Pride was my favorite organization (mostly because of the rules), but the best fighters are in the UFC and they do well at promoting fighters careers and putting money in their pockets.

10-03-2008 @ 11:22PM

peter p said...

hey eric, iam a fan of all mma fighters who possess tremendous skill. mma is a extremely hard sport to master and more so,look good doing it. please dont make this about weather or not i beleieve andrie could beat fedor, i believe they fought once before and fedor won via decision. this is about a good fighter who is seeking to improve his skills and implement them on his oppenents.if mr. freddie roach said he thinks arlovski would win against fedor, so what, its his opinion.freddie is not going to say the opposite, since he his training arlovski........you are realy going out on limb by saying arlovski has no heart or guts. do you have the heart to tell him that yourself? did not think so. and you are right, the ufc does put money in the pockets of its fighters. and they should be putting more money in those pockets. mma is still in its infancy, there will be so many other exciting fighters coming up and these fighters cant wait forthe ufc to notice them. these fighter need a home to make some money, even if that means fighting for a smaller venue.

10-04-2008 @ 5:09PM

"i believe they fought once before and Fedor won via decision" ... are you refering to a grappling or sambo match or something? They haven't fought in mma.