Roach: Cotto's power is major concern

CEBU, Philippines - Highly-esteemed American trainer Freddie Roach said that Miguel Cotto’s power is a major concern but he will make it sure that his prized ward Manny Pacquiao is well-equipped to counter whatever the Puerto Rican hotshot brings in their highly-anticipated showdown.

Pacquiao and Cotto will clash for the IBO welterweight title at a catchweight limit of 145 pounds on November 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada/.

“Manny is not going to back out for anybody. Manny has a really good chin because he has a big heart. Of course Cotto’s power is a major concern for me but I really think that we will have no problems. I’m training Manny not to get hit,” Roach said in a wide-ranging interview with David Tyler of doghouseboxing.com.

In the same internet report, Roach candidly admitted that money is the main reason why they opted Pacquiao to face Cotto instead of Shane Mosley, who had been very vocal on his desire to slug it out with the pound-for-pound king.

“It wasn’t Manny’s decision. It was my decision and the group’s decision. The main reason? We will make more than twice as much money fighting Cotto than Mosley,” said Roach.

Pacquiao is guranteed US$12 million purse for the Cotto fight aside from a lion’s share in the gate and pay-per-view revenues.

As far as their training camp is concerned, Roach said that Pacquiao is allowed to train in the US for only three weeks because of the US immigrations laws.

That means the Pacman has to spend at least five weeks of training outside America and for him, the perfect place would be in the cold mountains of Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines.

“Because of immigration laws he must spend five weeks training outside America. The laws say we can spend 183 days (yearly) in America and that means the last three weeks of training will be here at the WildCard. Right now the plans are to train in Baguio City in the Philippines at the Olympic Training Center,” said Roach.

The 30-year-old Pacquiao, whose rags to riches story inspired millions of people across the globe, is hailed as the world’s pound-for-pound king - a status he further cemented with his brutal destruction of boxing greats Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton.

If victorious against Cotto, Pacquaio will equal De la Hoya’s record being a six-division world champion. So far, the Filipino sports hero has collected five world titles in different weight categories - WBC flyweight, IBF super bantamweight, IBF super featherweight, WBC lightweight, and IBO light welterweight.