Roach doesn’t want Cotto to face Pacquiao again

By Boxing News - 09/20/2013 - Comments

roach1By Dan Ambrose: If trainer Freddie Roach gets his way Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao will never face each other again. Roach doesn’t want the two to fight each other now that both of them are friends and both are being trained by Roach. There’s history between them, as Pacquiao stopped Cotto in the 12th round in catch-weight fight in November 2009.

That was when Pacquiao was still in his prime and capable of moving around the ring quickly, and fighting 3 minutes of every round and able to handle hard punches. Things have changed for Manny since then unfortunately with him losing his last two fights and looking like just a shell of the fighter that beat Cotto in 2009.

Roach told Fighthype “The only option you won’t see [for Cotto] is Pacquiao because him and Pacquiao are friends now. I won’t let them fight. They’re on the same team. So everyone else is open game.”

It’s nice that Roach is picking and choosing fights for Cotto, but I think Cotto might like to have his own say so about whether he would like to fight Pacquiao again or not. Having Roach say no to a fight between Cotto and Pacquiao that could potentially bring Cotto a $10 million payday might not sit too well with Cotto I imagine. Why should Cotto be stuck fighting other guys like Gennady Golovkin and Sergio Martinez, two of the names that Roach mentioned for him, when he can get a lot more money fighting Pacquiao again.

If a fight between Cotto and Pacquiao is going to be a problem for Roach, then Cotto needs to think about looking for a new trainer that will have more of an open mind about him fighting Pacquiao again because that’s easily the biggest fight for Cotto right now.

Cotto probably only has 4 or 5 fights left him in, so why shouldn’t be be able to get a big money fight against Pacquiao? I wouldn’t mind seeing those two mix it up again, and I don’t care that Cotto was beaten in his last two fights. It would still be a good fight between him and Pacquiao if they can make that fight sooner rather than later.



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