Champ's power to offset Manny's speed

HOLLYWOOD – Miguel Cotto sees himself coming out of the fight with his hands raised and his head held high.

“If they think they have more power than Miguel Cotto, they’re wrong,” declared the WBO welterweight champion from Puerto Rico.

He thinks he’s got enough power to solve Manny Pacquiao’s speed, and added that if ever he gets the chance, he would finish off the heavy-handed pride of the Philippines.

“I never come out to knock out any fighter...[but] if I hit him pretty good, I’m going for it...I’m very confident that I’m going to come out with a victory that night,” said Cotto, supposedly the younger, bigger and stronger boxer of the two, told fightnews.com from Las Vegas.

But don’t ever try to tell that to Pacquiao.

“Ako, bubugbugin? Siguro kung nakatali ang kamay ko (I’d get beat? Maybe if my hands were tied),” said the pound-for-pound champion as he moved swiftly inside the Wild Card ring Thursday.

Pacquiao was shadow boxing when a female reporter seated just outside the ring posed the question, and caught the attention of the reigning pound-for-pound champion, seeking history as the first boxer to win seven world titles in seven different weight classes.

Pacquiao, who trains and fights like there’s no tomorrow, is all pumped up, and as he wrapped up another two-hour session that consisted of six rounds of sparring, posed like he’s in a body-building contest.

With seven days before the fight, yes, he looked ready.

“I feel strong enough,” said the boxer who faces the biggest, heaviest fight of his career that started almost 15 years ago when he was a skinny 106-pounder. Now he’s facing Cotto at 145 lb, as a welterweight.

“Tiis lang (Just a little sacrifice),” he said before concluding the workout.

“Everybody knows that he’s bigger than me and stronger than me. I know he trained hard but I’m very confident of myself -- with my speed and my power.”

His chief trainer, Freddie Roach, feels the same way, too.

“Everything’s good. He’s in a very good mood as the fight’s getting close,” said Roach. – Abac

Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=521088&publicationSubCategoryId=69