“Felix Sturm and I just struck a deal. Felix is a 160-pounder who’s going to come in. He’s not that Clottey type of fighter so much, but he’s a very clever boxer and I think when you’re sharp with guys like that, you’re sharp with anybody,” commented Freddie Roach, world-class trainer of pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao.

With the Filipino icon set to begin training for his March 13th bout with Joshua Clottey, Roach has already begun lining up sparring partners for his star pupil and it apears the WBA middleweight champion may be one of them.

Sturm is the latest addition to Roach’s stable of world class fighters. The two hooked up last month when Sturm met Roach on in England, where the 2009 Trainer of the Year was working with jr. welterweight champion Amir Khan. Sturm had just parted ways with former coach Michael Timm after his split with Universum Box-Promotion. “It is a dream come true for me to work with Freddie,” commented Sturm when the two quickly came to terms.

Speaking to the OnTheGrind Boxing Team, Roach emphasized the need for big and strong sparring partners to prepare Pacquiao for the Clottey bout. Prior to his fight with Cotto, up-and-coming jr. middleweight Shawn Porter was brought in for size. This time around, however, it’s obvious that Roach is thinking the bigger the better as he hinted at getting some work in with the middleweight champion. It should be noted that Sturm was recently rumored to be weighing around 190 pounds after a long layoff following the birth of his son. Whether or not he’s in any kind of condition to provide good sparring for the pound-for-pound dynamo, Roach does plan on using a number of other sparring partners, including WBA jr. welterweight champion Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KOs) as well as an unnamed Ukrainian middleweight champion, Avtandil Khurtsidze (20-1-2, 12 KOs) perhaps.

Roach also revealed that training will begin this week, prior to the upcoming press conferences to officially announce the event.