Brothers Joey and Pepper won their undercard bouts but in the main event, Freddie lost a unanimous decision to Rafael Lopez.

In 1991, actor Mickey Rourke returned to boxing midway through his acting career, and hired Roach to train him in Hollywood, California.

Roach owns the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles and works alongside his brother Pepper.

Roach also once trained Oscar De La Hoya for his May 5, 2007 superfight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. His first world champion was Virgil Hill, whom he took over from his own former trainer, Eddie Futch.

[15] Roach has also trained many other prominent mixed martial artists, such as: pro-boxer and kickboxer, and former EliteXC lightweight champion, K. J. Noons,[16] Roger Huerta,[17] and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

[18] In March 2010, Roach expressed interest in wanting to train former Pride FC and WAMMA heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko.

[20][21] As chronicled in the HBO series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, he is able to actively control the disease through medication, injections, and his training of boxers.

Roach's doctors feel that his active in-ring training routines with his fighters and tremendous eye-hand coordination that he has to exhibit have made it possible to slow the progress of the disease.