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UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre of Quebec, Canada has credited famous boxing trainer Freddie Roach with making him a better all-round fighter. The UFC star spent time with Roach this summer to work on his boxing skills before Roach opened training camp with WBO Welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao to prepare him for his WBC Jr. Middleweight clash with Antonio Margarito in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 13.

St-Pierre incorporates several different fighting techniques in his sport of mixed martial arts, but felt he needed to upgrade his boxing skills to improve. He said Roach taught him a lot about the sport after spending a couple of months training with him. He added that Roach taught him a lot of tricks when it comes to boxing and feels he’s a much better stand-up fighter now.

St-Pierre has 20 wins and only two losses so far in his career and is considered by many fans to be the best pound-for-pound- fighter in the UFC and MMA, but he felt there was still room for him to improve.

He admitted that he didn’t really know as much about boxing as the thought he did after working out with Roach. He stated, ‘’before I met him, I thought I knew boxing. But he brought me back to school. He is so sound and technical in his approach to boxing. If I just follow what he instructs me to do in my boxing, I believe I can’t be beaten in that discipline in my future fights.”

The 29-year-old St-Pierre said he asked Roach last year if he could help train him. Roach, who has been named the Trainer of the Year four times in boxing, was glad to help him out. St-Pierre is thrilled to have spent the time with him as he says his punches are now a lot harder and more accurate.

He’s looking forward to trying out his new-found skills when he fights next, which is supposed to be on Dec. 11 when he defends his title for the fifth time against Josh Koscheck at UFC 124 in Montreal, Canada. St-Pierre beat him by unanimous decision at UFC 74. St-Pierre also visited the Philippines in September and dropped by Pacquiao’s camp to meet him and spend a couple of days training with him and Roach.

Sportsbook William Hill has St-Pierre favoured at 2/9 while the odds on Koscheck are 3/1.