The Score

While Freddie Roach was in New York to promote the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey last Wednesday, I caught up with him to talk about the two Irish fighters he handles, light welterweight Dean Byrne (11-0, 4 KOs) and newly signed pro 19-year-old Jamie Kavanagh.

Both fighters, who hail from Dublin and learned their trade at Crumlin boxing club, are co-managed by Roach and Steve Feder.

Irish manager Giovanni In an interview on Italian Channel "The bitterness has passed and what remains is the taste of the good performance and the regret that we didn't end up in South Africa,” he said.

"With the qualifying round we fought we deserved it. But I forgive Henry."

If the world "Control is very, very important because if I lost control of all these multi-millionaires in my dressing room -- I'm dead . . . So if anyone steps out of my control -- they're dead," said one of the most successful managers in the history of football.

They don't call his legendary tongue lashings the hairdryer treatment for nothing!

Finally, now that FIFA have not punished Thierry Henry over the handball incident during the playoff with the Republic of Ireland on November 18, the issue can be put to bed and we can all move on.

"There is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions for any incidents missed by match officials," said football world's governing body in a statement on the issue on Monday.

Irish midfielder Will Flood is poised to reunite with former Celtic manager Gordon