Ahead of his fighter’s June 6th defence of the WBC 160lb belt he won last year against an injured Sergio Martinez – Freddie Roach has spoken to fighthype.com regarding the outcome of the catchweight contest between Miguel Cotto & Daniel Geale – predicting that despite the significant height, reach and rehydration weight advantages the Aussie is going to have – his man can stop the former 3x world champion in the 8th or 9th rounds.
There has been fierce media criticism of Cotto for seemingly refusing to fight mandatory challenger – Kazakh wrecking machine Gennady Golovkin – yet Roach claims it was he who picked Geale as the opponent for Cotto and thus, surely accepts part of the responsibility?
He said;
“Well you know, I picked Geale to be the opponent. I thought he was a good opponent, he’ll be able to give us some rounds which I think is what we need right now – we’ve had over a year off so we need some rounds in there.”
“The thing is we’re in good shape, we’ve got a good strategy in so far – sparring went really good and we’re right where we need to be right now.”
“We all know Geale is a tough guy but when we get this one done it’s on to bigger and better things.”
With Cotto no doubt being a big-puncher, many are wondering if he will have enough to stop a full blown middleweight like Geale.
Roach said;
“I think Geale will give us rounds but I do think we’ll stop him in about 8 or 9 rounds. I do think we’ll stop him with the body shots along the way – I do like a stoppage in this one.”
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