Cotto could be next for Pacquiao

By Boxing News - 01/20/2012 - Comments

Image: Cotto could be next for PacquiaoBy Dan Ambrose: Michael Marley of examiner.com sees Miguel Cotto being the next opponent for Manny Pacquiao to fight on June 9th, as the negotiations between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. haven’t gone beyond Mayweather contacting Pacquiao by the telephone to tell him he’s not getting a 50-50 deal. Supposedly there won’t be any catchweight for this fight, meaning that Cotto would be forced to come all the way down to 147lbs if he wants the fight. Pacquiao won’t be meeting him half way (150lbs), even though Cotto fought Pacquiao at a catchweight of 145lbs that benefited Pacquiao in 2009 when Cotto was the WBO champion.

Other than that, there hasn’t been any contact between Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum and Mayweather’s management representatives Al Haymon and Leonard Ellberbe.

That leaves the options available to Pacquiao very limited with Miguel Cotto being the leading candidate due him being more popular than Arum’s other picks Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson. The last option Juan Manuel Marquez doesn’t appear to be getting serious consideration because of his asking price and limitations in terms of not wanting to fight in Las Vegas. Pacquiao and Arum want to make as much money as possible for this fight and that leaves only Cotto, because Bradley and Peterson aren’t big pay per view stars.

So, is Cotto-Pacquiao a good fight? Not really. If you’ve seen their previous fight in 2009, it wasn’t much of a fight. Cotto tried briefly to exchange with Pacquiao in the early going, then got knocked down twice and then ran, ran and ran until getting knocked out. Cotto didn’t have the hand speed to stand in front of Pacquiao, and couldn’t handle his pressure. The running saved Cotto until the last round, but he was losing every round because of his movement and might as well have quit after the 4th.

This is a good fight for Puerto Rican and Filipino fans who just have to see Cotto and Pacquiao no matter what. However, for regular boxing fans, this is an off-putting fight, and probably not worth paying to see it. I would compare it to seeing a movie that you’ve already seen before where you know the ending already, and it’s not a pleasant movie because of how one-paced it is. Cotto will run, get pummeled, and end getting stopped. There will be nothing new about the fight but Pacquiao and Arum will make a lot of money from the PPV buys.



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