Trainer Emanuel Steward for Cotto

According to Fight News, world famous boxing trainer Emanuel Steward plans on training former WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) for his next fight on June 5th against WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) at the Yankees Stadium, in New York. This is an odd setup because Foreman was trying to get the services of Steward as well. However, Steward chose to work for Cotto, the more established fighter.

Steward, who trains IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko among many others, has made no secret about his interest in training Cotto. Steward sees things that he feels he can fix with Cotto’s game. Steward probably couldn’t hurt Cotto any, as he’s coming off a disappointing 12th round TKO against Manny Pacquiao last year. Steward is known for his success in training taller fighters like Tommy Hearns, Jermain Taylor and Klitschko. It’s difficult to see what improvements Steward can make in Cotto’s game, other getting him to clinch and use his jab more.

Cotto rarely clinches in his fights and this forces him to fight hard for 12 rounds. Steward might choose to change that a bit. Foreman is a fighter that uses a lot of clinching after every punch. Steward is going to have to figure out away to for Cotto to defeat Foreman’s punch and grab technique or else Cotto may find himself losing again. The 5’11” Foreman is bigger than Cotto by four inches and has a longer reach as well.

On paper, Foreman’s fighting style would appear to be all wrong for Cotto. Foreman moves all the time, uses his jab effectively and is good at punching and immediately trying up his opponents to keep them from getting their own shots off. Even if a fighter trains hard for Foreman’s style, it’s still extremely difficult to fight him because of his movement and grabbing technique.

Foreman doesn’t give much of a target except for the top of his head when he comes diving forward. If Cotto stands in his tracks when Foreman comes at him, he could find himself getting nailed by the top of Foreman’s head. With his constant diving in against his opponents, Foreman causes a lot of head butts. Cotto might have problems with Foreman’s head most of all their fight. It’s clearly a weapon and hard to combat against.

If Cotto does end up beating Foreman, it’s unknown if Cotto will decide to keep the WBA title to use for Manny Pacquiao bait to lure him for a 2nd fight. Besides Alfredo Angulo, Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez, there are few other opponents for Cotto to fight. It’s doubtful he’ll want to fight any of those guys.

Source: boxingnews24.com By Jim Dowe

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Mayweather vs Mosley: Who R U Picking?

Roach: Pacquiao Would Drop the Lawsuit to fight Floyd Mayweather

In a recent interview with ESNEWS, Freddie Roach gave some revealing thoughts regarding where Manny Pacquiao wants to go next. He mentions Manny having been interested in fighting Antonio Margarito for some time. “He wants to fight [Antonio] Margarito,” said Roach. “Before Shane [Mosley] beat him, he told me that he wanted him next, after Oscar. So he saw something that maybe Shane saw.”

But the man Pacquiao really wants, according to Roach, is Floyd Mayweather Jr. So much so that Roach (after some visible toiling with whether or not to say it out loud) admitted Manny would drop his litigation in order to make it happen. “He would drop the lawsuit just to fight that guy. Just win that lawsuit in the ring. That’s where I would like to win it, too.”

Evidence of Manny’s desire to fight Floyd seems to be a result of Mayweather having gotten inside Pacquiao’s head. “This is the first time I’ve seen [Manny] make fun of somebody in the gym. The guy’s under his skin a little bit. So he really wants it.”

But there’s still the matter of Floyd’s drug testing demands. To that, Roach had an answer as well. “We’re not going to negotiate with him on drug testing. That’s not going to happen, because he doesn’t run the sport. Again, that issue is gone. Any commission rule we’ll go with. Mayweather’s going to have to deal with that.” So it seems the line has been drawn in the sand. Will this prevent the fight from happening, considering the amount of exposure that will have been given to Mosley and Mayweather undergoing the USADA testing (it will most certainly play an important role in the HBO series 24/7)?

Roach doesn’t think so. He thinks Floyd needs Manny. “If he wants to make the money that he thinks he deserves, he has to fight Pacquiao. I can’t see him going anywhere else.” The cold, hard truth is that this is a two way street. Manny and Floyd can go on making their $10M paydays, give or take, but if they want to see the big dollars, they both are well aware that they need one another.

As to whether or not Roach thinks Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao: “I don’t think he’s ducking us. I think he needed more time to fight Pacquiao. I think he’ll come to the table after Mosley. If he beats Mosley that will be a good win, because he’s a very tough opponent. He’ll feel he’s ready for Pacquiao.” It’s an interesting angle not that heavily talked about. Floyd, in his post-fight interview with Kellerman after his Marquez fight (before the Mosley debacle) admitted he had some ring rust and felt he could do better. It is feasible that Mayweather wanted more time getting back into the game before taking on Pacquiao. It’s a possibility, sure. An explanation? Maybe.

As May 1st draws near, all eyes are going to be on Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley. This is not a walk in the park for Floyd, and Shane stands to earn the notoriety and respect he feels he never got earlier in his career. But try as you may, that little Filipino just doesn’t seem to want to go away. 

Please watch Mayweather vs  Mosley Fight Online to ever see whos the real P4P king.

Source: boxingnews24.com By Ryan Dunn