By Keith Idec

Glen Tapia understands some of the skepticism surrounding Miguel Cotto’s competition during his three-fight winning streak since he began working with trainer Freddie Roach.

But Tapia just spent seven weeks as Cotto’s primary sparring partner at Roach’s famed Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California. The middleweight from Passaic, N.J., knows how the 35-year-old Cotto prepared for his middleweight showdown with Canelo Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) as well as anyone, and Tapia thinks Cotto can pull off an upset Saturday night at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas (HBO Pay-Per-View; $59.99-$69.99).

“What makes me believe he can win is his experience and me knowing the game plan that they have,” Tapia told BoxingScene.com. “It could work. Freddie’s smart. He has a good game plan. It’s gonna be really hard, but if Cotto does what Freddie has planned he can win.”

Whoever wins, Tapia expects a highly competitive fight, despite that handicappers have installed the significantly younger Alvarez as about a 3-1 favorite.

“It’s not gonna be easy for either guy,” said Tapia, whom Roach also trains. “It’s not gonna be easy for Cotto or Canelo. But people are counting Cotto out like he’s a nobody, like he’s old already and he can’t win. But he trained so hard that he still looks young in there. He has a big chance to win this fight. He’s still there and I think he can show it against a guy like Canelo.”

Working alongside Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) during each of the Puerto Rican icon’s three training camps at Wild Card since last year has taught Tapia (23-2, 15 KOs) how to go about his business as he attempts to come back from a fourth-round technical knockout loss to France’s Michel Soro (27-1-1, 17 KOs) in a junior middleweight match May 8 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

“His work ethic is crazy,” said Tapia, who sparred against Cotto three times per week during camp. “It’s inspiring to see how hard he works. He works like he’s broke, like he’s not even a champion yet. To see a guy that’s at that level, that really doesn’t have to do it financially, work as hard as he works from the morning until he leaves the gym, it’s amazing. It says a lot about him.”

Tapia was scheduled to box Lenwood Dozier (9-8-1, 4 KOs), of Suitland, Maryland, in a non-televised six-rounder Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, but Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., Tapia’s promoter, scrapped the entire card. The 25-year-old Tapia expects to return to the ring either in February or March.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.