Pacquiao will open up Cotto training file against Margarito
To prepare for the biggest guy he’s ever faced in the ring, Manny Pacquiao will utilize the same training techniques he did to beat Puerto Rican prize fighter, Miguel Cotto.
That entails two months of intensive training which will be undertaken in the mountains of Baguio and in the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles with trainer Freddie Roach. Pacquiao hopes the procedure will put him in good standing against the hard hitting and aggressive Margarito.
On September 20, training camp begins at the Cooysean Hotel, where a built-in ring was constructed to accommodate Pacquiao and his team while preparing for his WBO welterweight bout against Cotto last year. Returning to the location will inspire memory and ritual.
Pacquiao’s coaches are planning to come to the Philippines one by one, beginning with conditioning coach Alex Ariza on September 13, followed by Freddie Roach and then sparring partner Julio Cesar Chavez.
"We'll follow the same routine I used when I was training for my fight against Cotto," Pacquiao said to GMNANews.TV.
In their 2009 bout Pacquiao successfully outpointed the bigger Cotto in their MGM Grand Las Vegas meet, stopping the game for a bloodied and beaten Cotto in the last round.
Margarito knocked out Cotto two years before, in a fight now circled with controversy after Margarito was found to have tried using illegal hand wraps in a following fight with Shane Mosley. Many now believe he may have done so with Cotto as well, who was likewise a bloody mess after the fight.
Former Manila mayor Lito Atienza, a close Pacquiao advisor, cautions that Margarito is a very serious opponent for Margarito and that he cannot be overlooked. Atienza called him a 'mountain': “He's a mountain. Manny needs to prepare hard for this fight. The guy's a giant," Atienza said.
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