Why Does Pacquiao Seem to Skip Over the Best Fighters?
July 1st, 2009
By Manuel Perez: On November 14th, Manny Pacquiao will be fighting World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas.
Same thing with Hatton, except that he hasn’t looked like the same fighter since 2007. If Pacquiao were fighting Hatton in 2006 or 2007, I could respect that, but not now. Hatton should have been nowhere near the ring on May 2nd, because he wasn’t in condition for a fight.
Instead of fighting Hatton, Pacquiao should have fought Timothy Bradley. He’s probably the best light welterweight in the division since last year, and I can’t see why Pacquiao would want to avoid that fight. Why is that?
In the past three years, Pacquiao has been fighting a list of old timers in Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and De La Hoya, rather than the talented fighters that still have something left like Nate Campbell, Humberto Soto, Marcos Maidana, and Bradley.
The one good choice that Pacquiao made was his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, and he ended up losing a controversial 12-round decision to Pacquiao. Predictably, Marquez wasn’t given a rematch after that fight and Pacquiao moved onto his recent fights against De La Hoya and Hatton.
That is really bad. Marquez deserved a rematch but instead he gets passed over for the old De La Hoya and a pretty much washed up Hatton. Now, Pacquiao is going after a welterweight in Miguel Cotto, but instead of fighting Shane Mosley, the fighter that is considered to be the top fighter in the division by many, Pacquiao is going after Cotto.
This choice of an opponent is a year late for Pacquiao, because Cotto was already beaten to a pulp by Antonio Margarito and then Cotto got a gift decision in his last fight with a 12-round split decision over Joshua Clottey. How in the world could Pacquiao want to face Cotto when he’s essentially been beaten in two out of his last three fights? What is that?
And if that wasn’t bad enough, Cotto will have to come in at a catch weight of 145 pounds so that he’s small enough (read: weak enough) for Pacquiao to fight him. Like I said before, you might as well tell Cotto that he has to fight on Pacquiao while on his knees so that Manny has enough of a handicap to win.
If it were me, I’d say forget that. I won’t fight Cotto until he proves that he can beat Margarito and Clottey. I don’t know why but Pacquiao seems to always take the easy fights. Why doesn’t he fight Marquez again or why doesn’t he man up and fight Paul Williams or Shane Mosley. If you want to fight the best in the division, you got to go after the top guys, not the ones like Cotto that was just beaten twice.
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Senor Perez-at “their” weights;Mosley,Cotto and Williams would beat Pacquiao convincingly.Psychologists don`t even waste chapters on your pathetic sort-waterboy.Bet you even think it’s you in the ring.You got your makeup bag ready to look like your boy when he gets beat?xxx
Hey.. Have you seen mr perez lately? He is one eyed due to catarac. The only thing he can not see excuses in Pacma’s win is when pacman will be fighting the self made boxing analyst mr. perez himself.
thi guy write in anonymous because he doesnt know anything of boxing and doesnt want to get criticize for that. pacman is a great fighter no doubt… nut he isnt GOD, he has his limits, we will see them in november. “Mosley is just bluffing” that is a hilarious comment, mosley is at his age (near 40) he still a very dangerous fighter. i dont see it like a hard fight for Cotto, but is a hard fight for pacman. is all right to be fan of a boxer but you gotta know their limits. Im puertorican and im fan of all PR boxers, but when i saw Tito Trinidad wanting to fight Hopkins i knew it was a hard fight and semi-imposible win for trinidad. i knew the cotto vs margarito fight was hard for both, but harder for Cotto because he was the smaller guy on the ring. In the Pacman vs Cotto fight i know that Cotto has all the advantages to win the fight (and its not because im a fan) because of the FACTS, Cotto is the bigger, stronger, hard chin, hard body, nice defender, good ofense, nice ring movement and the most important thing IS COMFORTABLE IN THAT WEIGHT. The only thing i see that pacman has in a little advantage to Cotto is hand speed. But remember pacman doent have a NICE defense and has a little week chin. But remember in boxing you can always get a surprise… so instead of talking about their greatness and who is better, lets wait to november, untill they fight, then we can tell who was or still the better fighter.
