Manny By KO

Freddie Roach is so confident Manny Pacquiao can knock out Miguel Cotto in their 12-round welterweight slugfest on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand that he’s putting a total bet of $3,000 on the table.  He’s actually spreading out the wager, staking $1,000 on a first round knockout and $1,000 each on a Cotto falling down on either the ninth or tenth round.
“I put a thousand ($1,000) on the first round. I put a thousand on nine and ten,” said Roach point blank after supervising Pacquiao’s sparring session Tuesday when he went eight rounds with Urbano Antillon and Rey Beltran at the Wild Card gym here.
Roach never doubted Pacquiao is also going to demolish Cotto the way he did previously against Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Eric Morakes, David Diaz, to name a few.

And while he initially sees it as a decision win for the Filipino boxing champion, Roach has since made up his stand and predicted it to be by knockout. He even boldly declared that Pacquiao, who later in the night appeared in the popular show Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, can take the reigning WBO welterweight title holder inside one round.“He (Cotto) gets hit early and if we hurt him early, we’re going to take him down,” said Roach of their fight plan.

Roach even mentioned Cotto’s penchant of getting peeved when hit early on, proof of how thoroughly he has studied the Puerto Rican ever since the fight was formally sealed in July. “If Cotto gets hit early, there will be fouls and there will be low blows. These will be premeditated, so I don’t think the referee have to wait a second time (before disqualifying),” said the three-time Trainer of the Year.

When showed of a semi-naked Cotto whose well-chiseled body bore a lot of tattoos, Roach vows to add more of them. “He likes tattoos, so we’re going to put more tattoos, this time on his face,” he said smiling. Further reinforcing Roach’s belief on a Pacquiao win is the way the 30-year- old pound-for-pound king is conducting himself in training camp, now on its final week.

The 49-year old Roach said training is back to normal for Pacquiao following the series of distractions that hounded the camp early on when it was held in Manila. “I’m happy with everything and he’s where I want him to be,” said Roach, who bared the Filipino will spar six more rounds on Thursday and finally four on Saturday before heading to Las Vegas two days later.

But Roach said Pacquiao should be wise enough to avoid engaging Cotto on the ropes, saying “our fight is in the middle of the ring.”“We have to do a good job of staying out of the ropes. Foot speed and hand speed, then pick him apart,” said Roach.

Unlike him who doesn’t want to engage Cotto should the champion goes beyond 145 pounds, Roach said Pacquiao is more than willing to fight him at any weight, at any time. “Manny doesn’t give a sh*t about the weight. Manny will fight (Cotto) at any weight. Manny will fight King Kong,” he said.  By Gerry N. Ramos, Journal Online