By Jhonny Gonzalez
Training camp has begun for Miguel Cotto. The Puerto Rican star defends his WBA junior middleweight title against Ricardo Mayorga on March 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He came to Florida to start camp with trainer Emanuel Steward. The veteran trainer was pleased with Cotto's shape entering camp.
"Michael came to Florida just like I wanted, not too heavy, but not too light either. When he starts to train hard, Miguel loses weight too quickly. He is very comfortable with making 154-pounds, but I don't want him to get down too fast. I think right now he can get down to 150-pounds with no problem," said Steward to Jose Sanchez.
Steward is very familar with Mayorga. A few years ago he trained the former champion for a week. He expects Mayorga to very dangerous in the early rounds with wild punches being thrown from multiple angles. He also expects Mayorga to have a good size advantage and will probably try to bully Cotto early on. Mayorga usually gains a lot of weight in the 24-hours that follows the official weigh-in.
"I've seen him fight many times and a few years ago I trained him for about a week," said the renowned trainer. "Don King (Mayorga's promoter) called me and asked me to. It was while he was training for his fight with Cory Spinks (Mayorga would lose by decision). I trained him for a few days but did not work out and I went home."
"Mayorga is tough, hits hard and is very dangerous for two or three rounds, throwing strong punches from crazy angles. In addition, he gets very heavy by the time of the fight, as much as 170-pounds. We must respect him and be very smart in the ring. Miguel is an experienced professional, and has the tools to outbox him."
