WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez has vowed to knock out Puerto Rican superstar Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden on June 7, largely because of Cotto's "disrespect" to him during negotiations and in past dealings. Las Vegas oddsmakers agree that Martinez will win, making him a -250 bet to emerge the winner, but Cotto's trainer Freddie Roach disagrees.
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Martinez certainly will be miffed at Roach's recent comments, in which he questions "Maravilla's" skill set. "This guy's a solid soccer player and a secondary fighter. He's a good athlete, but he's not a great fighter," Roach said.
Cotto's training camp will be overlapping with Manny Pacquiao's as he prepares to fight Timothy Bradley in April, so Cotto will get some exposure to elite speed by training with him for about two weeks.
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"They'll work together. They're good friends, there's no problem whatsoever. So we'll do one week in LA, then for Pacquiao's last week we'll be in Vegas, and Miguel will be there. He wants to see Manny's fight. Then after Manny's fight, we'll come back to LA, and we'll have seven weeks from there," Roach explained.
"I'm getting ready for Martinez for the second time in my life. It's a thrill for me, because he's a talented guy. I think I have a pretty good game plan on how to beat his system and how to beat his speed."
While the two will work and train together, Roach did not commit to any serious sparring. "The thing is, Manny would help style-wise, but it might be a little bit too close to Manny's fight, and maybe the wrong style for Manny at that point. But I believe in hard work, and I believe work is good. Good work always makes you sharp, no matter who you're fighting. So they'll probably go a couple rounds, yeah."
He also talked tough at the end of his interview with Marcos Villegas of BadLeftHook.com when responding to Martinez's brash claim of a knockout in nine rounds. "Yeah, we'll knock him out in eight."
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