"If Miguel just fights his normal fight, the way he's looking now with his accurate punches, he will catch Mayorga somewhere early in the fight, within the first four rounds I think, and I believe he will hurt him and I believe he will finish him," stated legendary world-class trainer Emanuel Steward, who called in to the FightHype Radio Show just days before WBA jr. middleweight champion Miguel Cotto gets set to face Ricardo Mayorga. Check out what he had to say to hosts Vivek Wallace and Danny Howard about the fight as well as the anticipated showdown between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye.
On Mayorga's trash talk...
"He [Cotto] is very seasoned and been in a lot of big fights over the last I guess 8 or 9 years, so he's not going to get rattled by verbal abuse. In fact, he last, after the press conference, he says, 'Mayorga's the best thing that could happen to me for building up a fight because he talks so much.'"
On Mayorga being the naturally bigger fighter...
"He looks like he's pretty much fit so he won't have that physical advantage that I expected...I don't think that his wild punches are gonna be as effective because he won't come in the ring with that 10 or 12 pound advantage that I thought he would have."
On how he thinks the fight will play out...
"I think if Miguel just fights his normal fight, the way he's looking now with his accurate punches, he will catch Mayorga somewhere early in the fight, within the first four rounds I think, and I believe he will hurt him and I believe he will finish him."
"He's looking very sharp and very crisp going into this fight. He and I are a lot more comfortable and working together better, so I think the fight will be over earlier instead of just waiting Mayorga out. Miguel doesn't ever take any crazy risks; it's working behind the jab and pinpointing his punches. I believe he'll beat Mayorga to the punch as Mayorga is throwing one of those wide haymakers."
On Wladimir Klitschko facing David Haye...
"For this fight here, I know Wladimir, there is a real dark side of him too that, you know, you don't see that often and David Haye has actually touched on that side. And I know that he has just told me that it's one guy he wants to punish real bad and the only time I saw him like that in fight was when he fought Chris Byrd."
"I think you're going to see a more aggressive type and a more of a gambler type guy in Wladimir and if he tries to be aggressive, regardless of what David wants to do, David is going to have to fight because Klitschko is just too big a guy and he won't be able to move away and stay away."
"They really took his only other opponent [Tomasz Adamek] away and everything else, and so I think David had to make the fight. I was very glad that the fight with Chisora ended up being cancelled because I never did want that fight anyway because it was just a no-win fight to me and I think Chisora could've been a much more dangerous opponent. So it looks like everything is cleared. Wladimir called up extremely excited about the fight and I don't think David has anyplace to go to."
"I told him he needed this fight very badly and so I think it will happen and there will be a lot of interest building up to the fight simply because fans are hungry for a heavyweight fight."
To check out what else Emanuel Steward had to say, be sure to listen to the latest episode of the FightHype Radio Show below:
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