By Manuel Perez: The much respected Oscar De La Hoya has thrown his hat into the ring by predicting that World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto will beat Manny Pacquiao this Saturday night in their title fight at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

De La Hoya had this to say at The Ring: “I’m now convinced Cotto will win…Cotto has a good chin and a big heart. He’s a natural welterweight who hits hard and is also smart and fast. Pacquiao doesn’t hit hard enough to knock anyone out in the welterweight division.”

There you have it, Cotto is going to win the fight says De La Hoya. I have to go with what an expert like De La Hoya says. He has won countless titles during his 16-year pro career and is one of the biggest money makers ever in the sport. If anyone should know who’s going to win the fight, it’s De La Hoya.

I’m in full agreement with De La Hoya about the great chin of Cotto, and the fact that he’s a natural welterweight as opposed to a pumped up one like Pacquiao. I never for a second considered that Pacquiao could win the fight, unlike De La Hoya, but then again I have great knowledge about Pacquiao and Cotto’s skill level. That made it a no brainer for me.

I see where the talent is in this fight, and I naturally had to pick Cotto to win the fight. De La Hoya has fought Pacquiao previously, and he pointed out that he doesn’t hit hard. I agree with De La Hoya. Pacquiao can knock out small light welterweights, but when it comes to facing a prime welterweight who has size and power over Pacquiao, the Filipino is going to taste defeat and taste it in a big way.

De La Hoya says that he was impressed with Pacquiao’s hand speed initially when thinking that Pacquiao would win the fight over Cotto. The reason for this was because of Cotto’s less than spectacular performance against Joshua Clottey in his last bout in June.

Clottey gave Cotto a lot of problems with his fast hands, which are probably every bit as fast as Pacquiao’s hands. However, Cotto showed in that fight – and in the bout against Shane Mosley in 2007 – that Cotto can neutralize speed with his boxing ability. De La Hoya correctly points out that Cotto was badly cut over his eye for most of the fight and had a hard time seeing Clottey through all the blood. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is counting on Pacquiao opening up a cut over one or both of Cotto’s eyes so that Pacquiao can get an advantage by that happening.

However, that won’t be enough for Pacquiao to win the fight I’m afraid. Cotto is still very effective even with cuts over his eyes, and it will take much more than that for Cotto to be beaten by Pacquiao. De La Hoya further believes that Pacquiao will attempt to go right at Cotto at the beginning of the fight, hoping to take him out early. When Pacquiao fails at this, De La Hoya believes that Cotto will try to stay on the outside and try to look for counter shot openings.

However, De La Hoya sees Cotto walking Pacquiao down and taking the fight to him. Cotto doesn’t leave any openings when he comes forward. He has his jab working for him and clearing the path. Pacquiao has probably seen a lot of film of Cotto and maybe thinks he can get past Cotto’s powerful jab, but he won’t. Cotto is probably going to eat Pacquiao up to the body when Pacquiao comes rushing forward and hurt Pacquiao with hard body shots.