By Eric Thomas: Famous trainer Freddie Roach will reportedly be replacing Lennox Lewis on the HBO broadcasting team for boxing action, according to Secondsout. The 44-year-old Lewis failed to have his contract renewed by HBO and has already taken part in his last fight, the HBO telecast of Chris Arreola vs. Tomasz Adamek that took place on April 24th. Lewis had been with HBO since 2006. Roach, 50, is famous for training fighters like Manny Pacquiao, James Toney and Amir Khan. The HBO executives have liked what they’ve seen of Roach in the HBO 24/7 series and decided to sign him up.

Roach is known for being very straight forward with his opinions of a fighter or fight. He doesn’t hide anything and is very open about his own life and issues. This is something would likely help the HBO broadcasts, as Roach would tell it like it is and balance out some of the other broadcasters on the team. Lewis was a good broadcaster but he often seemed reluctant to criticize fighters unlike the other HBO broadcasters Max Kellerman, Emanuel Steward and Larry Merchant.

The only real problem with Roach is being able to understand what he’s saying. He sometimes talks too fast and slurs his words due to Parkinson’s disease which he is suffering from. But when he speaks slowly, he’s easily understood. Roach could be working as part of the HBO team for the first time on June 5th for the Miguel Cotto vs. Yuri Foreman fight at Yankee Stadium. It should be interesting and I can see Roach being an instant improvement for the team. Hopefully, he and Kellerman get along with one another. The last thing they need is the two of them going at it and getting in the way of the action in the ring.