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Roach: Pacman will expose Cotto

First Posted 10:49:00 08/28/2009

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Renowned trainer Freddie Roach believes Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto will be exposed when he tangles with Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao on November 14 in Las Vegas.

?I'm expecting Cotto to be at his best,? said Roach, who revealed that Pacquiao will only train three weeks in the US and will have to spend five weeks somewhere else.

?But Pacquiao is at the top of his game right now. I'm expecting Cotto to be more resilient than Oscar and Hatton were, so he'll give us a better fight than those two guys did. The biggest thing with Cotto is that he's a strong guy, but Manny's not going to stand in front of him and trade. I feel that we'll be able to expose Cotto. His skills aren't quite where they used to be and we're going to expose him.?

Pacquiao normally spends at least eight weeks of training at the Wild Card Gym in California, but a complicated Internal Revenue Service rule known as the ?substantial presence test? mandates that non-resident aliens can only spend a certain number of days in the United States. If a person exceeds that number of days in a three-year period, they are considered a resident for tax purposes and their income is taxed accordingly.

?The IRS rule says that Manny can only be here in America for another three weeks or so,? said his trainer Freddie Roach, in an interview with BoxingScene.com from the Wild Card Gym. ?I thought Bob [Arum] might find a way around it. But they tell me they can't, so we're going to have to go someplace else.?

Cotto, meanwhile, has warned Pacquiao to prepare for the worst when they meet in November.

?Pacquiao lost to Morales in their first fight, had a draw against Marquez and then a razor-thin victory in the rematch. Pacquiao faced a very tired and aged (Oscar) De La Hoya. Then Ricky Hatton, an overrated fighter,? Cotto told Fightnews.

?Against me the story will be different. It will be a war,? added Cotto, who is already in his fourth week of training in Puerto Rico under chief trainer Joe Santiago and South African conditioning coach Phil Landman, who has arrived from Los Angeles.


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