If Freddie Roach’s strategy is to wage a psychological war against Miguel Cotto for the November 14th mega fight between the Puerto Rican and Filipino Manny Pacquiao, then he will fail, according to Cotto.
“I have never seen a fighter win based on what his trainer says so Team Cotto is not interested in what Freddie Roach has to say,” Cotto stated earlier this week from his training camp in Tampa, Florida.
The outburst came after Cotto was privies on Roach’s latest comment which revealed that Pacquiao’s trainer believed that his man might knock out Cotto in the first round of their bout.
“I don’t think Roach is trying to fight us with a psychological war. What is important is that I am not going to face Freddie Roach in the ring. Roach can talk, say whatever he wants to try to bring attention to himself but on November 14th, we are going to see what the final outcome of all this will be,” Cotto added.
Cotto also had some choice words for Fernando Vargas who stated that Cotto did not have enough to beat the current #1 pound for pound fighter in the word.
“Who is Fernando Vargas at point in boxing? Fernando Vargas’ time has passed and we don’t have time to react to those type of comments,” he stated.
Cotto continues sparring with southpaws Kenny Abril adn Frederick Tukes whose experience is limited. The fighter who was part of the camp with the most experience, Frankie “Gato” Figueroa (20-3-, 13KO) was asked to leave camp earlier this week.
“He was here for a while but he wasn’t working out. We are doing a serious camp here and the sparring partners are expected to be professional, not to clown around and lower their hands and try to showboat,” Cotto said.
Pacquaio, on the other hand, is sparring with former lightweight world champion Jose Luis Castillo. According to Roach, Castillo’s style is similar to Cotto’s and was the reason he was chosen for sparring.
“If they think that is true, well, great for them,” Cotto said about the comparison between him and Castillo (60-9-1, 52KO).