By Dave Lahr: Manny Pacquiao saw the Yuri Foreman vs. Miguel Cotto fight as an even fight up until the 29-year-old Foreman injured his right knee after slipping on the canvas in the 7th round of Saturday’s WBA junior middleweight title fight at Yankee Stadium, in New York. In an article by Ronnie Nathanielsz at the Manilastandardtoday.com, Michael Koncz, the adviser for Pacquiao, had this to say about Pacquiao’s reactions upon seeing the Cotto-Foreman fight: “[Pacquiao] Thought it was a draw and a very close fight, until Foreman got injured.” There you have it, Pacquiao saw the fight as an even fight at the time of the injury. This is exactly how I and my colleague Chris Williams saw the Cotto vs. Foreman fight.

We both saw the fight as knotted at 3-3 going into the 7th round. I thought Cotto got the better of Foreman in rounds 1, 2 and 6. However, Foreman landed big shots in rounds 3, 4 and 5. I didn’t see much improvement from Cotto in his fights with Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey, and Manny Pacquiao. Cotto still looked pretty much like the same fighter as then. The only difference I could see is that he was facing a light puncher, wasn’t getting hit as much because of the movement from Foreman and didn’t have to fight hard after Foreman hurt his knee in the 7th.

Cotto didn’t answer any questions about his stamina and his ability to take shots or whether he’s fully recovered from his terrible beatings from Margarito and Pacquiao. Cotto’s trainer Emanuel Steward thinks that Cotto fought the “perfect fight” and maybe that’s true. Maybe this is the best we can hope for from Cotto, but I didn’t see anything in the performance that would lead me to believe he could beat guys like Margarito, Pacquiao, Alfredo Angulo, Sergio Martinez, Andre Berto or Sergiy Dzinziruk.

I do think Cotto can beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., someone that Cotto’s promoter Bob Arum might be matching him against next. As far as the Foreman fight goes, I think Cotto would have lost the fight had it went the full 12 rounds and no injury had occurred. Foreman seemed to be warming up and Cotto was getting hit more and more and fighting as hard as he could.

Cotto could luck out and wind up as Pacquiao’s next opponent if Arum isn’t able to put together a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao would then be looking at fighting Cotto, Margarito or Juan Manuel Marquez. Cotto would be a huge favorite to land the Pacquiao fight because, unlike Margarito, Cotto has a boxing license to fight in the United States. Cotto also has the WBA junior middleweight title, which is a title Pacquiao would like to go after in order to try and win his 8th world title.

With Pacquiao possibly looking at the last fight of his career, Cotto would probably be the best option for him if he wants to win an 8th world title rather than fighting Margarito or Marquez. Cotto probably brings the most money as well.