With the Taglyan Cultural Center in Hollywood providing the backdrop, 8-time world champion and Hall-of-Fame inductee Tommy “Hitman” Hearns, 3-division world champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley, MMA fighter Dominick Cruz, actor Frank Grillo and a host of active fighters and special guests were on hand to honor Hall-of-Fame trainer Freddy Roach at Smash Global III Thursday in Los Angeles.
Bringing together the worlds of MMA and boxing to honor Roach and raise funds for the Michael J. Fox foundation for Parkinson Research, founder and former MMA fighter Steve Orosco of Smash Global says he’s looking to bring a touch of luxury to MMA. An element that’s been missing since the sports move to main street attention.
Chatting on the red carpet with Hearns, when asked about today’s boxing he says he doesn’t really watch it anymore since it’s changed so much but he does enjoy Omaha-raised WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford. With boxing off his main programming schedule he has plenty of time to support his beloved Detroit Pistons.
Sugar Shane, who recently announced that Roberto Duran will be training him for an upcoming title fight teased that his next challenge could come from a 147-pound title holder when asked if the rumors were true that he will face off against current 154 title holder Erislandy Lara.
For full event recap and interviews courtesy of BadCulture.net, CLICK HERE.