SUBSCRIBE

THERE’S A REASON why Freddie Roach has been baiting Miguel Cotto into a word war with taunting one-liners—and it has nothing to do with disrespect.

“Cotto is a tough guy, a very strong guy,” Roach said. “I respect him.”

Rather, the renowned trainer wants the Puerto Rican champion mentally roughed up on fight night when Manny Pacquiao guns for his WBO welterweight belt on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“We want him to go crazy,” Roach said. “I want him to hate my guts. I’ll get inside his head [whenever] I can.”

And that’s just phase one of Roach’s plan, which he got going by predicting Pacquiao would knock Cotto in one round. It isn’t plain needling, though. Told that Cotto is studying to become a counterpuncher for the fight dubbed “Firepower,” Roach actually hopes to rock the 29-year-old champion early to lure him into a brawl.

If he gets knocked down in the first round, he’s gonna go crazy,” Roach said. “We want to throw him off. He’s gonna try to be a counterpuncher but if Manny hits him, he’s gonna be back to his aggressive style and that’s where were gonna hit him.”

Roach has studied Cotto’s fights in the past and knows his penchant for slow starts and he expects Pacquiao to set the pace early.

“We will not give him any momentum,” Roach said. “I think we’re going to have a window of opportunity to catch him cold so we have to put some pressure on him right away but we are going to do it in a scientific way. Manny is not [the] reckless fighter that he once was. He’s a lot stronger now.

And part of that strength comes from the work the Filipino ring icon puts into training.

Talking to ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Top Rank chief Bob Arum, who is promoting the fight, praised the way Pacquiao works out in preparation for bouts.

“I know Cotto works hard, but in contrast to the other guy [Pacquiao], it looks like he’s taking a vacation,” Arum said. “Pacquiao goes for, like, four or five hours. It’s amazing. They train differently. Pacquiao is so work-intensive. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.

“When I was with Cotto, I saw him do 10 rounds one day and six rounds another day. He looked good. He’d do his two hours and be done. After two hours, Manny’s just getting started. I’m glad Manny pays Freddie a lot of money, because he earns it.”

Former lightweight champion and Pacquiao sparmate Jose Luis Castillo had the same thing to say in an interview with the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire.

“You have to have [guts] to get in the ring with [Pacquiao], he’s very dedicated and is all about constant preparation. It’s going to be a great fight. The more intelligent man will win, and Manny is very smart.” – Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines—Maybe this time, Puerto Rico will grind to a halt to watch Miguel Cotto fight.

With his belt on the line and trainer Freddie Roach’s words under his skin, the reigning WBO welterweight champion understands exactly how much bigger the stakes actually are when he climbs the MGM Grand ring to face Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.

“It’s huge,” trainer Joe Santiago told DailyBreeze.com’s Robert Morales of the fight’s implications. “Everybody knows what Pacquiao has done and we know what Miguel is capable of doing. It would not only be huge for me and Miguel, but for everybody in Puerto Rico.”

A popular athlete in the Caribbean nation, Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) could achieve the iconic status of Pacquiao—who compels an entire nation to sit still every time he fights—with a victory over the reigning pound-for-pound king.

The low-key Santiago also said he faces no added pressure going up against the tested tandem of Pacquiao and Freddie Roach, the renowned trainer whose prediction of a first-round knockout had Camp Cotto barking rebuttals all over the web.

“I have been around the camp for seven years, so I know how he prepares himself,” said Santiago. “The confidence the Cotto family had in me, made me feel good.”

Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) isn’t just fighting for a rich purse, either. Already with six weight crowns—including lineal ones—the hard-punching southpaw from Mindanao hopes to bag an unprecedented seventh when he hunts for Cotto’s WBO belt.

Top Rank chief Bob Arum, confident as he is in the abilities of his current top-grosser, cautioned that Cotto may catch a good enough break during fight night to pull off an upset, citing the Puerto Rican’s performance against Joshua Clottey, who he narrowly defeated despite a nasty cut above the eye.

“For Miguel to come back after suffering that cut and to come back and pull out a victory I think shows an absolutely brilliant performance,” Arum told DailyBreeze.com. – Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao is down to 149 lb and in his morning workout yesterday sported a body that should be good enough to withstand anything Miguel Cotto could offer on Nov. 14.

“I’ve never seen him in better shape,” said conditioning coach Alex Ariza as Pacquiao, shirt off, was sprinting across the Rizal Memorial Stadium grounds, racing with his pet Terrier.

Pacquiao woke up a little late than usual and tipped the scales inside his hotel suite at 149 lb, just four pounds over the catchweight limit of 145 for his WBO welterweight title fight with Cotto.

Mediamen, including an HBO crew that crossed the Pacific to get a 24/7 glimpse of the Pinoy icon, had gathered at the parking lot outside the stadium as early as 6 a.m.

Pacquiao spent 20 minutes around the rubber-surfaced track with his sparring partner Urbano Antillon, the upcoming Rodolfo Sumabong of Cebu and “Pacman,” the three-year-old Jack Russell Terrier.

Pacquiao had to be restrained by his assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez from running another lap because chief trainer Freddie Roach, who was not around, had wanted no more than 20 minutes.

“That’s the problem with Manny. Once he breaks that sweat, he just won’t stop. He’s like that little thing that you turn on and it gets going and going and going – very difficult to stop him,” said Ariza.

Pacquiao then did his abdominal exercises as he lay on a mat and was shielded from heat of the sun by a towel held across by seconds, ex-world champ Dodie Boy Peñalosa and Jojo Sta. Terera.

He declared himself fit and ready for battle.

“So far, so good. I’m happy with my training,” said Pacquiao, even if he had to leave Baguio City in a huff before midnight of Sunday for fear that a new super typhoon might catch up with them up there.

“I’m faster that Cotto so I will use that speed the proper way,” said the 30-year-old champ, who had a brief rest back in his hotel before proceeding to the Gerry Peñalosa Gym in Mandaluyong for sparring.

Pacquiao is in his final days of workout in the Philippines, and by Saturday he would have done five weeks, and in the evening will push for Los Angeles where he’ll train two more weeks at the Wild Card Gym.

Ariza said the change of training venue will not stop Pacquiao from working hard.

“It doesn’t make a lot of difference to him. No difference. We don’t skip a beat here. Training is training. A few more days here then we take off and pick up from where we left off in LA,” he said.

In Baguio, the rains kept Pacquiao out of the road for a couple of days, but Ariza said that in a way it worked to their favor.

“Personally it did us some good because he got to rest a little bit more. On the day he skipped the run he sparred much better. Yesterday he did 15 rounds (with the mitts) and he wasn’t even breathing.

“He’s down to 149 but I want him to load up (with protein shakes) because I want him at around 151 by the time we leave for LA. He’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen him,” Ariza said. – Philstar.com