Speaking in a new interview with Yahoo! Sports from Roach’s ‘Wild Card’ gym in Hollywood St.Pierre explains the reasons behind his decision to seek the help of the famed coach.

“It is time to focus on my boxing,” says GSP. “When I get to the other side of my career I don’t want to be one of those fighters who have been hit too many times, so they keep getting knocked out. If you have the opportunity to work with someone like Freddie, you take advantage.”

It’s all part of the fighter’s plans to continuously improve upon all aspects of his game despite already being considered one of the pound-for-pound greats in the sport.

“There are a lot of holes in my game.  The people who say I am the best or that I cannot be any better, they are comparing me to other fighters. I compare me to myself, and I see a lot of things that I know I can do better.”

Interestingly Yahoo’s Dave Doyle notes that Roach opened up his gym on a Sunday for only the second time ever in order to train with GSP, an indication of the former boxer’s curiosity and interest in both the fighter, and the sport in general.

He admits that he is still on a learning curve when it comes to mixed martial arts, and how his boxing knowledge can be applied to it.

“It’s a challenge for me as much as it is for him.  The footwork and the stances are different than what I’m used to working with. I’ve never looked at MMA the way some [in boxing] have. A fighter is a fighter and a good one is going to pick up knowledge from wherever they can and apply it as they can.”

Though it’s still early days it seems that the Canadian has already made a good impression on the trainer.

“Georges is such a tremendous athlete, and he’s such a fast learner,” Roach enthuses. “We were working at different distances and different angles than he’s used to fighting in MMA, but he picked it all up so fast.”

A final point of interest is that apparently Roach has requested video footage of GSP’s next opponent, Josh Koscheck – another indication that the relationship between the trainer and fighter could extend beyond just this initial week.

GSP, who currently holds a record of 20-2 and is currently seven fights undefeated in the octagon. He’s widely considered to be one of the most well-rounded fighters in the sport, but there has been some suggestion that his stand-up game is not quite at the level of his world-class wrestling.

The fact that he’s looking to hone his boxing skills with one of the foremost coaches in the sport suggests that he is now looking to further round out the holes in his game as he continues on his quest to build his legacy.

Back in March on an edition of Inside MMA, Roach discussed his previous involvement with MMA fighters such as Anderson Silva, BJ Penn and Andrei Arlovski, and noted that GSP was a fighter he was interested in working with.

“GSP I’ve never met, but I’d like to work with him though, because he’s a talented guy and he’s a very intelligent fighter.”

It’s possible that those comments paved the way for the meeting between the two.

It’s an interesting development, and after focusing much of his attention on his wrestling in recent fights I’m glad to see that he’s also looking at other aspects of his game as well.

There’s a lot that Roach can teach the Canadian, but at the same time it has to be remembered that he is a boxing coach and has a limited knowledge of mixed martial arts. Therefore it will be up to St.Pierre to use his own judgement to establish what will and won’t work from Roach’s teachings in the octagon.

It’s rare to get him to talk about the sport for the whole interview however, but that’s just what Ron Kruk of HDNet has managed to do, and as always with Roach it’s enjoyable to hear his thoughts.

First off Roach gave his impressions on some of the MMA fighters he has worked with.

BJ Penn:  “My first MMA fighter to train with was Penn.  Great guy, I think he’s one of the best strikers I’ve ever worked with…he can really punch.”

Anderson Silva: “I couldn’t figure him out completely at first.  He is one of those guys, in the gym he goes at 30 to 40 percent, you know?  He’s just getting his timing, getting his thing going.  I had him spar with a couple of my guys, young heavyweights, and it was about even.  I said, uh, maybe he not as good..maybe he shouldn’t fight Roy Jones,” says Roach.

“Then I watch him on TV and I said, you know what?  That’s a whole different guy.  Now’s he’s got his A-game, he’s giving it 100% on the TV fight.  I see him measure people, set things up.  He’s a very intelligent guy, he knows distance, he knows where his comfort zone is.”

Andrei Arlovski: “Andrei I liked a lot because he went from a ground guy to a stand up guy, he loves stand-up.  I thought he could do well as a heavyweight.”

Roach also mentioned several other fighters who he would like to work with one day.

