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Cotto vs Rodriguez: Freddie Roach pleased with Cotto's work, talks possible return to 147

Freddie Roach is giving glowing reports from his first camp with Miguel Cotto, who will face Delvin Rodriguez on October 5 on HBO.

US PRESSWIRE

Miguel Cotto has gone through a lot of trainers since splitting with his uncle Evangelista, and is now working with Freddie Roach out of the Wild Card gym for the first time ahead of his October 5 HBO bout with Delvin Rodriguez. Roach, who is arguably the most famous trainer in the game today, has nothing but good things to say about Cotto, and even says that there's a chance he could return to 147 pounds:

"One thing I learned about Miguel is he is a workaholic. He gets up at 5 am to do his strength and conditioning. He works from 5 am to 8 am in the morning then he goes homes and eats a little bit and sleeps then he goes back to the gym at 2 pm and we do our boxing work. ... He said this is the best training camp he has ever had. He is only two pounds over and we are still over three weeks out. I am thinking that he is better off at 47 than 60. He is only over by 2 pounds now and we aren't even trying to make weight. We will discuss it after this fight because we have to take care of Delvin Rodriguez first."

There has been a lot of talk about HBO wanting to do a fight between Sergio Martinez and Cotto next year, which would take place at 160 pounds. Cotto, who is really a welterweight, is small at 154 and would likely look positively tiny at 160.

That said, 147 may also not work anymore. Miguel hasn't made that weight since his 2009 loss to Manny Pacquiao, which was fought at a 145-pound catchweight. Cotto will turn 33 in late October. If he could get back to 147, that does open up a lot more big fights than are available at 154, and 160 really seems a stretch. As a welterweight, he could rematch Pacquiao, or he could face Juan Manuel Marquez or Timothy Bradley, for instance. And that's just on the Top Rank side.

Do you think Cotto (37-4, 30 KO) would be wise to look into a move back to welterweight, or has it been too long?

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