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Miguel Cotto's problem: Freddie Roach is foul owl with death growl
From all accounts, Miguel Cotto’s training camp is humming right along in Tampa.
But, clearly, the Boricua ****er is not as well equipped as he should be.
As Manny Pacquiao Coach Freddie Roach continues his attempts to invade Cotto’s rather large head, where are the earmuffs or noise canceling headphones that the Boricua ****er should be wearing to shut Roach’s psychological barrage out?
Roach's prefight patter could give a turtle, even with the tiniest of heads, a massive headache.
Instead of tuning Roach out as he sends out disinformation disguised as smoke signals from the hills of Baguio City, Cotto seems to be taking in Roach’s words, all of them.
This is a recipe for disaster, something Cotto can verify with another Roach pugilistic propaganda victim named Richard John Hatton of the Manchester UK, Hattons.
Plucky Richard fell hook, line and sinker for the constant buzzing from Roach and you saw what that intake did for him. He lasted less than six minutes in the Manila Icestorm that surrounded his clueless head.
But surely someone in the Cotto camp will play Dutch uncle here and caution Cotto, who is an experienced pro, to completely disregard Roach’s verbal jamming.
Ay, therein lies the rub in the Cotto camp. There is no senior statesman on the Cotto team, at least not one who is in the training camp on a daily basis or sharing meals with the fighter from Caguas at his Florida lair.
Is the best answer to Roach the tiresome “he’s only Manny’s trainer” rap that Cotto has responded with so far?
Where did that come from, Cliché City?
Meanwhile, Roach continues his bombardment of confusion through the media. As an accomplished veteran, hailed as the leading trainer of his generation, Roach enjoys being boxing’s answer to Hanoi Harriet in Vietnam or Tokyo Rose in World War II.
Speaking of foul owls, Matt Stolow says we can and should ingore Henny Penny aka Bob Arum on how the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout cannot be made for next year.
It’s like a broadcast of RFR, Radio Free Roach, whenever a story comes out as did Roach/s recent chat with my British buddy, Gareth Davies of The Telegraph.
Roach's incessant chatter, always done with purpose, reminds me of the purple prose of crime noir writing giant James Ellory, the Los Angeles based writer whose latest epic is "Blood's A Rover." (Note that Ellroy is a boxing fan of the first order.)
This is how the over the top and diving through the window Ellroy likes to introduce himself to a crowd waiting to hear him speak:
"Good evening peepers, prowlers, pederasts, panty-sniffers, punks and pimps. I'm James Ellroy, the demon dog, the foul owl with the death growl, the white knight of the far right, and the slick trick with the donkey ****. I'm the author of 16 books, masterpieces all; they precede all my future masterpieces. These books will leave you reamed, steamed and drycleaned, tie-dyed, swept to the side, true-blued, tattooed and bah fongooed. These are books for the whole ****in' family, if the name of your family is the Manson Family."
You can wade through Roach’s gobbledy****, his doubletalk, all you want and always comes out the same, confusing and misleading, just as the trainer intended.
It’s as if Roach’s Rap is patterned after an old Abbott & Costello routine, perhaps the seminal classic baseball jive of “Who’s On First?”
Keep inhaling the fumes, Miguel, and your fight plan(s) will turn into stinking thinking.
The greatest possible Pacman victory possible on Nov. 14 would be another early round blitz such as the Hatton wreckage.
But, given the fact that Cotto will be at his most dangerous from rounds one through five, I believe Pacquiao might have to have take a 15 minute ride through Hades before he starts asserting himself offensively.
Sure, Pacquiao might hurt Cotto right off the bat, even in the opening round, but why deal with a wounded rhino—and that is what a hurt Cotto can be—when the rhino is not bordering on complete exhaustion? It makes no sense.
That’s why I don’t buy into Roach’s trial balloon about Manny looking to crack early on so as to not let the Puerto Rican build up any mental confidence.
Roach is playing poker and I don’t see him telling Pacquiuao to go “all in” right away.
That was a brilliant strategy for Hatton but not the smart course for Cotto.
This fight is not going to be a short subject.
There could be more ups and downs than you get on the Cyclone at Coney Island but the thrill ride will last longer.
There’s only sure winning bet on this matchup.
No matter the price, bet the over because Manny is going to have surround the Casa De Cotto before he blows its roof off.
You can take that to the bank and disregard Puff Daddy Roach’s ball of confusion even if Cotto can't.
As for Cotto, it may be too late for him to put on those earmuffs.
Keep paying attention to Roach, Miguel, and you will wind up paying the physical price.
A smarter turtle would tuck his head inside that protective shell.
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