this latino, manuel perez a transparent marquez lover, just tells us true and real boxing fans that manny pacquiao really is the greatest boxer p4p in the world, because even great boxers like cotto becomes a weakling at the hands of the pacman, according to perez, and perez must not worry because pacquiao will just fight those boxers that whom marquez and mayweather are afraid to fight. just wait….he can’t beat them all in one night! their glorious time with pacquiao will come!pacquiao will be in their nightmares and wishes to get in the ring with him because he is the greatest fighter of the world! mosley is just bluffing! he is with the golden boy promotion remember who promotes the boring mayweather marquez fight! of course it’s only a distraction plot of golden boy prom to the most exciting fight of the year pacquiao cotto this oct.
wayne lord forget about manny vs mosley… there isnt a chance for manny to beat mosley (freddy roach knows this best than anyone on manny’s team), forget mayweather vs mosley too, mayweather retire because his next fights was cotto, mosley or margarito (he knows those guys are dangerous, big, fast and strong dangerous fighters) well margarito when he comes back need to prove that he can win without loaded gloves. in my opinion and in the mind of a lot of guys i talked about manny, manny should stay at 140lbs, maybe 145lbs, but should stay away from 147 and more. maybe marquez vs paquiao 3 will come, if pac-man loose to cotto and jmm loose to mayweather, the only fight left they got to make a lot of money will be the “pacman vs jmm 3″
The late great British Comic benny Hill used to say I went to the movies last night with somebody I have loved, respected and admired for years… yes, I went to the movies by myself.
Why is that my opening line? Well it seems like the only expert Perez seems to read is his own inaccurate, self created garbage. E.g. he keeps quoting other experts that he claims to have spoken to & read. And he quotes them by saying Manny lost both fights easily to Marquez. And thatbhe is also over rated and fights only bums.
Well people, please remind me, who do all of the major boxing magazines, famous writers, radio & TV commentators and the Boxing Writers all rate as the best P4P today? Of course Manny! I also checked many foreign writers in newspapers etc and again YES, Manny is No 1 there too!
So if all these experts rate Manny as No 1 and Perez keeps quoting so called unknown experts, he must be speaking of himslef, the self proclaimed great writer (not even in his mediocre mind eh?). But he claims it is many experts, then he must be so delusional that he thinks of himself as more than one. I guess he must be like James Brown, so good I just gotta jump back and look at myself.
Okay I must ask this question. If all the great writers are here on earth, then where the hell is Perez from? Not from this world? I guess because if he was, he would read, know and understand what real experts are saying. He would get out of that playground in his mediocre mind and expand his vocabulary beyond Manny Pacquiao.
Yes Perez, please write something that actually stimulates readers. You write contentitious stuff devoid of any factual content. Everything is not just quite opinionated but lacking an opinion of substance and trust. You have failed to write anything that will send a reader the record books or archives to check its accuracy. What is funny is that you even fail to accurately quote even yourself.
Each article you write always outdoes the one before..with more mistakes than the previous one. You are so good at that, you even misquote what you previously had misquoted in one of your original articles. That in itself is a guiness world record! Can’t wait for your next record breaking article! By the way, all experts I speak to voted you the undisputed P4P king of IDIOTS! And gues what? There are no challengers here on earth or that place you call home!!!!!!!! Do tell us where, so we can stay the hell away!
To close….
Folks, these will be great fights and drawgreat sales and interest:
Manny/Cotto; Mayweather/Cotto; Mosley/Manny
Manny/Mayweather; Cotto/Mosley, Manny/Marquez
Mosley/Mayweather Cotto/Mosley 2.
Manny VS any 140 Champ
Forget Marquez/Mayweather….not drawing flies!
