By Manuel Perez: There’s only two more weeks before Manny Pacquiao meets his doom against Miguel Cotto on November 14th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao looked worried on HBO’s Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7 episode 2 show this past weekend. I could see fear growing on Pacquiao’s face as Cotto’s name was being mentioned. I’ve seen that look on Pacquiao’s face before when he fought Juan Manuel Marquez two times and in his first fight with Erik Morales, and it’s not a good sign. Fear tells you a lot about what’s going inside a particular fighter.
For some boxers, it’s no big deal but for others it can be critical and something that ruins them mentally. I think the latter case will be the situation for Pacquiao in his fight with Cotto. He’s going to crumble first from fear and then from the huge power shots from Cotto.
Pacquiao was getting handled really well in the sparring session during the episode 2., I couldn’t help but notice. It’s nice to see things for myself instead of having to hear things second hand through the filter of Pacquiao’s love sick boxing fans.
What I saw was Pacquiao getting pretty much man handled by some big, slow sparring partner who has none of the speed and power that Cotto will be bringing all night long on November 14th. If this is any indication of how Pacquiao will be fighting against Cotto, then Pacquiao doesn’t stand a chance in hell against Cotto. This will be as one-sided a fight that you’ll ever see in your life.
The look of fear on Pacquiao’s face is a big concern for me. Pacquiao looks as if he’s ready to go to pieces even before the first punch is thrown. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, needs to settle Pacquiao down because this is going to be a one big slaughter if Pacquiao comes in the fight looking timid and afraid of his own shadow. I mean, it’s going to be a slaughter anyway because Cotto is much bigger and more powerful than Pacquiao but it will be a lot worse if Pacquiao comes into the fight looking like a nervous wreck.
Pacquiao needs to realize that it won’t matter if he loses the fight. Pacquiao will still remain a hero in his home country of the Philippines. The only outcome of his loss to Cotto is that, depending on how bad the defeat is, Pacquiao might lose out on a potential mega fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. That’s no big deal. Cotto will fight Mayweather in that case and Pacquiao can always hang around and hopefully get a chance at fighting the winner of that bout.
I’d rather that the winner of that fight someone else like Antonio Margarito rather than have to face Pacquiao, who be more of a retread at that point. But the cable networks will probably want to give Pacquiao another chance at the bit to see if he can redeem himself somehow. I don’t give Pacquiao any chance against the winner of that fight, but at least he’d still be able to get a good payday.
Comments are closed.