Fight-week honesty from Freddie Roach

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Before he was to participate in a round-table discussion with reporters across the country today, Manny Pacquiao‘s trainer Freddie Roach was sitting near a line of radio tables and called me over for a talk.

‘I’ve never seen Manny better,’ Roach said after an inspired workout Wednesday in preparation for Saturday’s world welterweight championship fight against Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto. ‘Usually, I have to tell him to make combinations. Now, he’s making them before I even ask. He knows the game plan so well, he’s punching so hard and fast. I’m serious -- I’ve never seen him better. His mind-set is 100%.’

Pacquiao is more than a 2-1 favorite in the Las Vegas sports books, and Roach took pride about the oddsmakers this week dropping the line favoring a first-round knockout by Pacquiao. Roach told me at his Hollywood gym two weeks ago that he had ‘loaded up’ on the first-round KO proposition bet, getting odds in excess of 25 to 1. Now, the odds are less than 10 to 1.

Roach pointed to Cotto’s past first-round troubles against Joshua Clottey and Carlos Quintana.

I asked him whether he’s overconfident. Roach said no.

He also embraced the idea that his experience in the game is a major advantage over Cotto’s new trainer, Joe Santiago. At Wednesday’s news conference, Santiago warned Pacquiao that Cotto is in supreme shape.

Roach fired back today.

‘He’s just another strength coach who puts the towel over his shoulder and calls himself a trainer,’ Roach said. ‘He’s never been in the ring himself. I’ve seen Cotto hit mitts [in video footage] and it’s so soft it’s like he’s working out at the 24 Hour Fitness.’

Roach made another observation: He doesn’t believe Cotto has corrected a flaw in which he corks his left hand before throwing a punch.

‘Just like Ricky Hatton,’ Roach said.

In May, Pacquiao penetrated a Hatton flaw and delivered a violent second-round knockout.

-- Lance Pugmire