Roach: Cotto will break Sergio Martinez down and get him out of there late

By Boxing News - 06/02/2014 - Comments

roach6666By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach has changed his knockout prediction for his fighter Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) from scoring a quick knockout in the first 4 rounds to getting one late in the fight this Saturday night in Cotto’s title challenge against WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Roach believes that Cotto, with his left hook that he’s now using frequently, will wear the 39-year-old Martinez down until he’s too beaten up to take any further punishment late in the fight.

“I believe Cotto will knock Martinez out late in the rounds,” Roach said. “We’ll break him down and get him out of there.”

Roach wants Cotto to crowd Martinez and work his body on the inside. He thinks that Martinez will be susceptible to a consistent attack to the midsection.

For Cotto to have success in throwing his left hook, it’s going to depend on Martinez’s knees to be too weak for him to get around the ring because that’s the only way Cotto will be able to land enough left hooks to chop Martinez down in this fight.

Cotto can punch hard with his left hook, but he doesn’t have the kind of one-punch power needed for him to KO Martinez with a single shot. He literally will need Martinez to fight with his feet stuck in glue for the entire fight for him to be vulnerable to a knockout.

Cotto is slow on his feet and he’s short at only 5’7”. He’s not going to be able to cut off the ring on a consistent enough basis for him to score a knockout in this fight unless there’s something physically wrong with one or both of Martinez’s knees. He did have surgery recently so there’s a possibility that Martinez will have mobility problems, but he’s looking pretty good in the video of him on HBO’s recent 24/7 episode.

“June 7th it’s going to be the best night in Miguel Cotto’s career,” said Cotto. “I’m going to be in the best shape. I’m going to be ready for everything Sergio can bring to me in the fight. This is going to be an electric night for Miguel Cotto.”



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