Trainer Joe Santiago is confident that his camp has figured out the flaws in the fighting style of Manny Pacquiao when he clashes with WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao’s rematch against Juan Manuel Marquez might have shown the secret to beating the Filipino boxer, said Santiago.

Cotto’s chief trainer particularly mentioned the eighth round of that bout where Marquez obviously bothered Pacquiao with a left hook to the body and a straight right hand down the middle that opened a cut above his eye.

“The same way that Freddie [Roach] says he has seen weaknesses in Miguel, we know the weaknesses in Manny,” Santiago told newspaper Primera Hora.

“Not that you can compare Marquez to Cotto. There is no comparison. Cotto has more tools. He’s a versatile fighter who knows boxing. He knows how to fight backwards and he can use speed when necessary and can adjust on the fly,” he added.

Roach has expected Cotto to result to counter-punching in the hopes of emulating the style of Marquez, who engaged Pacquiao to two close battles.

While Marquez drew in the first encounter and lost by a whisker in the rematch, no other boxer has neutralized Pacquiao’s speed and power and caused him so much beating the way Marquez did.
For Santiago, Cotto is the biggest threat Pacquiao has faced in his entire boxing career.

“Pacquiao is a 130, 135-pound fighter coming to 147. He has done great things in boxing that you can’t take away. But he has never faced a natural 147-pound fighter who’s young and at his prime like Cotto,” Santiago said.

THE TIMES