By Manuel Perez: It seems as if Manny Pacquiao is having some problems with his sparring in the early portion of his training camp in Baguio City, in the Philippines. According to an article in the sports.inquirer, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach had this to say about Pacquiao: “He’s [Pacquiao] getting hit too much.” Ah, that’s not good news for Pacquiao fans because he’s still only sparring and hasn’t even faced Miguel Cotto yet.

Roach didn’t say which sparring partner was putting hands on Pacquiao, but if I was to guess, I’d say it was Shawn Porter, the fast light middleweight that they’ve brought into camp to mimic Cotto’s fighting style. Apparently, Roach is going to be bringing in another sparring partner, unbeaten light middleweight Omar Henry (5-0, 5 KO’s), another powerful fighter with a style similar to Cotto’s.

I wonder why Roach is bringing in Henry? Could it be that the other sparring partners aren’t big enough to mimic Cotto’s size and power? Urabano Antillon, one of the sparring partners that Roach is using, is a lightweight and only 5’7″. I still can’t understand why Roach chose to bring Antillon to camp. If Pacquiao were to be fighting a lightweight or a super featherweight, I could understand it, but he’s going to be facing a much bigger welterweight in Cotto and Antillon seems like someone who is ill equipped to prepare Pacquiao for what he’ll be facing.

Aside from the sparring partner issue, I’m really worried now about how Roach is saying that Pacquiao is getting hit too much. That’s not a good sign. I don’t know what Pacquiao can do in this case. He may very well be in trouble.

Porter wouldn’t predict a winner between Cotto and Pacquiao. That’s also not a good sign. Usually, people, whether sparring partners or not, when asked about a certain fighter, they freely admit who they think will win the fight. Porter hasn’t done this for some reason. Could it be that he doesn’t want to hurt Pacquiao’s feelings by picking Cotto? By now, Porter must know how much Pacquiao has in him and whether or not he can beat a talented fighter like Cotto.

The fact that Porter isn’t picking anyone to win the fight, could be a sign that he sees Pacquiao losing the fight on November 14th? Pacquiao has had things easy in his last two bouts, beating Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya, two popular fighters but who appeared to be on the downside of their careers.

Cotto, however, is still fighting really well and although he got taken out last year by Mexican Antonio Margarito in an 11th round stoppage, Cotto has come back since then with two wins over Michael Jennings and Joshua Clottey. Cotto looked good in both fights and back to his pre-Margarito form.

It might have been a little bit better for Cotto to have another two fights under his belt before facing Pacquiao to ensure that there are no lingering effects from his knockout loss to Margarito that could be a problem. But Pacquiao picked him out of the pack, bypassing Shane Mosley and Paul Williams.