Roach said it could be a knockout as early as the first round or late in the ninth or 10th round.
“I put a thousand ($1,000) on the first round. I put a thousand on nine and 10," said Roach point blank after supervising Pacquiao’s sparring session Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) 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 Morales and 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 KO.
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) him," 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 had been 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 picked 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 will fight (Cotto) at any weight. Manny will fight King Kong." – GMANews.TV
This article is from www.gmanews.tv/
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