Manny Robles: I Seen It Coming From A Mile Away
For chief second Manny Robles, the past year has been something of a whirlwind affair. The up-and-down time period was almost exclusively due to his smooth, then rocky working relationship with his former fighter Andy “Destroyer” Ruiz Jr (33-2, 22 KO’s).
As a team, Robles watched the evolution of Ruiz Jr struggling with evictions due to economic hardships all the way to becoming a multimillionaire. Unfortunately for Manny Robles, once the Destroyer got to the pinnacle of his boxing career, he was quickly cut from the equation. Yet, even as Robles himself admits, these are simply the standard bumps and bruises that come with being a trainer in the professional ranks.
THE FORK IN THE ROAD
In the boxing world, it’s no secret that Robles was Junior’s long time coach well before the Destroyer landed his life changing fight with unified world heavyweight champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua (23-1, 21 KO’s). Once in the ring, Ruiz Jr upset the odds by stopping AJ in the seventh round.
This is where Robles felt the beginning of the end set in. With the premiere match-up, the Destroyer would earn a great deal of money. Then in the immediate rematch, he was supplied an even greater sum of money. The cash, coupled with the new fame and attention, was apparently too much for the Destroyer to take in stride. Rather than remained disciplined, Robles feels that Ruiz opted to give in to the very accessible temptations that were surrounding him at all times.
Having chosen luxury over the hardships of training, the Destroyer came to the ring for the rematch in deplorable shape. And as could only be expected, Junior was handily out-boxed. Unsurprisingly, Ruiz chose to drop Robles as a trainer shortly thereafter. Yet, as Manny Robles explained in an exclusive interview with Fight Hub TV, it was termination that he saw coming.
“Like I said, I seen it coming. I seen it coming from a mile away during camp and after the fight. His behavior and so forth and so on, I got the call and I knew what it was for! I mean, it wasn’t to hang out with me or have lunch with the dad or anything like that. It was just, ‘I got to see you, I got to talk to you.’
…he didn’t take the blame himself, he blamed it on Al Haymon and said, ‘Hey it was Al Haymon’s call,’ and okay, that’s what you said. People ask me, he said it was Al Haymon so I will leave it at that.”
PASSING THE BUCK
Despite his former charge claiming that the decision came from Haymon, Robles is far from convinced about the truthfulness of the statement.
“[on if he believes that Haymon made the call to fire him] No, no I don’t believe it! The dad came to me and said that it was Al Haymon…and I left it at that.
I spoke to someone, a higher source that assured me already that it wasn’t Al. I can’t say who but, you know somebody who has a relationship with Mr. Al Haymon and said “hey listen, Al would never say something like that,’ so. And I understand why, you know what I mean. Sometimes you look for the easy way out.”
WISHING THE BEST
While Robles doesn’t appear to harbor any hard feelings toward Ruiz, he does acknowledge that the Destroyer has a habit of dropping trainers. Although, rather than an issue of loyalty, Robles feels as if this trend is due to a lack of discipline. A trait that he hopes his former fighter can nip in the bud.
“He’s a special fighter. For those of us who know him well, he’s a great fighter. He’s got everything to become a world champion, but he’s got to want it. He’s been with Freddy [Roach]. It’s like a pattern, he’s been with Freddy, he was with Abel Sanchez, he was with me, now going to Teddy [Atlas]. I mean its Andy, it isn’t Freddy or Abel or myself or now Teddy. It’s about Andy, so what does he want?”
Hopefully for his sake, Ruiz Jr can rectify his coach and discipline issue quickly because the window of opportunity for success in this sport is just about as small as they come! Regardless of his next move, stay tuned to 3kingsboxing for all the latest and greatest news and updates.
By: Bakari Simpson
