Roach stands by 1st round knockout prediction

In an interview with http://www.8countnews.com famed fight trainer Freddie Roach is holding firm with his prediction that Manny Pacquiao will knockout Miguel Cotto in the 1st round. Roach has had a lot of time to study film on Cotto, and states that he see's flaws in Cotto's game that can and will be exploited,

" Cotto makes the same mistakes as Hatton does. We are going to destroy Cotto, he won't be able to hit us." Freddie stands by his 1st round knockout prediction, " KO1" said Roach. " Cotto makes mistakes, and he's been hurt in the 1st round before. If Manny Pacquiao hurts him in the 1st round like others have believe me, He will finish him."

Training in the Philippines had it's issues with the typhoon, and the little throw down between Ariza and Koncz, but even with that, it seems as if Pacquiao still had a great camp over there, " There were some distractions, the typhoon killed a lot of people, and yes Ariza and Koncz got into it, but that was blown WAY out of proportion."

When asked to be more specific about the Ariza vs Koncz incident, Roach said, " Ariza hit him one time with an opened hand. He didn't beat him up. If he would have beaten him up he would have had a lawsuit against him by now. That whole thing got blown way out of proportion."

Roach praises the sparring that Jr Middleweight Shawn Porter has provided, " That kid is going to be a future world champion one day. Out of all the sparring partners that we used, Porter gave us the best work."

During camp, reports surfaced that Porter actually knocked down Pacquiao in . Roach clears this up, " Porter did stun Manny Pacquiao one time with a great punch. The very next round, Manny knocked Porter down."

When pressed on whether or not Pacquiao was actually knocked down by Porter, Roach said, "No, he was never knocked down. I still have my thousand bucks in my pocket! He did hit Manny with a great shot though, but Manny never fell down. Right after that in the next round, Manny dropped Porter with a perfect punch."

Seems as if all systems are go in team Pacquiao's corner. Time will tell how Cotto's camp turned out.


Check out the audio Podcast of this interview tomorrow evening at http://www.8countnews.com

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-23590-Mississippi-Fight-Sports-Examiner~y2009m11d1-Roach-stands-by-1st-round-knockout-prediction