Cotto is a much better fighter

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Miguel CottoWBC World middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KO’s) has had a resurgence in form since linking up with trainer Freddie Roach two years ago.

In December 2012, he followed up an expected loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by getting soundly outpointed by the undefeated, though, unheralded southpaw Austin Trout. The manner of that defeat lead some to believe that at a hard-traveled age of 31, Cotto was past his best.

Fast-forward to the present and Cotto has logged in three stoppage wins and jumped up in weight to claim the belt he now holds to become the first Puerto-Rican to title in four divisions. This reinvigoration directly coincided with the recruitment of Roach, and regardless of the small print concerning his two most recent appearances, he has looked solid and decisive under his new tutor.

On November 21st at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Cotto will look to dispel the first genuine threat to his championship when he defends against the young Mexican star Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KO’s).

It will be the most significant boxing event since Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao fought earlier this year, meaning everyone from the bottom to the top is weighing in with their opinion, including Top Rank CEO Bob Arum.

Arum told Fight Hub TV the presence of Roach throughout camp and in the corner on fight night is enough to give the veteran Cotto the edge over his adversary.

“Cotto, now that he’s with Freddie, is a much better fighter. So I make the Cotto-Canelo fight a very, very close fight.”

“The tipping for me is Freddie. I think without Freddie I would back Canelo, with Freddie, I back Cotto.

As many will be aware, the most lucrative fighter Arum has had in almost four decades as a promoter is Manny Pacquiao, also trained by Roach. Arum and Roach have had a longstanding professional relationship that has been mutually beneficial for them in a monetary sense. They may even be good friends at this point.

That aside Arum is correct in that a trainer like Roach can only be an asset, especially in the big fight atmosphere he has become accustomed to.

Whatever Roach has been specifically doing to bring Cotto back into the destructive form that elevated him to stardom in the first place, is working. Whether the game-plan he comes up this time to take down a fighter of Canelo’s ilk remains to be seen.

Canelo is a young, strong, explosive combination puncher with more defensive subtleties than your average Mexican pug. He too is accustomed to participating in big fights having had his own unsuccessful evening in the company of Mr Mayweather, and so will be unruffled by the occasion.

This is a genuine fifty-fifty fight, and every detail could be the key to the success of the path to downfall, trainers included.