Cotto’s going to expose Sergio Martinez, says Roach

roach32432By Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach can’t see where WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) has any real advantage over his fighter Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) except in one area and that athleticism. Roach rates Cotto as being stronger, faster, better defensively, more skilled and smarter. Roach seems to have created a superman in the short amount of time that he’s been working on rebuilding the 33-year-old Cotto, but we still don’t know whether he’s any better than he ever was.

We’re going to find out on June 7th when he fights Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden. If Roach is correct about Cotto being a whole new fighter, then we could see him beat Sergio somehow. But if Roach has just been talking in order to pump Cotto up and make himself look better in the process, we’re about to find that out as well.

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Roach predicts Cotto win over Sergio Martinez by 4th round knockout

roach5637By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t see Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) having any problems with WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) in their fight on June 7th at Madison Square Garden, New York.

Roach feels that he’s rejuvenated the 33-year-old Cotto, and that he’ll blast Sergio out in just 4 rounds when the two fighters go at it in their HBO pay-per-view televised fight. So in other words, Sergio will last just one more round than Cotto’s last opponent Delvin Rodriguez did in his fight with Cotto last October.

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Roach wants Pacquiao-Canelo at 150 lb. catch-weight

canelo559By Chris Williams: It looks like Manny Pacquiao’s days of fighting at catch-weights aren’t quite through yet, as his trainer Freddie Roach is talking about wanting a catch-weight of 150 lbs. for a fight between Pacquiao and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2015. Roach wants Canelo to melt down from 154 to 150 in order to give Pacquiao a handicap for the fight even though Canelo isn’t making 154 anymore.

Canelo had the weight raised to 155 for his fight against Alfredo Angulo last March, and now Canelo is fighting WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara at 155 for their fight on July 12th. It’s pretty clear that the 23-year-old Canelo’s days of making 154 are probably behind him, and it’s unthinkable to imagine Canelo getting down to 150 in order to accommodate Pacquiao with a weight handicap so that he can be competitive.

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Roach: Cotto can KO Sergio Martinez by concentrating on his body

roach67By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach believes that his fighter Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) will be able to score a knockout next month by going to the body in his title shot against WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) Madison Square Garden in New York. Roach thinks that Cotto’s body punching will sap the strength out of the 39-year-old Sergio and ultimately lead to a stoppage victory for him.

Roach doesn’t say how Cotto will be able to get near enough to land his big shots with Martinez constantly moving in circles for 12 rounds, but Roach still sees Cotto getting to Sergio at some point to take him out with a big body shot.

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Roach badly wants Pacquiao-Marquez 5, thinks it’ll break 1 million PPV buys

roach212By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach badly wants to have his fighter WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) get a 5th fight against the soon to 41-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s), because Roach thinks Marquez has aged and deteriorated somewhat since knocking his fighter Pacquiao out cold two years ago in 2012. Roach believes that Pacquiao can beat Marquez now, and he thinks the fight will bring in over 1 million pay-per-view buys on HBO as well.

Pacquiao hasn’t brought in over 1 million PPV buys since 2011. Boxing fans don’t know what the PPV numbers were for Pacquiao’s April 12th rematch against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley, because for some reason they still haven’t been released despite the fact that it’s been almost a month since the Pacquiao-Bradley 2 fight took place.

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Roach sees Mayweather-Pacquiao fight as impossible

roach4334By Allan Fox: After comments made by Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer this week that he’ll not be working with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in the future in making fights between the two promotional companies, trainer Freddie Roach now seems to finally realize that a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. likely won’t be happening in the future.

Instead of that huge fight, Roach sees Pacquiao have to be satisfied with facing the winner of the May 17th fight between Mike Alvarado and Juan Manuel Marquez.

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Roach: I’m going to ask Pacquiao to move down to 140

pac9999By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach says he’s going to ask his fighter Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) to move down to 140 in order to see if he can get his missing knockout power back. Pacquiao hasn’t knocked out an opponent in the past five years in fighting in the 147lb division, and Roach believes the knockout drought is caused by a combination of Pacquiao fighting in the wrong division that his body wasn’t intended to be fighting in, and due to his advancing age.

Roach feels that the 35-year-old Pacquiao will do much better at light welterweight where he previously knocked out Ricky Hatton in 2009. The only fighters that Pacquiao has knocked out in the welterweight division were Miguel Cotto and a weight-drained Oscar De La Hoya, who was at the very end of his career when he took that fight.

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Mayweather doesn’t want to fight Pacquiao, says Roach

roach564By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach says he’s not angry that his fighter Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) has never been able to get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s), but Roach still seems to be less than happy about it. He mentions Mayweather continually, and it clearly bothers him that Pacquiao hasn’t faced him yet.

With Pacquiao now stuck in what looks to be a long cycle of rematches for remainder of his career, Roach would love for him to be able to get a fight against Mayweather.

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Roach: Tim Bradley and Brandon Rios are at the same level

roach67By Allan Fox: Trainer Freddie Roach isn’t impressed with the talent and the overall skills of WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s), and he sees Manny Pacquiao (55-5, 38 KO’s) being able to take him out on Saturday night by jumping on him early to demolish him in front of the large Las Vegas, Nevada crowd. Roach thinks that Bradley is no better than Pacquiao’s last opponent Brandon Rios, who Pacquiao turned into a human punching bag in beating last November in one of his easier wins of his career.

“I think Rios and Bradley are pretty much at the same level,” Roach told Max Kellerman of HBO. I don’t think he’s much better than him. I think Manny should devastate him in the same way [Ruslan Provodnikov did], yes.”

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Roach thinks Mayweather is avoiding risky fights

roach45By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach still seems bothered that Floyd Mayweather Jr. never bothered to face his fighter Manny Pacquiao, and he’s now lashing out at Mayweather by saying he’s just trying to avoid taking risky fights so that he can retire undefeated. Roach says that Pacquiao accepted a 64-40 split to face Mayweather, but then the fight still didn’t happen. He thinks that Mayweather doesn’t want to face the 35-year-old Pacquiao for fear of being beaten.

Roach doesn’t say anything about Mayweather having agreed to a 50-50 deal to fight Pacquiao in 2010, only to see the fight fail to happen after the fight fell apart over Mayweather wanting random blood testing.

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