By Chris Williams: World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) could wind up as the next opponent for Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s) if Manny isn’t able to get Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring on November 13th. Even though it seems as if there’s really no point in Pacquiao fighting Cotto again because of the mostly one-sided nature of his 12th round knockout win over Cotto last November, there’s still the chance that Pacquiao can beat Cotto and win an 8th world title.

This would be a big deal for Pacquiao and for his loyal boxing fans. For casual fans that aren’t as interested in keeping tabs on records, they will have to be content with watching a fight that hopefully won’t be as one-sided as it was last time. On paper, the Cotto-Pacquiao fight promised to be an exciting fight, but in reality it wasn’t nearly as interesting as people thought it might be, as Cotto got on his bike after suffering two early knockdowns and looked to be in the survival mode until he was stopped in the 12th. The fight really stopped being interesting after the 4th round.

At that point, it was like watching a hunter stalking a wounded lamb. Cotto didn’t have the speed, defense of the power to compete and just ran and took shots. It’s hard to think of a rematch being anything more than what the first fight was, even though Cotto is now being trained by the legendary trainer Emanuel Steward. Thus far, there doesn’t seem to be much difference in Cotto’s fighting style. He looked vulnerable in his recent win over Yuri Foreman on June 5th.

In an interview of Cotto by reporter Dyan Castillejo at ABS-CBN News, Cotto said “Yes, I’m always willing to fight the big names. I’m not afraid of Pacquiao, otherwise I wouldn’t have fought him the first time.” Cotto has made no secret to the fact that he would like the opportunity to try and avenge his defeat to Pacquiao. It obviously doesn’t hurt that Cotto will be getting another huge payday in a fight against Pacquiao, whether he wins or loses the fight. It’s really doubtful that Cotto will do much more than he did in his last fight with Pacquiao.

Cotto just looked really over-matched to the point that went beyond what a trainer could do with him. I don’t think there’s a trainer on earth that could train Cotto well enough for him to beat Pacquiao. It just doesn’t seem possible, which is why I’m hoping that the Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations will be successful so that boxing fans won’t have to sit through another dull slaughter of Pacquiao beating on Cotto for 12 rounds again and paying to watch the spectacle. Some fights really don’t really deserve a rematch and this, I feel, is one of them. Cotto needs to at least get five or more fights under his belt to make fans forget the beating he took from Pacquiao last year and to prove that he’s not a shot fighter. Beating the light-hitting Foreman, who fights in the same Top Rank stable as Cotto, proved little that Cotto is back to where he once was.