Freddie Roach thinks Miguel Cotto has a good chance of beating Floyd Mayweather

Freddie Roach thinks Miguel Cotto has a good chance of beating Floyd Mayweather

Freddie Roach, who is the trainer of eight-division world champion and the current WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, believes Miguel Cotto has a good chance of becoming the first man to beat Floyd Mayweather Jnr in the ring.

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican pugilist, Cotto, will take on the undefeated American legend, Mayweather Jnr, in their scheduled middleweight fight on May 5, 2012 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the same arena where Pacquiao beat Cotto in their WBO welterweight championship match back in November 2009.

Though Roach, who is one of the most-well known boxing trainers in the world, admitted Mayweather Jnr is one of the hardest boxers to hit in the ring, he said Mayweather doesn’t throw too many punches and this thing can make a huge difference against someone like Cotto.

Roach further insisted Mayweather likes to lean against the ropes in order to counterpunch and this game plan will not work against Cotto, who is the reigning WBA (Super) light middleweight champion.

“Manny had one of his greatest victories against Cotto. But their styles [Pacquiao and Mayweather] are so different. Floyd sometimes averages 15 punches per round. How can you beat someone like Cotto, who is a strong puncher and throws so many punches [with only 15 punches per round]?” Roach told Jose Sanchez.

Roach added, “When Cotto catches you on the ropes, that’s where he does his best work. And Mayweather likes to lean against the ropes to counter. In that scenario, Cotto could succeed. As for styles, it is an interesting fight. It’s a good technical boxer fighting with a counter-puncher. Mayweather is strong physically, but I think Cotto is a bit stronger.”

The American superstar, Mayweather, who is a five-division world champion and the current WBC welterweight champion, has never tasted defeat in his professional career. He holds a perfect record of winning all of his 42 professional fights, including 26 of his wins coming by the way of a knockout.

Nevertheless, let’s see if Cotto can really shock the world by breaking Mayweather’s unbeaten record.

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Posted by Imran Shaukat Khan on Feb 6 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.