WBO champion Miguel Cotto dismisses Manny Pacquiao’s power: “If they think they have more power than Miguel Cotto, they’re wrong.”

WBO champion Miguel Cotto has dismissed claims that Manny Pacquiao will be stronger when the pair clash on November 14 in Las Vegas.

The Puerto Rican was calm and confident as he played down the threat of the Filipino superstar who is searching for his record breaking seventh world titles in seven divisions.

“He’s coming from a lower division,” said Cotto. “If they think they have more power than Miguel Cotto, they’re wrong.”

Pacquiao has demonstrated his hand speed and strength with his devastating second round knockout of Ricky Hatton in May, but Cotto maintained he is ready for whatever comes at him.

“I’m prepared for anything he can bring…I’m prepared for all that he can show me,” said Cotto whose only defeat was marred in controversy after suffering a head-butt followed by an investigation into opponent Antonio Margarito’s hand-wraps.

Cotto bounced back from the defeat, going on to outbox Britain’s Michael Jennings and win a close points decision in a hard fought battle against Joshua Clottey. As for how he will handle Pacquiao, Cotto underplayed the possibility of a KO victory.

“I never come out to knock out any fighter, but if I hit him pretty good, I’m going for it.” said the champion who has knocked out 27 of his 35 opponents.

For Cotto, success against Pac-Man would propel him to the top of the boxing pecking order and make him a household name. Despite being the underdog he remains positive he can achieve this: “I’m very confident that I’m going to come out with a victory that night.”

SOURCE: http://sport.stv.tv/boxing/135483-cotto-im-prepared-for-anything-pacquiao-can-bring/

To date, Miguel Cotto has suffered one career defeat.

Not only was it a staggering defeat, but it was perhaps one of the most brutal episodes the sport has ever seen, and depending on who you believe, it could have been prevented.

It wasn’t until Mexican warrior Antonio Margarito was caught with illegal hand wraps this January before his showdown with Shane Mosley that Team Cotto began to wonder how different things could have been in his career had this common inspection been performed in the past.

Based on the deep gashes suffered, many fight fans believe that there’s little doubt Antonio Margarito used loaded gloves to cut down his spirited opponent.

The truth will never be known, but one thing for sure, there will be no room for error when Cotto faces another fighter known to do amazing things with his power…..Filipino, Manny Pacquiao.

According to sources, Miguel Cotto Sr. has vowed to never let such an error happen again.

 Despite the fact that this handwrapping inspection wasn’t performed against either the U.K.’s Jennings or Ghanaian power puncher Joshua Clottey – (Cotto’s two opponents after the Margarito showdown) – it has been made clear that the handwrapping technique by Team Pacquiao will be scanned harder than a box of cigarettes at a corner store across from a middle school.

Such an inspection  shouldn’t be an issue, as Roach and Pacquiao are clean competitors, but one can only wonder how far the mind games will go.

The beginning of the negotiation period for this fight initiated with a series of mind games, and considering that this move comes days after Roach vowed to have Bayless watch for Cotto lowblows, it appears those tricks won’t stop until the treat itself begins when the bell rings.

Inside the lines, there will be no room for games, as the watchful eyes of veteran ref Kenny Bayless miss very little. But then again, if Freddie Roach’s prediction of a RD1 KO is true, it probably won’t matter.

With only 9 days to go….the waiting is nearly over!

SOURCE: http://www.examiner.com/x-845-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m11d5-Pacquiao-to-have-handwraps-inspected-by-Team-Cotto

LOS ANGELES — Miguel Cotto’s handlers say they will carefully scrutinize the gloves and hand wraps of Manny Pacquiao before their World Boxing Organization welterweight title fight in Las Vegas.

Miguel Cotto Sr said Tuesday they blundered by not inspecting Antonio Margarito’s gloves prior to Cotto’s lone career loss in July of last year and vow never to let it happen again.

“We only commit the same error once,” said Cotto Sr. “We will never make that mistake again.”

The increased vigilance comes after Margarito was caught using “loaded wraps” in his following fight against Shane Mosley in January.

Unlike Cotto, Mosley’s trainers entered Margarito’s dressing room prior to the fight. There they noticed that a damp hard white powder had been placed in between the rows of wrapping and tape before Margarito put his gloves on for the fight.

It has never been proven that Margarito cheated by using a plaster of Paris type substance for the Cotto fight but suspicions are strong, especially in Cotto’s camp and that’s the reason for the stepped up inspections of opponents’ gloves and wraps.

Cotto, of Puerto Rico, senses he has the public support on this one.

“A loss is a loss. Nobody knows for sure if he uses it with me, or not, just Margarito and his team,” said Cotto, after a 90 minute workout at the Pound4Pound Gym in Beverly Hills Tuesday. “But it makes me feel better (about the loss). Boxing fans are knowledgeable. They are the judges.”

