Margarito apologizes for mocking Roach

Freddie Roach's first instinct when he heard about Antonio Margarito and his camp mocking his disease was to take things into his own hands, because that's what fighters do.

Then he remembered that he's not a fighter anymore, and his hands don't always work the way they used to.

''It's not easy to live with this every day,'' said Roach, who suffers from Parkinson's. ''We have to deal with it. They don't.''

Roach, who trains Manny Pacquiao, said Thursday he was ready to move on after getting apologies from Margarito's camp for a training camp video that appeared to be mocking the trembling of his hands. Margarito himself came into the fight press room to offer his apology, just two days before he and Pacquiao get in the ring at Cowboys Stadium.

''I would never make fun of Freddie Roach or anyone with that disease,'' Margarito insisted.

A day after the video surfaced, Roach tried to turn his attention back toward the fight, where Pacquiao will move up in weight to challenge Margarito at 150 pounds for an unprecedented eighth title. But he was still clearly upset both for himself and others who have the disease.

''It affects a lot more people than me,'' Roach said. ''A lot of people have Parkinson's.''

Roach said he has both Parkinson's and Parkinson's Syndrome, which can be caused by repeated blows to the head. He was a journeyman lightweight in the 1980s, running up a record of 40-13 while fighting 406 often brutal rounds.

Roach has since gained fame by training fighters, especially Pacquaio, who is now the biggest draw in the sport. He's in demand for interviews, stars on HBO's ''24/7'' show, and is filming a pilot for a reality show that will be based out of his Wild Card gym in Hollywood.

But the effects of the Parkinson's are apparent in his trembling hands and sometimes slurred speech. He's one of an estimated 1 million people in the United States with the neurological disease, and his seems to have gotten worse lately.

''I can't control my tremors as much as I used to,'' the 50-year-old said. ''Before I could by using my brain to stop them. I can't do that anymore.''

Roach will be in the corner Saturday night as Pacquiao attempts to make history again in a fight that could draw more than 50,000 fans. The trainer has been widely credited with molding Pacquiao from a raw fighter into a punching machine who destroyed Oscar De La Hoya and other big names in the sport.

Two days after the fight, though, Roach will be at the UCLA medical center in Los Angeles, where he is scheduled for an MRI to check the advance of the disease. He believes his doctor will have to increase his medication to help stave off the symptoms that are increasingly apparent.

''I'm going to have to go to a little stronger medication,'' Roach said. ''It creeps up on you.''