How much credit does Roach deserves if Cotto somehow manages to win

Cotto, the product of Wild Card gym and Manny Pacquiao.

The island of Puerto Rico and the Boricuas all over should thank Team Pacquiao if he pulls it off.

 

He would deserve credit, but I saw nothing in the Chavez Jr. fight that makes me think that he knows how to beat Martinez. Before that fight he was saying essentially the same things, plus some more…such as saying that Chavez was going to walk through Sergio´s punches, etc. But basically he was saying the same things: "we" are going to knock him out, he´s a great athlete but not a great boxer, he´s a soccer player, etc.

The only thing that made Jr. keep up was his 20+ lb advantage on fight night, and his big heart (you have to give him that at least). Roach´s great piece of advise came in the 11th rd when he said "You gotta punch with him, ok? You know you need a knockout to win this!" I honestly expected him to be able to read the fight a little better. He also completely misread Pacquiao vs JMM and Khan vs. Garcia, to cite a few others. He now is going to focus on wearing Martinez down by going to the body, but Miguel´s short arms make that a tall task, and the moment he swings for his body he will eat punches. I will say they are picking the right strategy by having Cotto come in relatively light, so that should minimize the speed differential.

Still, I think Roach continues to underestimate Martinez and hopefully for him and Cotto, the multi-coach of the year award recipient will not come down to the same sad advice: "You gotta punch with him, ok?!"