By Ryan Burton
Last week, a deal was finalized for a February 25th pay-per-view event - which features former four division world champion Miguel Cotto (40-5) making his ring return against James Kirkland (32-2).
The event will be distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and takes place at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas.
Both fighters will be coming back from significant layoffs and ironically both of them are coming off defeats to the same man. The bout will be Cotto's first since losing a competitive decision to Canelo Alvarez in November of 2015. Kirkland's last fight was also against Alvarez. He was stopped in three rounds in March 2015 when they battled in Houston.
Ann Wolfe was not in Kirkland's corner in the loss to Alvarez. Both of his career losses have occurred when she was not in his corner.
For this reason Cotto's trainer, Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, expects the best version of Kirkland to be in the ring against his fighter.
"It seems like it makes a difference. It has before. He does fight better with her in the corner," said Roach.
Wolfe's training methods are very unorthodox and brutal. Roach acknowledged that the tactics are very effective for Kirkland who isn't very disciplined between fights.
"It is a little crazy but it works. It works for him but maybe not for everyone," Roach remarked.
As for Wolfe as a person, Roach said that underneath her mean demeanor she is a good person and didn't have a bad word to say about her.
"I like Ann Wolfe. She is a very nice person. When I met her I didn't expect her to say, 'hi Mr. Roach how are you?' But she is a very nice lady," Roach said while laughing.
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