OMG!!!! a gift win for cotto!!! this guy is a complete moron… WHAT THE HELL HE KNOWS ABOUT BOXING!! it was a close fight… cotto had de KO advantage, and clottey didnt do ANYTHING on the last 2 rounds… Cotto beat clottey with ONE eye!!! he was loosing a lot of blood, which get u exhausted, and was able to capitalize on clottey, AND YOU TELL ME IT WAS A GIFT WON?? Do yourself a favor and dont write more about boxing… Paquiao choose the only possible fight he had (and the small fighter available to fight). he wont risk fighting mosley he knows its impossible for him, mosley is to big, fast and has been never ko (its a stone), obiously wont fight clottey, clottey lost, cant fight mayweather because he is fighting JMM in september (its a lot of time to waste, pac-man its getting olther too), Margarito its too big for him and its suspended in the usa (wich is the best country to make huge profit fights). so tell me who he got left?? andre berto isnt in the top fighters yet… tell me a big name and posible fighter for paquiao on the welter-division?? the only one is Cotto, compare them… pac-man is 5′6″, cotto is 5′7″. cotto (after his loss) he still in the top fighters, and the most important thing!! COTTO has a belt and WANTS a huge profit fight… so tell me… i paquiao wanting an impossible fight or a competitive fight?? he wants the competitive (against cotto) instead of the impossible for him to win (against mosley).
cotto is no pushover. personally, i think cotto would rape and murder juan manuel marquez within 3 rounds. this writer is super insane.
ONE WAY OR THE OTHER MANUEL PEREZ IS GONNA SAY SOMETHING ABOUT PACQUIAO’S COMING OPPONENT.
IF HES GONNA FIGHT MOSELY, MANUEL PEREZ WILL SAY “HE’S 37-38 YRS OLD, OUT OF HIS TIME”
IF HE’S GONNA FIGHT MAYWEATHER, MANUEL PEREZ IS GONNA SAY ” MAYWEATHER WAS GONE FOR ALMOST 2 YRS” MONEY IS RUSTY.
NOW HE’S FIGHTING MIGUEL COTTO WHO IS BIGGER AND YOUNGER. MANUEL PEREZ SAYS:
By Manuel Perez: On November 14th, Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, and in doing so Pacquiao will yet again be cherry-picking the weaker champion to fight. I don’t know, but it seems like Pacquiao often fights the easier fights rather than stepping up and fight the best fighter in each division. The one good choice that Pacquiao made was his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, and he ended up losing a controversial 12-round decision to Pacquiao. Predictably, Marquez wasn’t given a rematch after that fight and Pacquiao moved onto his recent fights against De La Hoya and Hatton.
WOW HE DOWN GRADED COTTO THAT MUCH. I WISH THE COTTO FANS READS THIS REMARKS OF MANUEL PEREZ.
pacman is a good fighter one of the best… zab judah created problems for mayweather so i would love to see what pacman can do bc he is as fast as judah and a little stronger… but cotto should nto be in the ring with pacman… cotto is terrible and boring… he puts his head down and leans foward and thats the reason for all the headbutts… but he is garbage and arum doesnt want floyd bc he is scared to lose his cash cow which is smart on his part.. not saying pacman will lose but arum will nto risk it…
speed … like i said, it’s all business. just look at the names you mentioned, who are famous and considered draws to fight ? it’s quite obvious. but that doesn’t mean that these fighters are shot … they’re considered future hall of famers. besides, all the experts are ranking the Pacman #1 P4P … do you know of any expert or site who doesn’t agree ? that speaks for itself.
