"He did not perform the work the way we work in this group. Here, we work seriously. No one comes to clown around or be mocked in the ring. The sparring partners are here to help us and make us work, not to have a good time, dropping their hands and showing off their abilities," stated WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto as he explained his decision to dismiss former sparring partner Frankie "El Gato" Figueroa. Figueroa, who previously helped Cotto train for his bout with Zab Judah, was brought in again to help him prepare for his November 14th clash with Manny Pacquiao. After only one week and roughly four sparring sessions, Figueroa was asked to leave Cotto's training camp without given any reason.
In a recent interview with Hiram Alberto Torraca of El Nueva Dia, Cotto revealed that he was not happy with the fact that Figueroa was clowning around too much during sparring sessions, dropping his hands and talking smack to the two-division world champion. "There are two kinds of boxers, the ones that elevate themselves in sparring and the ones that elevate themselves in fights. Gato is one of the ones that likes to elevate himself in sparring," Cotto added. While it's understandable that Cotto wasn't too happy about being mocked inside the ring, one would think that he already knew what he was getting with Figueroa, having sparred extensively with him in the past. Sources say that at times, Cotto looked extremely frustrated during their sparring sessions, having a difficult time with the movement that Figueroa was presenting as he tried to emulate Manny Pacquiao. How this will all play out come November 14th remains to be seen, however, it's a tad bit surprising to hear that a little mocking and showboating rattled the welterweight champion so much that he chose to dismiss his most experienced sparring partner without first trying to address the problem.
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