A classic boxer in the true sense of the word, Cotto is 34-1 with 27 knockouts.

Cotto bristled Tuesday at suggestions by Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach that the first loss is one of the toughest for a previously unbeaten fighter to recover from.

Cotto denied that the loss to Margarito had any negative effect on his confidence in the ring.

“Why don’t you ask Manny that question because he has had three losses I have just one,” Cotto said.

“My commitment is with myself. In my last fight (Joshua Clottey) I could have stopped the fight (cuts) but I decided to stay in the ring because of my commitment to myself and my family.”

“Sometimes when you lose you win. Since Margarito great things have come to my career.

“Where is Margarito right now and where is Miguel Cotto?”

Said Cotto Sr, “We have worked a lot with his mind and staying focused. Mentally he is a strong guy.”

Roach is predicting that the November 14 fight at the MGM hotel and casino won’t go the distance and that the favoured Pacquiao will knock Cotto out capture his seventh title in seven different weight classes.

“This is the problem,” Cotto said. “Freddie Roach is not the guy who is going to climb into the ring. If he prepares Manny for just nine rounds then he has three more rounds.

“He (Roach) can say whatever he wants. One day he says the first round and the next day he says round seven. I’m preparing for 12 rounds and nobody is going to know what will happen until the night of the 14th.”

Cotto said he is focusing on this 145-pound bout and doesn’t listen to talk about Pacquiao (49-3-2, 27 KOs) possibly fighting Floyd Mayweather in a mega title fight if he beats Cotto.

“He can fight Mayweather as many times as he wants after I beat him,” Cotto said.

Cotto respects Pacquiao for the way he has come from modest roots in the Philippines to become a world class boxer who is revered by Filipinos at home and abroad.

“He has earned everything he has,” Cotto said. “Manny looked good against Oscar De La Hoya and (Ricky) Hatton. But I’m not Oscar or Hatton. Manny chose the right time to fight Oscar.”

Cotto is looking forward to wrapping up training camp, heading to Las Vegas next week and says this is the biggest fight of his life.

“It is the most important fight of my career, but we’ll have to see on the 14th if he is the toughest guy I have fought in my career,” Cotto said.

SOURCE: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gPegqXbN7vAT8F8pghDHoDuCp4Mw

HOLLYWOOD—Miguel Cotto is set to hit California on Tuesday for a media workout in a popular Los Angeles boxing gym, where he is expected to showcase the result of several weeks of training.

Team Cotto has already packed up its training camp in Tampa, Florida, and is now in Las Vegas, where he will defend his WBO welterweight crown against Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand.

The media workout will take place around noon at the Pound4Pound gym on La Cienega Boulevard.

And based on comments coming out of Team Cotto, the 29-year-old Puerto Rican may give sports journalists a peek into how he plans to attack Pacquiao’s weakness—one that was supposedly spotted during the Filipino’s fight against Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez.

“The same way that Freddie says he has seen weaknesses in Miguel, we know the weaknesses of Manny,” Cotto trainer Joe Santiago told Fightnews.com on Monday.

“If there’s any doubt, just review the eighth round of his second fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.”

Marquez opened up a cut over Pacquiao’s eye with a straight right and then rocked the reigning pound-for-pound king with a left hook, Cotto’s pet punch.

“Not that you can compare Marquez to Cotto,” Santiago added in the interview. “There’s no comparison. Cotto has more tools. He’s a versatile fighter who knows boxing.”

Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) will have his own media workout the following day at the Wild Card gym. He is scheduled to spar on Tuesday with Ray Beltran, Rasheed Holloway and Shane Porter.

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, is expected to cut the number of sparring rounds for his ward as he tapers off going into the final 10 days of training.

The six-division champion, who has thus far logged 130 rounds of sparring, spent Tuesday doing 16 rounds with the mitts with Roach.

Wright picks Cotto

Meanwhile, WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez, former champion and Cotto victim Carlos Quintana and former light middleweight titlist Winky Wright all told Boxingscene.com that the Puerto Rican should have no problem dealing with Pacquiao in the fight dubbed “Firepower.”

However, Lopez, a rising star in the boxing ranks, said that if Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) performs the way he did against Joshua Clottey— who the Puerto Rican barely survived—Pacquiao may end up celebrating another big win.

“In his last fight, Cotto was a little tired at the end, and because Manny throws a lot of punches, that could make [Miguel] tired,” Lopez said. “If that happens, he will have problems.”

SOURCE: http://sports.inquirer.net/professional/professional/view/20091104-233905/Marquez-fight-gives-Cotto-idea-how-to-attack-Pacquiao