Cotto’s name will bring huge interest in Mayweather-Cotto fight; Bradley’s name won’t bring the same for Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 02/03/2012 - Comments

Image: Cotto's name will bring huge interest in Mayweather-Cotto fight; Bradley's name won't bring the same for PacquiaoBy Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. has really done himself a huge favor by outmaneuvering Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and his number #1 fighter Manny Pacquiao by signing on WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto for a fight against Mayweather on May 5th.

Not only will this fight draw a lot more interest among boxing fans than what Pacquiao is left with – Timothy Bradley – but it will also bring in huge money for both Mayweather Jr. and Cotto in what may easily be the biggest pay per view event of 2012.

Pacquiao and Arum had the chance of getting Cotto for a rematch, but Pacquiao made a glaring mistake by drawing a line in the sand by saying he wouldn’t fight above 147lbs, not even a pound over. Cotto, for his part, refused to give into Pacquiao a second time, and steadfast at not wanting to fight below 150.

This is where Pacquiao completely blew it and lost the fight. His habit of always getting his way in negotiations for less popular opponents seems to have given him a little too much confidence that he could get Cotto to bend to his will as well. It didn’t work out, and it was a huge blunder in hindsight by Pacquiao that will likely hurt him in a big way in terms of dollars and cents by him having to settle for the less popular Timothy Bradley.

I don’t think that Bradley-Pacquiao is a bad fight, but I just don’t see it a PPV worthy fight. It’s more of a free HBO bout in my view, because it’s a mismatch unless Pacquiao looks like he did last time he fought against Juan Manuel Marquez. The main things Pacquiao has to worry about in a fight with Bradley is not to be hugged to death or head-butted into unconsciousness. Those are only things I can see that might be a concern for Pacquiao.

If Bradley is picked out for him to fight next, then there will always be the chance that Bradley will turn into a Billy Goat and ram Pacquiao around the ring with his head all night. I can just picture how bloody and battered Pacquiao will look after 12 rounds of getting crowned by the top of Bradley’s head in 36 minutes of action. We could be talking about multiple cuts, black eyes, busted nose and cracked or missing teeth. But that’s what you get when you play hardball with Cotto. Pacquiao could have had him, but didn’t want to give in.



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