Roach right, Francis wrong, Pacquiao amazing!
November 17th, 2009
By Al Francis: In my second article for this site, published about two months ago, I predicted Miguel Cotto to knock out Filipino star Manny Pacquiao. I felt that despite Pacquiao’s great talent and ferocity, the bigger and stronger Cotto would prove to be a step too far, however I severely miscalculated! Some writer’s like to make bold claims like quiting writing if they’re proved wrong. Thank god I’m not that stupid!
Back when the pac-man was lined up to face Oscar De La Hoya I was firmly on the mismatch bandwagon, thinking like many at the time, that Oscar would over power Manny in an embarrassingly one-sided fight. Well, it was embarrassingly one-sided, but the other way round, couldn’t have got it more wrong! I did manage to predict Hatton getting KO’d early, one little success sandwiched by two glaring failures, ah well, you win some, you lose some!
One man that doesn’t seem to be losing some in the prediction stakes is Freddie Roach, he didn’t get his round prediction right this time but he did say Pacquiao would make it look easy. And lets be fair, the fight really could have been stopped around the ninth or tenth round, as Roach predicted. Manny was simply phenomenal, I have long been a fan of his but I think this was his most impressive win yet, that’s the third time I’ve said that after a Pacquiao fight in the last year!
In the grand theatre of top flight boxing, Manny Pacquiao stole the script and took Cotto’s role as the stronger man, leaving poor Miguel without a part to play. In round one, they were each others equals with neither man dominating, but I gave the round to Cotto as I felt he just shaded it. After that it was all Manny. And let’s not talk about weight either, Cotto weighed in just one pound less than he did for his last fight, this wasn’t like De La Hoya, it was a prime athlete against another prime athlete and the better man won.
What next for Pacquiao? Anything he pleases, of course it goes without saying that the fight everyone wants to see is Pacquiao taking on Mayweather in what will surely be the richest fight in history, but there are other options in case Floyd still thinks he deserves a 65-35 split in his favour. Pacquiao could meet Marquez in a third fight in Texas at 140, or Edwin Valero at 140 in what could very well be the biggest all asian fight of all time, or Shane Mosley in a unification at 147. Manny has more options than Floyd, so where do all roads lead to? Certainly not Mayweather!
What next for me? I’ll continue writing and continue following the sport, I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again, let’s just hope I get get a few right in between! One thing’s for sure though, the next time I bet against Pacquiao will be his heavyweight debut!
The man is simply amazing.
Tags: 40 Responses to “Roach right, Francis wrong, Pacquiao amazing!”
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Floyd Mayweather is a match made in heaveb for PacMan. The man who eats potatoes vs. the man who loves to eat rice. Who will win? Well,if PacMan follows Freddie’s gameplan then Floyd will try to save his pretty face and crumple to the canvas like mashed potatoes after his abdomen turns to jello from the Pac Attack.
AW! Manuel Perez … this article is all about you. Now this is your time to be a man Manuel Perez.
Some of the writers wont quit cuz they had no respect to lose in the 1st place. But then some of us know that they never actually mean what they write anyway its just a ploy to get many responses.
I was another who thought hed be too small for DLH, then claimed maybe DLH was shot and weight drained, then i said hed be blown away by Hatton then claimed maybe Hatton never gave himself a chance more than Pacman just destroying him. And i claimed Cotto would KO him too. I began to waver on that prediction but to be honest more than half expected it to happen.
Ive just gotta say ive now accepted Pacman for what he is, brilliant. And id love to see him take on Mayweather or Mosley next.
good article Al. credibility is everything in sports writing, esp if you’re into predicting fights. your pees…ur, peers perez and liam? they should pack their pencils, leave this site and go write for some cheap tabloids…spend their miserable egos hunting aliens or bigfoot or something. that should work for them…they have no business writing here.
If you want CREDIBILITY on this website, FIRE OUT LIAM SANTIAGO!! If you want people to take your website seriously and not much like a tabloid, FIRE OUT LIAM SANTIAGO!! He is a rotten tomato that would spoil the good ones. If you writers would not want your good reputation to be spoiled by an ignorant writer FIRE OUT LIAM SANTIAGO!!
Let’s go Yankees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is hard not to comment on Santiago and Perez. You may be right that the best way to deal with those guys is to ignore them. However there is also another way, is to keep pointing out their mistakes and incompetence. Some of the harsh words and expletives hurled against those two are quite harsh and I am sure it is affecting them. You have to be a complete idiot not to be affected by those harsh words. These guys are not complete idiots. Close but not totally. They still feel it.
