By Manuel Perez: I hate to rain all over the Manny Pacquiao fans, but I honestly don’t think Pacquiao will be in for a tough fight against Miguel Cotto. And I’m really hoping that Pacquiao goes ahead and chooses Cotto as an alternative to waiting around and fighting the winner of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez bout on July 18th.

Pacquiao’s own promoter Bob Arum said recently that he’d like to have Pacquiao fight either Cotto or Edwin Valero next in a large stadium that can fit 100,000. Besides the obvious question of where and how would Pacquiao be able sell out such a large stadium, how would Pacquiao even compete with a talented welterweight like Cotto.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Pacquiao is good against certain opponents, like the 36-year-old Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, but against a real top welterweight like Cotto, you can forget it. I think Pacquiao will lose and lose badly.

Freddie Roach can set up any kind of bizarre weight requirements that he wants for Cotto to come in at, it won’t change a thing in this fight. Cotto will go, start pounding Pacquiao in the body, and quickly take him out in the first few rounds.

I don’t know if Arum is serious about wanting Pacquiao to fight Cotto or not, because he may be just using him as a way to ensure that Mayweather doesn’t ask for too big of a slice of the revenue pie. But if Arum is serious, it will be a huge mistake for him because I think Cotto will wipe the deck with Pacquiao, and I’m not the only that thinks this.

I think Pacquiao is a great lfighter, but he’s been matched perfectly in the past four years and hasn’t changed much as a fighter from the one that was easily defeated by Erik Morales in 2005 in my view. How anyone can think that a fighter like Pacquiao who was soundly beaten by an in shape, semi prime Morales in 2005 can beat a fighter like Cotto is beyond me.

Cotto is bigger, stronger, and the much better boxer than Pacquiao. Cotto can do it all – fight from the outside or inside, whereas Pacquiao is just a hit and run type fighter.

In the end, I think Pacquiao won’t want to fight Cotto, because he probably knows how dangerous Miguel is and what he would have in store for him if he chose to fight him. I wish Pacquiao’s fans weren’t so enthusiastic about wanting him to fight all these talented opponents like Cotto, because they’re really not helping Pacquiao.

What they need to do is find easy fights for him so that he can continue with what he’s been doing. Maybe lure Ricky Hatton into a rematch or maybe David Diaz – that would be really helping Pacquiao, but not by encouraging him to fight a dangerous puncher like Cotto.