you have to understand the business of this sport, i’m sure you do. most (if not all) are doing the same thing nowadays – High reward, low risk. just an example, bradley is tougher than the Hitman, but it’s Hitman who draws money. both of them will give the Pacman a championship belt … so who to fight ? pretty simple. but even so, pls don’t take the Hitman fight of the Pacman’s accomplishments by saying that he is already not the same. he is still undefeated in his weight class (so why didn’t bradley fight him?) with DLH, who’s fault was that ? while it was set at 147, a hydrated DLH can easily step in the ring at about 160 … so didn’t he ? because he was afraid that while he is bigger, he might not be able to match the Pacman’s speed, so instead he even comes in lighter than the Pacman. both fights, the Pacman was still able to deliver with KO/TKO fashion. Mosley … well, Cotto beat him right ? Marquez, nothing to gain from that fight yet, so that can be for later. Williams … are you even thinking, Williams should be fighting middles / super welters and not welters. Maybe you’d also want the Pacman to fight Haye or Klitscho …
this is a horrible fight for boxing… pacman isnt the one ducking fighters its arum… arum is a typical you know what and is just for the money… pac and cotto will not be a good match bc pac is goign to kill cotto… cotto bores me and i think hes the most overrated fighter in the world… how can he be the top contender to face pacman when he is 1-1 in his last two fights… his last one he should have lost and wasnt even a pay per view fight because he cannot bring in any paper view numbers… ricans arent like filipinos…. filipinos will all spend money to watch the fight pr will either steal it or there will be 30000 of them in one apartment… this fight i will not watch and pac will win by round 5
first he says pac fights old men, now he wants manny to fight mosley instead of cotto? crazy! lol. anyways, this writer will get his hit with that nonsensical article. they always do when it comes to pacquiao. lol.
I think this is a sick fight tbh , but pacquiao needs 2 fight mayweather and mayweather needs to fight pacquiao and boxing neeeds this fight
This Is Just another excuse. Every time Manny wins theres always speculations. Just live with it. De La Hoya wanted to fight Pac-Man so did Hatton. Barrera and Morales were still good. Juan Manuel Marquez is the perfect fighter for Pacquiao. In the future either JMM or Mayweather Jr. will be good too after the Miguel Cotto fight. Mr Perez, be general, you shouldn’t be a writer.
you do what mayweather would not do and you sign to fight miguel cotto…and you are accused of picking easy fights.
I wish this writer would be removed he is ruining the site
Manny pacquiao has moved up 2 weights to fight Oscar De La hoya who had to move down one weight. He fought ricky hatton at 140 fair and square, where hatton would be heavier than pacquiao on the night. Pacquiao vs Williams are you crazy? Williams shudnt even be in the welterweight he’s freakishly 2 big for ww and pacquiao is 2 small for ww. The reason pacquiao is fighting cotto is because of business, mosely does not have as big fan base as cotto does. Who knows after pacquiao beats cotto and floyd ducks pacquiao you may see mosely vs pacquiao after all.
I look at the title of this article, then the writer, and skip right over it. But I have so much fun reading the comments that people give Manuela Perez. This guy is like that sweaty guy in the office that people think is wierd, and makes comments under his breath, but no one ever hears him because they stay away because he’s smelly. Yeah, I see Manuela Perez kind of being like that.
like mosley said “cotto is a young lion”cotto beat mosley so how is mosley the top welterweight?alot of people are counting cotto out but i think he has a hell of a chance in wining this fight and by knock out at that!!!.
Is the writer stupid?? Just on his anti-Pacquiao agenda as usual. Hatton was totally warranted in fighting Pacquiao,as Hatton was the main rival at light-welter.
We see this time and time again, when a fighter loses, he’s “was actaully washed-up before hand” ie. Jeff Lacy, and now Ricky Hatton was a “soft-touch” for Manny, and fighting Cotto is “taking the easy route”.
You think MP should foght Bradley, yeah…good one, that’ll make big box-office. Bradley beating Junior Witter, does not make him top-draw, in terms of either ability or box-office.
Manual, I think you need to take a long hard look at this article and maybe move away from the boxing forums for a while. Clearly, you have an agenda that just seems odd. Take some time out, learn a bit more about boxing, and maybe write agin next year when you understand a little more so hopefully you’re articles make more sense.
this boy aint got a clue – morrales and barrera were still in their prime when pacman beat them – barrera coming of his win against naseem.
At the time de la hoya was a huge favorite in which everyone was calling dlh for picking the easy fights and everyone also wanted to see the hatton fight so fair play to the guy.