Oh Yeah I’m back and able to post a response.
Al you are a good and respectable writer in this site and I admire you for that. Kudos to you.
I hope that Santiago and Perez won’t be back coz they are doing more harm on this site rather than the opposite.
Good article. There’s some stupid comment why Pacquiao choose Cotto not Clottey. What a very stupid comment. A comment for person without brains or commonsense at all. Why would Pacquiao choose Clottey when Cotto won the fight? And some idiot why Pacquiao choose Cotto not Mosley? Who won the fight moron? Go to school before making a comment. Duh.
Oh I see, now my responses are back! Hahah. Manuel Perez/Liam Santiago…good bye idiots! Oh God, this is too funny!!! Damn, you guys should go bus table where Manny had dinner. HAhahahahaha. Oh man…f@#%k both of you.
Why is my responses are being blocked? Who does is blocking them? Manuel Perez/Liam Santiago? Umm…got it! lol.
Al, you’re a good man and you deserve the respect of the boxing fans no matter whose side they are. As for Liam Santiago and Manuel Perez, they dishonor Boxing News24 and insult our intelligence.They, the self-proclaimed “protectors” of Latino boxers are simply sour losers and should not, nay, MUST NOT be allowed to use this website for their own silly, idiotic and illogical rant.
Mr. Francis much respect for giving credit to the Pacman.
Pacquiao will kill JMM AT 145 LBS.The reason why Pacquiao struggle with JMM at 130 lbs.because it was a nightmare for him during the training to keep his weight down.The man was naturally getting bigger.And he eat rice 3 to 4 times a day.And it is the white starchy rice.That’s where his power is coming from.
KUDOS TO FRANCIS FOR RECOGNIZING HIS WRONG PREDICTION.AND HEY EVERYBODY IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION.ROACH WANTS MAYWEATHER TO BE MANNY’S NEXT OPPONENT.ROACH KNOWS THE PUNCHING POWER OF MAYWEATHER IS WAY INFERIOR THAN MIGUEL COTTO’S.TAKE THE PREVIOUS THREE FIGHTS HE HAD,AGAINST DE LA HOYA,RICKY HATTON,AND JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ.DE LA HOYA STOOD STRONG FROM HIS PEPPERED JABS AND POWER PUNCHES,IT TOOK HIM NINE ROUNDS TO DISMANTLE HATTON AND WITH JMM,HE DIDN’T BEAT HIM UP LIKE A BIGGER MAN WITH A BIGGER POWER PUNCH SHOULD DO.ROACH IS AN EINSTEIN WHEN RECOGNIZING AND DISSECTING AN OPPONENTS CAPABILITIES.OF COURSE MAYWEATHER WANTS THE BIGGER SHARE,IF HE LOSSES HE KNOWS THAT HIS MONEYWEATHER SALEABILITY WON’T BE THE SAME.SO HE WILL HAVE TO SQUEEZE OUT THE BEST FOR HIM IF EVER THIS BOUT WILL TAKE PLACE.
great article… you’re truly man of words… by means of repentance, many people specially those who were against manny’s power and fighting spirit that they were underestimated these icon star from the philippines… manny and his fans forgive you… and thats not all, continuing support to pacman will bless you and your family… ty
great article, al. at least you have the balls not like manuel perez whose balls have transfered to his forehead.
aj, please read earlier comments, its been corrected, Valero IS venezuelan, but thanks bud. im sure you dont need me to tell which 2 special writers inspired this one!
nice article. Just one correction. Pac vs valero would not be all asian. Valero is from venezuela, S. America
completely agree with Aslseelt.
haha, if i could ban him and santiago, then believe me i would!
Surely they must realise how useless they are, i mean ive personally exposed santiago countless times.
AL Francis,
Great and admirable man you are for being honest about your right and wrong predictions.I think that is commendable and yes go on and keep writing and hope that other writers will emulate you.Maybe you can lecture manuel perez about how he should conduct himself.his articles are utterly sick and plain hatred.dont writers learn about responsible writing?i thought he has vanished as soon as cottos’ face was tattered and pacquiao’s hands were raised by bayless.i laughed when manuela came out today to offer another excuse.how many excuses is he or any allowed?nine times like cats who have nine lives?
Late on the Venezuela comment.
Al,
Technically, yes, both Pacquiao and Mayweather have other options, but they aren’t good options. Marquez is a no-go, since Hatton and Marquez started talks this week to make a fight in Manchester in early 2010 (RingTV.com).
