No, Freddie Roach and Buddy McGirt don't train every single world-class fighter between them. It only seems that way. But the services of Roach, who recently trained Mike Tyson, have been picked up by heavyweight contender Wladimir Klitschko, who makes his return to the ring against Fabio Moli on August 30th in Munich, Germany.

"I was training him when his brother was here getting ready for his last fight, so I was training him every morning at 7 a.m.," Roach told MaxBoxing.com from his Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, California. So we worked out a deal. We built a relationship when his brother was here for the Lewis fight. So he called me up and asked me if I'd come to Germany to train him for this fight."

Roach leaves for Germany on July 27th and will be back in the States by August 31st. Just in time to prepare Juan Lazcano for his September 13th date with Stevie Johnston and James Toney's October 4th fight with Evander Holyfield.

"(With) Lazcano, we made some adjustments," Roach said of his schedule with his lightweight contender. "I'm getting back two weeks before his fight. So Juan's just going to work like he normally does and get the right sparring and training. We'll fine-tune the last two weeks."

"And then with James it really doesn't effect him because I don't even want James boxing for this upcoming month anyway," Roach says. "I just want James working on conditioning right now because that's what he's gonna need in this fight. I mean (with) James, you're not going to teach him anything new right now. James is going be James. So the month of September were going to have a good month of boxing and be ready for October 4th."

So with Roach working with another heavyweight, what does that do for his status with Mike Tyson?

"I have no idea," he admits. "I haven't talked to Mike in a couple of months and he called me a couple of times. (He) told me he was ready to start training and so forth but he just never did. I just don't know where I stand with Mike right now."

It's quite a roster of fighters that Roach has under his watch -- a collection that includes Toney, Lazcano, Manny Pacquiao, Brian Viloria, Ernie Zavala, and Ben Dunne, among others. However, world-class fighters need individual time and nurturing. Is Roach running the risk of spreading himself too thin?

"Definitely," admitted Roach, "the thing is, luckily I get Brian fighting before I leave and Manny before I leave. It is difficult leaving but it's a good opportunity for me to make some money, to keep the gym open, pay the bills and I need to make a living also."

And now, Roach works with a heavyweight who was crashing to the canvas time and time again against Corrie Sanders the last time the world saw him in March.

"He's a talented fighter," says Roach of Wladimir, "but he just needs to fine-tune a little bit. His balance is a little bit off. He needs help with his footwork. He gets caught with shots because he doesn't have good balance and I think that's the main thing I need to work on."

BEYOND IRON MIKE

The 'Beyond the Glory' that featured Mike Tyson was as good as advertised. Even though he may be an overdone and tired subject, they did a good job of allowing Tyson to explain his thoughts (something he rarely does at length) and getting Robin Givens to speak out was a coup.

Givens, based on the shots she says she took from Tyson, has the biggest chin in Hollywood behind Jay Leno. She is one tough lady to take his hooks. Also getting Ice-T to narrate was a nice touch and the cinematography was top notch. But I do wonder where Kevin Rooney was in all of this? After all, he was one of the last links to Tyson's prime that was fired after the Michael Spinks fight. Plus, he always has a lot to say. And what Tyson documentary or piece would be complete without Teddy Atlas?

Listening to the tone and narration of the piece, and even the comments of the various talking heads and radio hosts talk about this feature, it's frustrating to hear how Don King is solely blamed for the downfall of Tyson by many. Yes, he may have ripped him off blind and been a terrible influence, but Tyson's declining behavior should not be placed just at the feet of King. This decline was inevitable, no matter who was at the controls in my opinion, whether it be Jim Jacobs, Bill Cayton, Ruth Roper, Givens or King.

This was not a good guy gone bad but a flawed individual gone worse. King's done plenty of questionable things but to blame King is simply too convenient. Did he exploit him? Absolutely. But did he create the demons inside him? I don't think so.

If anyone should be blamed it could be the same Catskill crew led by Cus D'Amato that so many people praise for creating and feeding into 'Iron Mike'. Hate to break it to you folks but they didn't open up their arms to him to make him into a better person, but rather a heavyweight fighting machine. Their intentions weren't any better in many respects than King. They both exploited him for what he could do inside the ring.

But D'Amato is given a free pass. Why? I think it has to do with the fact that the mostly white press built up this story of this gnome-like old man, who takes an incorrigible black ghetto kid under his wing and changes his life forever. Yeah, it was the stuff of an ABC 'Afternoon Schoolyard Special' or a Hallmark card. It was just so heartwarming and sweet and the press played it up to the hilt.

Meanwhile, they seem to forget that D'Amato never applied the same laws of life to Tyson that he did to everyone else. In many ways, he was worse than those who came along after him. He may have been well-intentioned, but it seems severely misguided. The one man that did try to instill some discipline was Teddy Atlas -- and he was summarily dismissed by D'Amato. Tyson was what he was by the time King came along. I guess after creating this fairy tale it wouldn't look good for these story tellers to go back and point out what may have been the real root of the problem. I guess King fits the right profile to be the villain here. He literally and figuratively wears the black hat in this case.