Now he is fighting cotto who apart from marquez and mayweather he is the highest in the p4p ranking for pacman to fight.
also note cambell is over 35 so you could say he was too old and maidana and bradley are just average fighters wholl get found out shortly and soto nearly got beat of a canadian journeyman in his last fight
This article is just abysmal – like most on this stupid site. Cotto is an incredibly tough pick for PacMan and I doubt there is a fan alive who think anything else.
Now… why does Manny Pacquiao has all the money and you get all the crap from boxing fans? Get a life and maybe you’ll get a wife.
manuel perez stil u are ridiculous.. u are using the same arguments time & again. how do u say Cotto is a weakest where in fact he beats the like of mosley & now clottey.. give also pac a little even fight so 145lbs is agreed, even that pac will not weight above 145 he can reach only at 144.. cotto camp says 145 is ok so lets do it no more excuses.. WHY the fight still far ahead then u are predecting that cotto is no match wt pac…. if facts are facts Cotto base on resume of both fighter Cotto should win this fights but as we always see Pac get better evry fights..
give pacman a break! it seems there’s always an excuse every time pacman wins. i tell you, regardless who will be pacman’s opponent, there will be an excuse why he won, if he wins.
Miguel Cotto won’t be weight drained at 145, he himself stated that and his nutritionist said that, in fact he would still be alright coming into the weigh in at 144, but of course if Manny Pac beats him Perez will say he’s weight drained he’s already saying it.
ugly ass gayweather jr. is a F*&king cherry picker, why do pick him and his father then critize? why? pick the picker dumb assh$%le..
Batengueno – of course you agree with this article…since you wrote it Ms. manuela perez.
Pacquiao would fight the best fighters only if he were the best himself. It is easy to pick on the easy fighters , he obviously just doesn’t have it, poor guy!
Q: Why does Pacquiao seem to skip over the best fighters?
A: Because that’s what cherry pickers do.
I totally agree with this article. Morales in the first fight was not the war-weary fighter he became in the following years, and you saw what happened — he outboxed Pacquiao. Morales II, it was even harder for Erik to make the weight. Morales III was unnecessary. Barrera was ripe for the taking, a big name on the decline. Marquez in the first fight showed you how inept Pacquiao was and how brilliant JMM was in adjusting in the middle of the bout — knocked down 3x yet schooled Pacquiao the rest of the way. Marquez II, without the single KD, he should have won. Heck, watch the fight in slowmo and score it, you might see Nonito Donaire and Recah Trinidad were right when they said Pacquiao lost. That is if you are not blinded by idolatry. Me, I have no problem Pac winning that one. JMM was slower, less powerful and five years older, Pac should have dominated him, yet he cannot.
About Cotto, yes, it is true, Cotto is no longer the fighter he used to be after Margarito clubbed him with cemented fists. On top of that, he has to drain himself to make the catch weight. I’d like to say the catch weight would be unfair to Cotto, but he is in for the money, so he will get what he’s asking for. He must have realized he’s only got a few fights left in him, time to cash in, get in the ring with the most popular overrated boxer today. Win or lose he gets his slice of the cake.
If there is anything impressive about Manny Pacquiao it is the brilliance of his promoter Bob Arum and his trainer/father figure Freddie Roach.
Arum is a master spinner. Like those Hollywood pimps who market run-of-the-mill viewer-friendly films with good-looking actors who cannot act. Mark Wahlberg, for example.
Roach is a virtuoso in finding the perfect opponents for Manny. An over-the-hill Dela Hoya and one-trick-pony Hatton. And now Cotto who maybe damaged goods but can still pose a threat at 147 above, so he was black-mailed into a catch-weight — Arum must have convinced Cotto’s camp that they cannot get a bigger $ fight than this, what with Cotto’s showing of late. Enter Roach and his paternal instinct of protecting his boy — asking 143-145 or no fight.
I don’t expect you Pacnuthuggers to understand what Perez has been trying to say, it’s like reading Shakespeare to a bunch of kindergarten kids. The difference is kindergarten kids have potential to learn, you Pacnuthuggers do not; the kindergarten kids will eventually grow up, you Pacnuthuggers will never.
