Roach predicts KO victory by Pacquiao

BAGUIO CITY — Three-time Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach here Friday predicted Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao will win his seventh title when he collides with World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Miguel Cotto next month.

Pacquiao and Cotto will be testing each other’s mettle in a blockbuster title bout on November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“Manny has been doing excellent work in his training here. We are confident we could finish the fight early to prevent Cotto from getting his second wind.” Roach stressed.

In his latest sparring session late Thursday afternoon, the 30-year-old world champion floored undefeated superwelterweight contender Shawn Porter in the second round of their four-round blistering encounter with a solid left straight to the latter’s jaw.

After knocking down Porter, Pacquiao also virtually mauled two-time world lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo of Mexico as he displayed awesome speed and power.

Pacquiao is on his fourth week of rigid training in this mountain resort city in preparation for the Cotto fight. Team Pacquiao will be breaking camp here on October 23 in order to catch the late evening flight for Los Angeles the following day where he will be entering the Wild Card gym on October 26 for the final stage of his training.

“Manny is nearing his peak form. We are now regulating his training regimen so that he could maintain his excellent performance in the ring until the fight. We already got our game going with the help of his supportive sparring partners,” Roach added.

While admitting that Typhoon Pepeng had a slight effect on the pound for pound king’s roadwork, Roach claimed they are now taking advantage of the good weather to get back lost time although the gym work is way ahead of schedule.

Earlier, Roach predicted Pacquiao will knock out Cotto in either the eighth or ninth round but said the champion’s performance in recent days shows that there will be an early knockout victory for his favorite ward.

Since Cotto is known to be able to get his second wind in the later part of his previous fights, the American trainer claimed Pacquiao will be working aggressively in the early rounds in order to catch the champion off balanced to be assured of a victory.

Source: mb.com.ph