GSP: “GSP I’ve never met, but I’d like to work with him though, because he’s a talented guy and he’s a very intelligent fighter.”

Fedor Emelianenko: “Fedor, I would like to work with him.  His balance is not good – he’s flat footed a lot and he’s  heavy – easy to box if you use in-and-out or side-to-side motion.  He can be outboxed but the thing is he’s such a good puncher, you’ve got to be careful of that. And of course he’s a Sambo guy as well so he does have a  good ground also.  He’s one of the most complete fighters out there.”

In the wide-ranging interview Roach also admitted there was no doubt that it was tougher to switch from boxing to MMA than the other way around since boxers had no previous experience of fighting on the ground, and mixed martial arts is a more complicated sport.

“Boxing is a fight, it’s a complicated sport on it’s own, but then you take the ground game into effect also, and you’ve got to learn like five different sports to be good a good MMA fighter,” he says.

When asked which boxer he believed would have the best chance in MMA he suggest a fighter he trains,Manny Pacquiao, since he believed he had the speed and movement to keep out of danger, and noted that the pound-for-pound great had some muay-thai experience.

As for who hit harder, a boxer or an MMA fighter, Roach was certain it is the boxer since they train exclusively with their hands.

Finally he was asked which sport had the brighter future.

“I think that in about 10 years – if everything keeps going the way it is – boxing’s going to decline a bit with the audience, and MMA’s going to have that young audience. I think the boxing promoters have really lost sight of entertaining the people.”

Be sure to watch the full interview below to hear more of Roach’s thoughts on the sport.

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“I think they’re using James as a way to say MMA fighters are better than boxers,” he said. “If he fights a quality ground guy, once he goes to the ground he’s gonna get killed. But if a guy chooses to stand up with James, James is gonna destroy him. That’s why they call him ‘Lights Out.’ I really don’t think there’s one fighter in MMA that could stand with James.”

I’ve got nothing but respect for Roach, but I don’t entirely agree with what he’s saying here.

For one thing it was Toney who pursued the UFC, and he has stated that he wants to fight the best the promotion has to offer. With that in mind it’s hard to portray him as a victim here, though it’s fair to say that Roach won’t be the only onlooker who thinks this way.

Also, while I believe it’s true that no fighter in the sport would be able to cope with Toney in a boxing bout, it’s a different matter when you suddenly bring in the other weapons available to a mixed martial artist such as leg kicks, knees and elbows.

I still think he could do some serious damage with his boxing credentials, but picture someone like up and coming star Jon Jones for instance with his reach advantage and unorthadox strikes coming from all angles and limbs that Toney will never have encountered in his storied career so far.

I think Jones could have him in trouble without even having to resort to his trademark Greco-Roman wrestling throws or vicious ground and pound.

As I’ve argued before on this site if the UFC put him in against another fighter who relies on their boxing - Kimbo Slice for instance – then this will have been a pointless exercise.

Toney says he wants to prove himself in MMA so it’s only fair to the sport if they put him up with someone who is a genuine mixed martial artist.

Based on a recent interview with legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach it would appear that he is one of them.

Roach is currently training Manny Pacquiao for his title fight with Miguel Cotto this weekend, but when asked whether he thinks a rumored fight between Silva and Jones will occur, he was happy to talk about it.

“I hope so.  Anderson Silva came to my gym and sparred with my guys a couple of times.  He’s one of those guys who’s not really a gym fighter, he only gives you about 40%, but when he wants to turn it on, he can fight.” Roach said, breaking into a smile as he discussed the current middleweight champion of the UFC.

“I think he has a shot.  Roy Jones might be, maybe a little bit too much for him, but i’d like to see it.”

Roach also admitted that he does enjoy mixed martial arts…or at least one part of it.

“The stand-up part of MMA I like a lot, I think it’s action packed.  When they get down to the ground, the wrestling…the wrestling i’m not such a big fan of.”

In recent times Roach has worked with a number of MMA fighters including the aforementioned Silva, BJ Penn, Tito Ortiz, Dan Hardy and Andrei Arlovski.  He says that he will continue to help more fighters from the sport in the future.

Watch the full interview, which includes his thoughts on the Pacquiao – Cotto fight (MMA comments start at 8.07mins into the video) below:

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