By Gareth A Davies

Roach on Cotto:

Cotto is a dirty fighter when he does not get his own way.

Cotto uses his head, his elbows when he gets frustrated, and he gets dirty.

We know the danger of Cotto’s left hook. That’s his best weapon, left hook to the body, and we’ll be staying away

Freddie Roach told The Telegraph that if the fight plan for Manny Pacquiao against Miguel Cotto works, it is likely that the Puerto Rican will become frustrated during the contest.

Roach explained: “Cotto is a dirty fighter when he does not get his own way. When he gets frustrated in a fight, he then reverts to different tactics. He uses his head, his elbows when he gets frustrated, and he gets dirty. We saw that against Zab Judah because he had trouble with Judah’s speed.”

“I really meant it when I said I want the first low blow warning to come from the referee in the dressing room. We know the danger of Cotto’s left hook. That’s his best weapon, left hook to the body, and we’ll be staying away, staying in a style similar to the fight with Oscar De La Hoya, who also had a big left hook.  But it is also so easy to take that away from him by moving in the right direction.”

Roach’s comments were put to Cotto by journalists at the Puerto Ricans training camp.

Cotto was quick to riposte: “Freddie Roach has to understand that he is only Manny Pacquiao’s trainer, that he can train him the best that he can, but nothing that he might do is going to change the result in the fight.”

“On Nov 14, Miguel Cotto is going to do his usual job,” said the fighter, using that peculiar method of referring to himself in the third person singular. “Let’s hope Manny Pacquiao comes prepared, and Freddie Roach that he might learn the role he really has, which is a trainer. It doesnlt make any difference what pressure he applies, or what he might intend to do, we are going to carry on working and making our plan as we always do.”

Roach is renowned as inseparable from his Hollywood Wild Card Gym, Los Angeles, and has departed from the norm for this contest, working over half of the camp with Pacquiao in The Philippines. Has the training camp in the Philippines been refreshing for him ?

“Yes, in a way. We had the typhoon, a lot of people died…the thing was that Manny wanted to train for the first part of his camp over here. It’s a nice place to be, we are 5000 feet above sea level, it’s a quaint town, but I can’t wait to get back to the gym in LA and the last three weeks before the fight. I’ll be back there with Manny from October the 24th.”

Roach also talked of Amir Khan, and his impending contest with Dmitry Salita, against whom he will defend the WBA light-welterweight title in Newcastle on Dec 5. “Amir is at the Wild Card Gym right now, his sparring is all set up for him.”

And Salita ? “Salita is a good boxer, not a big puncher. But Amir is a better boxer, and getting better all the time. We will work on the gameplan, stick to the game plan, I won’t let him off the leash, he’s not going to make early mistakes again, and I’m expecting him to be better than ever when he defends his title.”

Source: blogs.telegraph.com Read more...