By Manuel Perez: Ever since Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KO’s) defeated Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, Manny seems to have become a little too confident in his abilities. Instead of putting things in perspective and releasing he just essentially beat two hand picked opponents; Pacquiao seems to be acting as if he beat the top fighters in boxing.
All I can say is that Pacquiao is going to be in for a big surprise when he faces Cotto on November 14th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas. I could see Pacquiao being sky high right now had he beaten someone like Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Juan Manuel Marquez or Timothy Bradley in his last two fights.
I mean, those guys can still fight and have a lot talent still in them. But when you go hunt down a 36-year-old De La Hoya or someone like Hatton, a guy that was already exposed by Floyd Mayweather Jr. two years ago, then I see the wins as being empty, useless and without value. Those aren’t wins to me.
Pacquiao bypassed Bradley to fight Hatton, and then skipped over Margarito and Mosley to fight De La Hoya. Does any honestly think that De La Hoya could beat Margarito or Mosley? Of course not. Then why did Pacquiao fight De La Hoya rather than Mosley or Margarito? Was it because he was considered an easy option? What Hatton?
Does anyone honestly think that Hatton could beat Bradley? If they do, they’re severely deluded because Bradley would likely dominate Hatton just as bad as Pacquiao was if given the chance. Of course, Hatton has never given Bradley a chance at fighting him and you can bet that he never will either. In all likelihood, Bradley would literally wipe the deck with Hatton and beat him an in embarrassingly easy fight.
So in the end, things will even out because Pacquiao will be finally in with a fighter with talent, power, defensive ability and speed when he faces Cotto on November 14th. And Manny will be in for the shock of his life when he starts taking heavy shots to the hit. Cutting corners isn’t a good practice.
There’s a reason why fighters take an incremental approach to facing better opponents. It’s so that they don’t get in over their head by facing someone too good for them. The problem for Pacquiao is that he’s going from the softest of competition in fighting an old weight drained De La Hoya and past it Hatton to a fighter that is still at the top of his game in 28-year-old Cotto.
There isn’t a go between fighter like Joshua Clottey, Zab Judah or Luis Collazo to get Pacquiao ready for fighting a good welterweight. So basically Pacquiao is going from soft opposition to one of the three best fighters in the welterweight division.
And because of that, I think Pacquiao is going to take punishment and end up getting knocked out, bleeding on the canvas and wondering where he is afterwards. It will be his own fault. If Pacquiao had only fought some good guys instead of jumping over the pack to go after a quality fighter for a change in Cotto. That’s what happens when you cherry pick your opponents and take the easy path.
Comments are closed.