Roach: Cotto’s career might be over with another loss

10/05/201310/04/2013 Rob Smith

roach5 Trainer Freddie Roach believes that his fighter Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) could be finished if he loses to junior middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Amway Center, in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Roach realizes that Cotto is in a bad way given that he’s coming off of back to back losses, and that’s why he wants to see him go back to the fighter that he was in his prime when he was an aggressive guy that liked to destroy his opponents with his powerful body and head shots.

Roach said to HBO “Let’s face it; we’re coming off of a couple of losses. Another loss would be devastating for his career. Probably it might be over. I want the old Miguel Cotto. I want the guy that’s breaking them down and knocking them out. And he said ‘I will give you that.’”

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Roach sees body-punching as key for Cotto beating Delvin Rodriguez

09/22/2013 Rob Smith

cotto123 Miguel Cotto’s new trainer Freddie Roach is bringing the 32-year-old Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) back to the basics to beat #4 WBA, #9 WBO, #11 WBC, Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KO’s) on October 5th at the Amway Center, in Orlando, Florida, USA. Roach thinks that if only Cotto starts throwing more body shots, it’ll enable him to get past Rodriguez and start winning more of his fights.

The truth is Cotto can probably easily beat Rodriguez even if chooses not to throw one body shot the entire. Rodriguez is not on Cotto’s level, and he’s pretty much just the sacrificial lamb being brought in to end Cotto’s 2-fight losing streak. The worry here is that if Cotto can’t even beat Rodriguez or can’t beat him in a convincing manner, then Cotto and Roach are going to have to face some hard truths about where he can go from here.

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Miguel Cotto / Freddie Roach Interview Transcript

10/04/201309/22/2013 Top Rank

cotto34 cotto34 Former three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs), of Caguas, Puerto Rico, is in his final weeks of training with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach at Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. Cotto is preparing for his 12-round super welterweight battle with Top-10 contender and two-time world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs), of the Dominican Republic. Cotto vs. Rodriguez will take place Saturday, October 5, at the home of the Orlando Magic, Amway Center, in Orlando, Fla. Cotto’s Florida debut will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.

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Roach says he has a great plan for Pacquiao to beat Rios

07/25/2013 Rob Smith

roach1 roach1 Freddie Roach thinks he’s got the perfect airtight strategy for his fighter Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) to end his two-fight losing streak and beat former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) on November 23rd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

Roach isn’t saying what this so-called perfect strategy is, but you can imagine it’ll be something similar to what Mike Alvarado used to defeat Rios by a 12 round unanimous decision last March in their rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Roach: Mayweather beats Canelo by decision

07/17/201307/15/2013 Rob Smith

floyd1111 Freddie Roach doesn’t see the upcoming September 14th fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) as being an exciting fight that boxing fans that like action will be pleased with. Instead, Roach sees Mayweather beating Canelo by a decision that is more of a boxing match than a back and forth slugging affair that interests fans.

Roach said in an interview with esnewsreporting.com “I think it’s a very, very good boxing match. It’s not a great fight. I think Mayweather is a beautiful boxer and Mayweather will win a decision in that fight. But people who like action will fall asleep.”

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Roach: “it’s over” for Pacquiao is he loses to Rios

07/15/2013 Rob Smith

roach45 roach45 Trainer Freddie Roach says he’s going to tell Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) to retire if he loses to former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) in their fight on November 23rd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

Roach says he already has an agreement with Pacquiao that he’ll hang up his gloves when he tells him he’s no longer got it and needs to retire. Roach doesn’t say whether Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank knows about this deal or if he’d agree with it if Roach told his #1 money fighter he needs to retire.

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Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Mayweather/Silva, Canelo, Matthysse vs Garcia, & Cotto/Roach!!!!

07/08/2013 Vivek Wallace

Mayweather (Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Carlos H. (San Francisco, CA): On your FaceBook account you stated that Mayweather should “closely analyze” the defeat of Anderson Silva as he prepares for his bout with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Explain that statement, as I don’t agree.

Vivek W. (ESB): I think too much has been made of my response to this question. My point was that you don’t just wake up one day and receive the consensus vote as one of, if not thee best of all-time in your craft.

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Roach to train Povetkin for Wladimir fight

07/02/2013 Jeff Sorby

roach45 roach45 Trainer Freddie Roach will be taking over the reins to train WBA “regular” heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (26-0, 18 KO’s) for his October 5th fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (60-3, 51 KO’s), according to Steve Kim.

Klitschko and Povetkin will be fighting in the 33-year-old Povetkin’s home country of Russia in Moscow at the Olimpiyskiy. Whether that’ll be any kind of an advantage for Povetkin remains to be seen. Having Roach as his trainer could help Povetkin, because Roach knows about many of Wladimir’s weaknesses in having watched him fight many times in the past.

Povetkin will likely be a huge underdog in this fight no matter who trains him. If nothing else, Roach should be able to give Povetkin enough training advice so that he’ll be competitive.

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Pacquiao offered $10 mil to fight in Dubai, says Roach

09/15/201601/23/2013 ESB

pac562 pac562 By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao has apparently been offered $10 million to fight in Dubai in April, according to his trainer Freddie Roach. The offer was made by an unknown caller that contacted Roach and attempted to make a deal with him instead of Pacquiao’s management.

Roach said to Sport360 “I got a phone call from someone in Dubai on Monday, who offered $10 million for Manny to fight there in April, but I told him to call Bob Arum because I don’t make his [Pacquiao] fights; I just get him ready. A place like Dubai for a fight would be great. It’s a great location for pay per view TV networks.”

Dubai is pretty nice, and I bet Arum liking the idea of getting the tax situation there compared to the United States. However, there’s no telling if this is real offer. It could have just been a crank phone call to Roach to mess with him, Pacquiao and Arum by getting their hopes up for nothing. If it is a real offer, though, you can bet that Arum will seriously consider it because I doubt he’s going to find anything comparable for Pacquiao’s April fight.

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Roach: Pacquiao doesn’t need a tune-up fight in April

09/14/201601/13/2013 ESB

roach33 roach33 By Rob Smith: Trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t see the point of Manny Pacquiao taking a tune-up fight in April against a still to be determined opponent. Roach believes that Pacquiao is fighting at such a high level now that a tune-up fight would serve no purpose in helping him.

Roach said in an interview at fighthub.tv “They’re talking about a fight in April in Macau right now, a tune-up with Manny. I really don’t want a tune-up right now. I don’t think a fighter like Pacquiao needs a tune-up fight. Manny was fighting the best fight [against Juan Manuel Marquez] I’ve seen in a long time.”

Roach sounds like an old school trainer. I’m not sure that he fully understands how badly Pacquiao was knocked out by Marquez last month in Manny’s 6th round knockout loss. Pretty much anyone that saw that knockout would have serious concerns about Pacquiao getting back in the ring only four months later.

A knockout like that could lead to Pacquiao getting hurt easier in his next fight, and you kind of want to take the cautious approach.

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