By Dan Ambrose: Freddie Roach, the trainer for Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s), is having him bulk up for his June 7th title challenge against WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) at Madison Square Garden in New York. Cotto is already a big fighter who weighs in for his junior middleweight fights in the 160s, but Roach wants Cotto, 5’7”, to add more muscle so that he can compete better against the 5’10” Martinez for the fight.
“Miguel began preparing on Sunday,” said Bryan Perez, the executive director of Miguel Cotto Promotions to ESPN Deportes. “Originally we were going to start on April 14. That was the date, but when we met Freddie, he decided that he wanted us to start on March 30th for the preparation to get a base, and that’s what we’re doing. Miguel obeyed the order. Freddie has a plan well designed to increase muscle mass, and Miguel is already working on it.”
Cotto, 33, can certainly put muscle on in two months, but not a whole lot. If Roach is looking for Cotto to bulk up 10 pounds or more in just 2 months, he’s kidding himself. You can’t put that kind of muscle weight on in just two months the natural way. It takes a long time to put muscle on, and it might not even help Cotto in this case. He’s already built like a little 5’7” tank, and the last thing Cotto needs is for him to add extra muscle that will ultimately make him slower, and easier for Sergio to hit. This is probably going to go really badly for Cotto. He should have told Roach that he doesn’t want to bulk up because it’ll make him slower.
Cotto is going to need to use his feet more in this fight than he has in other fights, because Martinez will be circling the ring at all times. If Cotto is carrying around more muscle than he’s ever carried before, then it can’t be good for him. Cotto should be working on his foot speed for this fight, because Martinez is going to be looking to beat him with speed more so than size.
It looks like Roach is leading Cotto down the path of destruction by having him bulk up. I guess if Cotto takes a beating and loses to Sergio, Roach might end up being dumped. Roach should know that Cotto is going to need more speed for this fight rather than power. We saw what happened to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. when he tried to overwhelm Martinez with size in their fight in 2012. Martinez ended up using movement and a hard jab to out-box Chavez Jr. for an easy win. Something tells me we’re going to be seeing a repeat of that fight on June 7th with Martinez pounding Cotto.
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