Valero (who is Venezuelan by the way, not Asian) is an even worse match-up for Pac-Man. With the ability that Pacquiao has shown at Welterweight, odds are worse than slim that he goes back down in weight to fight a small market fighter like Valero. With Marquez, at least he could count on a large draw from Mexican fight fans.
Neither fight will be made. Mayweather’s team will back off from the 65-35 nonsense and Pacquiao/Mayweather will happen somewhere close to 50/50.
And don’t feel bad about picking Cotto. Lots of people had the same idea, myself included. At this point we should just consider ourselves lucky to watch a legendary romp through the lower weight divisions.
I’m still waiting for TeamJ&J. Great article Mr. Francis.
Really good article, one of the best i’ve read on this website, your right about that guy santiago what a duchbag!
I think that Mosley is more of an exciting fight than Mayweather. A Pacquiao victory over Mosley will mean more than a victory over Mayweather. Why because I think that Mosley fight is easier to win from Pacuqiao point of view because Mosley engages. A fight with Mayweather is more difficult because he is a defensive specialist and will not engage and will hit and run because he is an expert on this kind of boxing. Nobody changes that quick. Styles makes fights. For the money, it’s Maywather against Pac but for greatness and more excitement, it’s Mosley.
To Mr. Francis,
Thank you for being a responsible journalist with integrity. Unlike Mr. Perez, or the dishonorable liam santiago.
what about Mayweather? nobody is bashing him when Shane called him out FIRST after that Marquez circus …. also his dad? what a work of art .. moves from one paycheck to another then if they lose, he bashes them … talk about loyalty. If Pacman beats Mayweather, will he bash is own son also?? hmmm …. Perez = Santiago = Anonymous (same person = same idea = LOSER)
Cheers to you Al for ‘unbiased’ reporting.
Relax Al, nobody is perfect! The thing is that to accept one’s own mistakes speaks good about you’r character. And Yesss….I bet a lot of boxing critics will not dare speak “trash” about the Pacman even if he was to fight the Klitsko brothers…ja…ja…ja..
Al, many respectable writers predicted wrong. That’s normal. You predicted based on thinking and not on plain BS. I will continue to read your future articles since it gives us an intelligent view from the others side. Otherwise if there was only one side to view, the fight will not be interesting. Imagine if everyone wrote that Pacquiao will win.
I guess there is an accidental advantage for the other guys to BS about one side. It intrigues and draws a lot of commenters in this website. If that’s the only purpose, let them be.
As for Pac’s next fighter. I hope it would be the winner of Mosley-Berto. Mayweather is not interesting at all.
You are a true writer and a good man to accept your mistake. Pacquiao showed the world why he is p4p king and i give him full credit. Cotto didn’t make any excuses so all you fake,bandwagon, pacquiao haters should stop crying and give Pacquiao his do.
FLOYD IS A CHICKEN HE HAS AN EXCUSE NOT TO FIGHT EVERY FIGHTER CAPABLE OF BEATING HIM, HE RAN FROM COTTO, MARGARITO AND WILLIAMS AND INSTEAD TOOK DALA HOYA AND THE SMALLER HATTON HE JUST SITS ON THE SIDELINES WHILE THESE GUYS FIGHT EACH OTHER AND TAKE EACH OTHER OUT OF THE EQUATION AND NOW HE SCARED OF MOSELY.
Great article Al!
Al Francis is a man. It takes a man to accept mistakes.
To mis-predict is okay. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen.
Unlike LIAM SANTIAGO, who claims those 2 pounds made the difference.
I guess he would know, he lost 2 ounces, it made him less of a man.
What 2 ounces did he lose?? HIS BALLS!!
Wow…great commentary “Anonymous”…wonder why you don’t even have the guts to put down your name on such a very insightful and so true post…NOT!
You are drunk on Mayweather juice! If he is really the best, then why duck Mosley? I acknowledge he is a good fighter…but if you base that because he is undefeated, then you have blinders on…it only means one thing he never fights unless he is sure that he is going to win…if that is your idol then no wonder you don’t put your name…you are just like your idol…a gutless coward…
Great article, hope floyd and manny fight next year, i like mosley alot but Pretty boy vs Pacman is the fight the whole world is talking about.
floyds the best fighter in the world but pacman is the most exciting
respect to Francis for making no excuses for the brave cotto
I DONT WANT TO SEE PAC VS FLOYD , FLOYD WILL MAKE IT BORING AND HE DOESNT DESERVE TO FIGHT PAC, PAC SHOULD FIGHT MOSELY THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!