Pacquiao-Cotto: Manny will be too small for Miguel

By Boxing News - 11/04/2009 - Comments

By Manuel Perez: Oh man, that is some bad singing from Manny Pacquiao. I can’t believe Pacquiao had the nerve to go on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show and sing for him. I don’t know why athletes try to sing.

It hardly ever works out and it’s so funny to listen to. Okay, so enough of Pacquiao’s singing. We’ve got his fight coming up in less than two weeks against World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand, In Las Vegas, Nevada on November 14th, and I’m really looking forward to that fight with great interest.

I want to give Pacquiao more of a chance in this fight, but I just can’t see him winning against Cotto. The main reason is the size factor. Pacquiao looks far too small to compete against a natural welterweight like Cotto, and I suspect he’s going to get beaten to a royal pulp by Cotto. It’s great that Pacquiao beat Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton to get all the attention that’s centered on him right now, but big deal.

Those guys would have likley been obliterated by Cotto had they fought him. That’s the thing about boxing. You can take a fighter and craftily steer him along in his career by matching him with the perfect opponents for him to beat and look good against. The fighter ends up with an impressive record that fools the boxing public into thinking he’s the real deal.

But as good as you put that fighter in against a quality fighter, they end up getting destroyed and look bad. This is what I see happening with Pacquiao. He’s a good fighter in the lower weight classes, make no mistake, but he’s been carefully matched since he was moved up from the lightweight division. Hatton and De La Hoya were vulnerable at the time they fought Pacquiao.

If Pacquiao wanted to prove that he was the real deal in the welterweight division, and thus earn his number #1 ranking in the World Boxing Organization, then I think he should have faced at a minimum Shane Mosley, Margarito, Andre Berto, Floyd Mayweather or Paul Williams. I know the welterweight division is one of the sorriest in all of boxing, but you can’t go fighting a shot De La Hoya and a shop worn light welterweight Hatton and be considered the top dog. Pacquiao needed to face better fighters – read: fighters in their prime – instead of Hatton and De La Hoya.

Boxing fans are now thinking that Pacquiao is nearly invincible because of his wins over Hatton and De La Hoya and are probably going to be in shock when Cotto schools him badly. You have to put things in perspective. If I was to climb in the ring and beat up and old fighter, I wouldn’t expect boxing fans to go nutty about me. I’d expect them to say “he beat up an old guy.’ And that’s why I personally discount what Pacquiao has accomplished in beating De La Hoya as he’s moved up in weight recently.

And Pacquiao’s speed won’t matter one little bit. Speed is power, but when you have someone as small as Pacquiao, you need more than speed to win; You need size, and that’s something that Pacquiao is in short supply if in this fight. I’m right about this and you’ll agree with me later.

I know boxing fans like Pacquiao because he’s the new flavor of the month, but when they see him against Cotto they’ll realize that the emperor has no clothes. I see Pacquiao having problems against Cotto.



Comments are closed.