Dummy, Manny Pacquiao already said he’s willing to fight Marquez again at 140.
I would have to disagree! Boxing is not the same like it was back in the day! Boxing has become a business first! If Pacman fights Campbell,Bradley,Soto,Maidana, he makes $10 mil but fighting DLH,Hatton,Morales,Barrera, he made $50 million! I give Cotto a lot of credit, he’s step up to the plate by fighting the best WW! Even though is all most impossible to win a decision over Cotto in NYC! Atleast he took those tough fights! This fight is mostly for Bob Arum, he’s sittin on top of the boxing world right now. If anyone is ducking tough fights, its MAYWEATHER JR! He has not fought the best WW! I like his skills but why not show the world ur greatness by truely beating the best! He claims not to fight moseley cuz he has 5 losses! Mayweather last 10 fights has been against guys averaging 3-4 losses! Mayweather is a money chaser! I don’t fault him for that but fighting easy fights dosen’t make you great! DLH was the best fighter he faced the past few years & he barely won!
this guy is not for real the boxing fans know cotto and pac man are the best out there and cotto has got all the tools too win the fight so get a life buddy.
boxing is a business perez, thats why he fought hatton not brdley.
now tell me if pac beats your so right-opponent Mosley. Will you say pac beats an old past his prime boxer again? IDIOT!!!!
lala, can u imagine any american bringing 20000, wouldn’t happen
why did pac figt hatton instead of tim bradley? you do realise that boxing is a business first and hatton brings ALOT more money to the table than bradley….hmmm…hatton brings over 20,000 people to vegas for his fights….can you imagine bradley bring 20,000 americans to britain for a fight??? didn’t think so.
the reason is the money and the small fact that hatton was recognised as the no1 140 pounder in the world.
Not sure what’s your beef with the PAC but no matter how you look it “PAC and all his opponets making the BANK”… MP- Just keep on writing, It’s acctually intertaining..
i like manny pac and dont completely agree with perez but we all know mayweather is p4p champ.god bless!
Cotto is not a ‘weak’ champ. he lost to margarito (cheese n tomoto) who cheated.
but, perez, im going to answer you you question, but i will only once so read
Q. ManPerez: On tim Bradley (fighting Hatton instead), why is that?
A. Me: Becauase boxing is a business. Hatton sells an unbelievable amount of tickets and has amazing loads fans, so does de la hoya. bradley doesnt.
Perez loves pac so much its freaky, how come you love pac so much your obsessed. you must be a very lonely boy.
tim bradley? pacman would murder him no problem.
Cotto beat Mosley
Cotto beat Judah
Cotto beat Clottey
How on earth can you say he is a weak champion.
If you said Cotto were to fight Pacquiao 6 months ago, you wouldnt have given Pacquiao a hint of a chance of winning. Now you say he is cherry picking? Man you are crazy. All you Pacman haters are crazy..
i agree with you adam. even if pacman fights the klitscjko brothers he will still find excuse to put him down. mp is a clown that is all he is good for. did read the article but i know what he will write..
Another anti-pacquiao and not very worthwhile article.There should be 1 title for each weight division and thats why we dont see the best fights.To many fighters want to pick the easiest route to a world title to avoid the great champions out there for example amir kahn moving up in weight to fight koltelnik what a farce.I think manny and cotto will be a fine fight to watch but i do think cotto is more vulnerable than he has ever been but that makes it more exciting and we all know what he is capable of on his night.Perez is a clown and remember cotto beat mosley
SOME good points but….
if pac beats Cotto, cotto will be washed up,
If pac beats Mosley, Mosley will be too old,
If pac beats Bradley, Bradley will be over rated
Just like Hatton. He was in the top 2 of the world, pac beats him and he was washed up.
allthough i dont agree with him fighting de la hoya it dosnt matter who he fights he wont get the recognision.
Manuel Perez you are a complete prick !!