By Dan Ambrose: It’s still stunned that Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) is rumored to be the guy that gets picked by Bob Arum to fight WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) on June 9th instead of Floyd Mayweather Jr. or someone who at least boxing fans haven’t seen Pacquiao in with before.
A Pacquiao-Cotto fight is like an ugly duckling, a fight that only their loyal, loving, adoring patriotic fans would love. I’m sure it will do well on pay per view because for Cotto fans, Pacquiao is like the super bowl for them. However, I think Cotto has hardly done enough to get back in this super bowl-type fight given all the soft set-up fights that Arum has put him in.
Matching Cotto softly so he doesn’t get beat again and then putting him back in with Pacquiao for another fight, isn’t fair to boxing fans that want to see Pacquiao face quality opposition that he hasn’t already whipped. Sure, I wouldn’t mind seeing Pacquiao face Cotto again in the future, but only if Cotto had picked some real wins over top notch fighters like Erislandy Lara, James Kirkland, Saul Alvarez, Sergiy Dzinziruk, Austin Trout, Paul Williams, Alfredo Angulo and Vanes Martirosyan.
If Cotto would beat four or five of those guys, then I’d definitely have no problem with seeing Cotto get matched up with Pacquiao for another beating. But he hasn’t fought those guys. Cotto has been matched up with 38-year-old Richardo Mayorga, Yuri Foreman, a fighter with no power and a bad right knee and Antonio Margarito. Those aren’t good enough wins for me to want to see Cotto back in with Pacquiao. I’m not a loving fan of either of those guys, so I’m not going to automatically bend over and accept this fight willingly like Cotto and Pacquiao fans.
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