By Radio Rahim

In the last few weeks, WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33KOs) has been sporting a variety of bruises on his face.

The Puerto Rican superstar is training very hard, at Hollywood's Wild Card Boxing Club, for the upcoming showdown with Mexico's Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. 

Cotto-Canelo is an HBO Pay-Per-View headliner, which takes place on November 21 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

According to Cotto's trainer, Freddie Roach, the sparring sessions have been very tough and competitive.

One fighter in particular, middleweight contender Glen Tapia (23-2, 15KOs), has been trying to take Cotto's head off. Roach credits Tapia with giving Cotto the black eye that was present during Wednesday's open workout.

Tapia, who is also trained by Roach, has been out of the ring since suffering his knockout loss to Michel Soro in May.

"We have so many guys [in sparring], like Glen Tapia who is a real strong guy. I think I'll give credit to Glen for the black eye. Glen goes all out with everybody and tries to kill everybody. I wish he would do that more in fights, but he's been a good sparring partner. If Canelo comes to fight, we are ready for him because that's what we did in those rounds with [Tapia]. We fought hard, he fought hard back....50-50, it's been very good work," Roach told BoxingScene.com.