JM: Next Saturday Miguel Cotto will be facing Antonio Margarito. We saw a lot of improvement with Cotto under your guidance for his last few fights. However, for this fight he went with another trainer. Do you think that changing trainers before a fight of this magnitude will have a negative impact on Cotto?s performance next Saturday?
Emanuel Steward: “Well, I don?t think it will affect him. At this stage Miguel is too much of a fighter, even though he suffered a terrible beat down at the hands of Margarito last time. Naturally all of us are looking into the suspicion of Margarito?s hand wraps; nevertheless Margarito did apply a lot of tremendous pressure on Cotto throughout the whole fight. He mentally drained Cotto, with or without the loaded gloves. In the first fight with Margarito, Antonio was making Miguel fight at a faster pace than he was used to. He was bullying him. Miguel would throw beautiful combinations with full conviction behind the punch, retreat, and Margarito would continue to chase him.
When they went to their corners after the round was done, if I remember correctly Miguel had a very stressed look on his face, while Margarito was in the other corner smiling. Max and Jim were complimenting Miguel on what a beautiful boxing clinic he was putting on in the early rounds, and I remember saying: ?yea he is winning these rounds, but from the look on his face, he is not going to win the fight.? Since that time, Miguel has had more time for his body to recuperate. He has had two good fights while I was training him, and didn?t suffer any injuries of any type. Before I got involved with Cotto, in the Judah, Clottey, Margarito, and Pacquiao fights he was in the hospital being treated for injuries after the fight until the early hours of the morning. The point is even though he has had those brutal fights, he has fought injury free for a while, whereas Margarito has continued to take punishment since they last fought. I expect Miguel to fight a more talented fight this time, and use his natural boxing skills to pull off the victory. He has to make Margarito feel his power, and respect him very early in the fight. If he places his punches effectively, and boxes in a more relaxed manner he will pull of the victory regardless of who he is working with.
JM: While working with Cotto, what changes to his style were you trying to implement? Do you think he will carry that knowledge he received from you into this fight?
Emanuel Steward: I tried to get Cotto into the mind state of using his boxing skills. We had to rekindle his natural boxing ability which he had gotten away from. He started off his career as a good boxer, but slowly had gotten so used to the knockouts that he forgot about his boxing talents. He showed me a tape of him as an amateur, and he looked like Sugar Ray Leonard. He told me ?that?s how I used to fight, but I have almost forgotten how to fight like that.? I think that is how Miguel has to fight. He needs to fight in an intelligent way, and not in a stressful, panicking way. We focused on placing his punches, boxing at a nice pace.
JM: The weekend after the Cotto-Margarito rematch, Wladimir Klitschko will be defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Jean Marc Mormeck. How have the preparations for the fight been going? What are you guys expecting from Mormeck coming into that fight?
Emanuel Steward: Training camp is going good. It is just a real stressful situation for us because we are going to all these fights that are no-win situations for us. It is sort of like the situation Manny Pacquiao had facing Juan Manuel Marquez a few weeks ago. Everybody was going through Manny Mania and expected Manny to just come out and knock Marquez out in the first round. Everybody underestimated Marquez going into that fight. Manny had nothing to gain by beating Marquez and everything to lose. In our case, Mormeck isn?t as skillful as Marquez but he gives us a different style of fighting that we haven?t been faced with. He has a little ?Mike Tyson? style of fighting. We have to be prepared to make adjustments, it?s not going to be a fight that Wladimir will knock him out early in. Mormeck isn?t a guy that you can just go in, and knock out early. We will have to focus on breaking him down. He has a style of holding his hands up high, and coming in low. Since Mormeck is working with Rooney, we know he will be coming in with the ?Tyson? style of fighting. Anybody that beat Mike never knocked him out early. They had to box patiently, and knock him out in the later rounds, like we saw when Douglas, Holyfield, and Lennox beat him. It?s hard to knockout a guy who comes in with his hands up high, and tight, and with a lot of fast head movement. We have to be patient in this fight. There is a huge shortage of quality heavyweights out there, and we took this fight to keep active. We were going to fight Arreola, but he wasn?t ready until 2012, so we went with this fight. Nevertheless, this isn?t a fight that I was excited about because it is a no-win situation for us.
JM: Emanuel you have a lot of experience with the sport for many years, and have saw many great fighters come, and go. Right now, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr are at the top of the sport, but they are in their mid 30?s, and their time fighting may be limited. Who do you see filling their shoes in the years to come?
Emanuel Steward: That?s a very good question. It is something that I continually think of myself. I?m looking at Sergio Martinez, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and Juan Manuel Marquez and they are all on their 30?s. There is a few fighters coming up, that I think can be great fighters and big names, but I may be wrong. I see Yuriokis Gamboa, and everyone in the media has big expectations of him. Brandon Rios is a very exciting fighter. Amir Khan could be on my list but he has very big test with Peterson. A lot of people are looking over Lamont but I think for me personally, that is a solid fight and test for Amir.
