Roach: ‘Cotto and Pacquiao Both Stop Mayweather’

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    Main-Pacquiao-Roach-Cotto-by-Farina-Doghouse-BoxingDuring a recent interview with Tha Boxing Voice, boxing trainer Freddie Roach was his usual boastful self in stating that two of his fighters, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao, are better and “have more talent” than the pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. and would be able to beat him due to this fact. Freddie Roach was also his usual contradictory self in that he says Mayweather should not be fighting a rematch with Marcos Maidana because he won the first fight easily and asks,“What warrants a rematch in that fight, I have no idea.”

    This is the same Freddie Roach that says Mayweathers legs are gone and he is not the best fighter in the game. It is humorous that Roach talks of Mayweather fading in terms of skill yet he still wants his fighters to fight him. It’s a direct contradiction it would seem. If you think a fighter is faded and not as good as he once was, why bother fighting a lesser fighter? What will it prove? For Roach it would just be staying consistent with his overall pattern of protecting Manny and now Cotto. Cotto beat a badly faded Sergio Martinez for the linear middleweight championship and the fight was even held at a catch weight to get the odds stacked even more in his fighter’s favor.

    Roach went on further to claim that “Mayweather is a well-protected fighter, who picks and chooses whom he fights.” This is the same Roach that orchestrated multiple catch weight bouts for Pacquiao and for years set him up with all the odds in his favor by steadily feeding him come forward fighters that lacked skills and boxing IQ. So if Mayweather is doing the same thing now Roach should not have such a big issue with it because after all he was the one who paved the way for stacking the deck in his fighter’s favor it would seem.

    This interview, just like numerous others with Roach, Mayweather and Pacquiao, is just another way to draw attention to their upcoming fight by using the other’s name. Roach has claimed that he knows how to beat Mayweather but his fighters have failed when they had the opportunity to challenge him. He may think that this “new” version of Cotto is capable of beating Mayweather, but he fails to acknowledge that the first fight was not close and Mayweather is still faster, smarter and still the best defensive fighter in the sport. In addition Cotto could not hurt Mayweather even once in a full 12 rounds while Mayweather visibly wobbled and hurt Cotto himself.

    Pacquiao has not knocked out an opponent in 5 years now and has a very visible decline in power and skills, yet he is supposed to be able to hurt a defensive genius who has only been down once in his career officially and has only been visibly hurt a handful of times as well. On top of that it is no secret that Pacquiao has issues with counter punchers like Mayweather and was annihilated in his fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, in one of the most vicious knock outs in boxing history. Freddie’s talk may get the troops from Top Rank, Cotto’s and Pacquiao’s camp fired up but to all the knowledgeable boxing fans around, it is just another ploy to sell tickets by using another fighters name, just like always.

    Make sure that you catch the Boxing Voice weekly radio show live every Thursday and Sunday starting at 7pm (EST) or catch the podcast to get more insight and opinions on the world of boxing.