By Liam Santiago: According to boxing sources, Paulie Malignaggi has tipped Cotto to knock out Manny Pacquiao when they meet on November 14th. The New York light welterweight master also predicted after the defeat, Pacquiao would be matched with Clottey, who he claimed would also easily knock him out.
These seem very bold statements to make from Malignaggi, but don’t forget, this is the man who went twelve rounds with Cotto and suffered some serious punishment. He said, ‘The guy hits like a beast, as I said, Clottey would be a bigger test than Pacquiao. I think Cotto will knock him out and I think they put Pacquiao in the ring with Clottey – Clottey would knock him out also. Wait until everyone gets their reality check, November 14th’.
Malignaggi knows first hand what it takes to go the distance with Cotto. I really can not see Pacquiao surviving Cotto’s attack. Remember Pacquiao has been knocked out in the past by a body shot, which is Cotto’s trademark shot. If the Pacquaio camp are seeing this fight as a tune up they might be very well mistaking.
Of course, Cotto will be entering the fight at a disadvantage as he has to shed an extra two pounds in weight to meet Pacquiao’s demands. Two pounds is a lot at the top level. Unless the weight loss has the same affect on Cotto as it has on Pacquiao’s past opponents, I can not see any way Cotto can not over power Pacquiao.
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