Cotto fighting for his Legacy

By Eric Hernandez: watched the weight in and I have to say that both fighters looked in phenomenal shape. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao was particularly impressive as he reminded me of someone who has had an obvious impact on him the late Bruce Lee. Miguel Cotto while not as ripped also appeared to be in phenomenal shape.

The atmosphere at the weight in was electric and I expect nothing less on fight night as both fighters have a fanatical fan base. The official weight in showed Manny Paquiao weighing in at 144 pounds and Miguel Cotto at 145, unfortunately for Pacquiao I expect that Cotto will weight somewhere in the neighborhood of 154 pounds by tonight.

While the buzz has been around Pacquiao it is Miguel Angel Cotto who has more to lose tonight. While Cotto seems to say all the right things surrounding the Margarito fight, you can’t help but wonder just how much that fight took from him. By winning Cotto can not only establish himself as one of the best boxers of his era but he can catapult himself back in the conversation of best P4P.

In order to do this you have to win and win convincingly. When you walk away from the ring tonight you must leave no doubt that you were the better fighter. You cannot let the smaller Pacquiao dominate you the way he dominated an over the hill Oscar De la Hoya. You must come out and let Manny Pacquiao know that this night will not belong to him, that his luck of fighting at a catch weight has just ran out.

We all know what Pacman will bring to this fight, plenty of heart, hand speed and an unorthodox fighting style that can frustrate even the most veterans of fighters. Don’t matter, Cotto you will need to prepare to defeat Pacquiao and handle anything that comes your way.

In order to do that, you Cotto need to become once again a devastating body puncher as you were earlier in your career, you need to show the swagger you showed pre Margarito. In reality Pacman, short of suffering the kind of humiliation he brought on Ricky Hatton can go home a hero where he is already an icon but for you Mr. Cotto there are grave consequences, lose and the doubts and memory of the Margarito fight will loom around your neck like an albatross, lose tonight and you can forget about joining the Mount Rushmore of boxing Legends in Puerto Rico which include the likes of Benitez, Gomez and Trinidad.

Lose tonight and your boxing career can go in a downward spiral which only the truly great ones can reverse. In Puerto Rico they don’t talk about the wins as much as they talk about the defeats, mention Benitez and you think of the defeat at the hands of Sugar Ray Leonard. mention Wilfredo Gomez and the first thing you think about is the lost to the late and great Salvador Sanchez, with Trinidad it was his lost to De la Hoya, wait he actually won that fight and yet people still talk about it as if he had lost, fair or not it’s the nature of the beast when you fight out of Puerto Rico, so the questions begs what is it going to be Miguel? Are you going to stamp your greatness tonight or let the smaller mighty Pacquiao go home a conquering hero once again, you must decide quickly my friend, Mount Rushmore is waiting on you!

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