Jennings learns from Cotto loss (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Jennings learns from Cotto loss

11:20am Friday 15th May 2009

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CHORLEY fighter Michael Jennings thinks he has learned from his defeat to Miguel Cotto as he prepares to return to the ring for the first time tonight.

While Jennings’ last fight was against one of the world’s top 10 pound for pound boxers at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden, this time he fights a little known Northern Irishman with just seven professional fights to his name over six rounds in Belfast.

Victory over Willie Thompson, on the undercard to Martin Rogan’s Sky-televised bout with Sam Sexton at the Odyssey Arena, would not be the highlight of Jennings’ career.

But he is keen simply to get back in action and put the Cotto loss behind him, having been stopped in the fifth round of his WBO world title fight in February.

“I don’t know a great deal about my opponent to be honest,” said the 31-year-old welterweight.

“He’s only had seven fights but he is unbeaten, and I’ve been jobs" target="_blank">training hard.

“I’m not too sure why it’s only six rounds, I think it’s a pretty packed bill but I wasn’t going to argue.

“It was a case of getting back out there and fighting. I’d rather have six rounds than none.

“I had three opponents pull out, mainly Eastern Europeans, and I thought he might pull out as well. But he hasn’t done.

“Obviously I’ve not got a lot to gain and he’s got everything to gain. The pressure’s all on me.

“But I’m not really one of those fighters who’s brash and says I’m going to do this or that.

“I’m not saying to myself I’ve got to knock out him out in the first round, because you don’t know what they’ve got until you get in there.”

Cotto is now being tipped for a potential match-up with Ricky Hatton’s conqueror, Manny Pacquiao.

And Jennings, who looks likely to face Rafal Jackiewicz for the European title in the near future, believes he can take a lot from the way he dealt with fighting a man who was always expected to win comfortably.

He said: “I’ve dusted myself off after the Cotto fight because there’s no point dwelling on it. If you do, you end up dwelling on it forever.

“I’ve worked on my defence, particularly to the body, because Cotto caught me with a body shot and I don’t want anyone to catch me with one like that again.

“And I’ve learned a lot on the mental side of things.

“Before the Cotto fight, people were all saying I was going he was going to win, saying he was going to knock me out in the first round and it might not be safe for me to get in there with him.

“After what everyone had said, just to get in the ring took a lot of courage and I’ll take a lot from that.”

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