WASHINGTON, D.C.: Two of the world’s top trainers have made conflicting predictions on the November 14 super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain, who has trained more than a dozen world champions told the Spanish language
“Golpe a Golpe” boxing show on ESPN that the much-improved Pacquiao would defeat Cotto, who is staking his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown at the agreed weight of 145 pounds against the Filipino pound-for-pound king.
“His left hand is like a missile, like a rocket, it has tremendous speed and his power is tremendous,” said
Beristain, the trainer of Pacquiao’s archrival Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico.
Beristain said that Pacquiao has evolved into a superb technical boxer who combines speed and power, adding that such a deadly combination would be too much for the Puerto Rican champion to overcome.
“The key to the fight is not only Pacquiao’s speed but is also the fact that he has been better with his technique,” the Mexican boxing guru said. “Cotto will be in a world of trouble when he steps in the ring with Manny, besides that, I don’t think he recovered from the beating [Antonio] Margarito gave him, I think Pacquiao will win this fight.”
But another world renowned boxing trainer, Ronnie Shields, is taking the contrary view on the outcome of Pacquiao-Cotto.
Shields—who has worked with former world champions Evander Holyfield, Juan Diaz and Kermit Cintron—said he thinks the 28-year-old Cotto would emerge victorious against Pacquiao.
“I am going with Cotto in this fight,” Shields said in an interview which was posted on Examiner.com by Brad Cooney. “The only person that has stopped him was Margarito, and who knows if there was something going on with that.”
Shields was referring to the illegal hand-wraps being put on Margarito for his unsuccessful title defense against “Sugar” Shane Mosley—for which the former Mexican welterweight titlist was subsequently suspended following an investigation by the California State Athletic Commission.
Still, Cooney said in his article that it will all depend if Cotto would be able to stand the “flurry of combinations” and withstand the unusual power of the smaller Pacquiao.
“Many people agree that the only way someone can beat Pacquiao is if they can hit hard enough to gain
Manny’s respect. They have to be able to hit him hard enough as to where Manny thinks twice about jumping inside and unleashing his speedy attack,” Cooney observed.
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