By Steve Kim
Miguel Cotto, who faces Saul Alvarez on November 21st at the Mandalay Bay, is now at the stage of his training camp at the Wild Card Boxing Club with Freddie Roach where he has begun sparring. By the time Cotto faces 'Canelo' he will have spent approximately seven weeks in preparation for this fight with his trainer. Some question if that's enough time to get ready for an event of his caliber.
But Roach is not concerned, telling BoxingScene.com - "He came here in good shape and the thing is we just worked out a little and sparring starts today and he'll spar four to six rounds today, his first day."
Eight weeks camps for championship fighters are now the norm but Roach believes that not all boxers need that much time.
"Cotto's a guy who's always in shape at this point in his life," he pointed out."Manny Pacquiao, all you have to do is a six-week camp because Manny gets there quicker than most people. After two weeks he's almost ready to fight. So the thing is sometimes the eight weeks is too much. Sometimes its OK but it's only OK if you start really, really slow, conditioning first. Sometimes I'll send guy to Justine (Fortune) for two weeks and then six weeks out they'll come to me.
"But you've got to know what you're work with. Everyone is a little bit different, though. But my guys, the experienced guys and the veterans, I think six weeks is plenty."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
