By Scoop Malinowski
Our very own ace columnist Philip H. Anselmo had the good fortune last week to make a totally unexpected connection with one of the leading figures in the sport today, top trainer and all around great guy Freddie Roach – with the assistance of one of his music fans. Here is the humorous tale of how Anselmo met Roach, as told by Philip H. Anselmo:
“…The guy, some area code kept popping up. And this guy is really loud, PHIL PHIL, MAN !! Never identifies himself. He blurts out these crazy sort of messages that contain familiar things and Yeah, this is so and so, tell Phil and Pepper and Jimmy and everybody in Down and Mike the singer from Eye Hate God and Arson Athem. (Mike) lives in my guesthouse since Katrina. Tell all those guys I got a ticket for Bernard Hopkins-Kelly Pavlik in there for him. And all this shit. And I’m sitting there going, This guy’s a nut.
“So the night before last night, the phone rang and I put on a fake voice – I didn’t recognize the number – (imitates a meek, soft voice), Ah, House Core (Philip’s record label). It’s this guy. And he’s like, Where’s Phil? Where’s Mike at? Tell Phil I’m sending him a package and should be there, it’s special and all that. So, anyway, today in the mail, I get this package. And it’s a recent copy of The Ring with numerous items stuffed all within the magazine. Tattoo artist cards, heavy metal stickers, Iron Maiden CD covers, boxing pages out of shitloads of stuff on Kelly Lavlik. He claims to be friends with Kelly Pavlik. And he played football at Hofstra with (New Orleans Saints star wide receiver) Marques Colston. He told me this.
“Anyway, I said, What do you want? Just tell Phil he’s got a package. I get this package, I find all this stuff. Among the things in this package is this battered and worn Wildcard Gym Boxing Club (business) card. I’m looking at it, I’m thinking to myself, No way. I mean, I believe it’s an authentic card but it came with this insane letter that he would write. They mean nothing, man. It’s almost like, I can’t even explain it, it’s like words that are key words that mean something to the band and me or one of us, mixed with the zodiac ciphers [laughter].
“So, this card falls out as well. And I take a chance and I call the top number. And this cat answers the phone, this cool cat, this old black cat. You could tell. And he says, (imitates his voice), Wild Card Boxing Gym. And I said, Yes, is Freddie Roach there? This is Philip H. Anselmo, I write for Boxing Digest and Boxinginsider. And he said, Philip H. Anselmo, Boxing Digest, Boxing Insider. I’m like, Yes sir. And he’s, Hold on.
“And Freddie Roach got on the phone. And we talked for like 15 minutes, man. He was super cool. I asked him about Manny. I asked him about the negotiations. Oscar wants 70-30, Manny’s like, No way. Manny wants 60-40. He’s willing to let Oscar have the 60. It’s a fight De La Hoya could easily win. I don’t know why he wouldn’t negotiate this fight. Unless he fears something. But he wants 70-30.”
