MIGUEL Cotto said Manny Pacquiao made a huge mistake in his quest for history—a seventh world title in a seventh weight division.
Pacquiao’s error?
He picked Cotto.
“If he thinks he’s going to reach a seventh title in a seventh different division, he picked the wrong moment, the wrong fighter and the wrong opponent,” Cotto said in a report posted at boxing.fanhouse.com.
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Cotto and Pacquiao will face each other on Nov. 15 (RP time) at a catchweight of 145 pounds, with the Puerto Rican reportedly facing a $1-million fine for every pound over the agreed weight.
However, Cotto’s WBO 147-pound belt will be on the line.
Cotto, whose lone loss came against Antonio Margarito last year, is the underdog despite being the naturally bigger fighter.
“If he thinks he’s going to beat Miguel Cotto, he’s pretty much all wrong with that kind of thinking,” said Cotto, who is 34-1 with 27 knockouts.
Pacquiao is 49-3-2 with 37 knockouts. He has won his last 10 fights, seven by knockouts, including his last three fights.
The Puerto Rican also dismissed claims by Freddie Roach, who has predicted an early victory for Pacquiao.
After his last victory against Joshua Clottey, he barely took some time off and immediately started training for the Pacquiao fight, getting almost a month’s head start against Pacquiao.
“Forget about Freddie Roach. The thing Freddie Roach can do is train Manny the best that he can. He can’t go over the ropes and fight against Miguel Cotto, you know…He can teach what he believes he can teach to help Manny win this fight, but at the end of the road, it’s just Manny and Miguel Cotto. No matter what Freddie Roach says, I have a very strong mind, you know?
I’m not going to fall for his game,” said Cotto.
Before their training camp started, Roach said Pacquiao would have a hard time but will still win by decision.
He later revised that to a knockout victory after seeing Pacquiao’s conditioning at the start of their camp.
Roach was also almost spot-on in his prediction in his last two fights, a win inside nine rounds (Round 8) against Oscar dela Hoya and three rounds (Round 2) against Ricky Hatton.