Cotto – Pacquiao, A Fickle Sport

By Boxing News - 11/16/2009 - Comments

cotto28by Stephen McGrath: Manny Pacquiao started his career at 106lbs. For his latest bout against Miguel Cotto he weighed 144lbs, which is an incredible 38lb increase over his eventful fourteen year professional career. Pacquiao is the first boxer to win seven world titles in seven different weight classes. The much anticipated fight with Miguel Cotto was said by many boxing experts to be a ‘step too far’ for Manny, with Cotto’s natural size advantage being the defining factor of the result – in favour of Cotto.

Both Pacquiao and Cotto have been two great ambassadors of the sport by taking on tough and dangerous opponents throughout their careers. In Pacquiao’s 12th fight (1996) he was knocked out in round three, weighing 110lbs. He was knocked out again in round three in 1999 at 112lbs. Miguel Cotto won his first world title in only his 14th fight against Cesar Bazan. Since winning that title in 2003 Cotto has been involved in twenty-one world title fights, both light-welterweight and welterweight.

After watching Cotto outclass and Humiliate Antonio Margarito for the first six rounds of their fight I concluded that he was destined to be the pound-for-pound king. He showed great movement, brilliant speed, fight-changing power, set with an impressive pace. But Margarito absorbed those punches and was relentless in his approach to wear Cotto down, displaying something of a granite chin, and stopping Cotto in the 11th round. Cotto’s face was badly swollen and bloodied and Margarito was crowned as welterweight champion of the world. Margarito in his next fight was badly beaten and stopped by Shane Mosely in round nine despite being exposed with illegal handwraps after the bout. That has been subject to much speculation on the rapid decline of Cotto. Mosely, however – is a former opponent and victim of Cotto, which attests to the fickle nature of the sport.

The average weight of Miguel Cotto since joining the welterweight division is: 146.5lbs.

The above data rules any chance of Cotto being ‘weight-drained’ coming in to fight Manny Pacquiao as simply untrue. Especially given that his average weight as a light-welterweight was: 139.6lbs. So coming in at 145lbs to fight the apparently much smaller Manny Pacquiao is ruled generally meaningless.

Cotto won the first round of their fight on Saturday night. He landed the more telling punches and moved well around the ring leaving Pacquiao relatively inactive and tentative. Round two was going just the same with Pacquiao looking somewhat confused with the situation, and a sense of concern was felt from his fans. Then around the last minute of round two Manny Pacquiao started to let his shots go and they rained on Cotto with the same ease and sting his fans have come to expect from him.

By round three Pacquiao had found his game-plan and was dominating the younger Cotto with his fast blistering hands and awkward unorthodox style. Constantly moving in, offloading three, four, five shots, moving out of range, then following Cotto as he retreated, catching him off balance. Cotto was put on the canvas in round three by a right hook. Only his gloves touched the floor and he didn’t look to be hurt. He recovered quickly, and although Cotto’s confidence seemed to be leaving him he finished the round relatively well. Half way through round four Pacquiao was throwing flurries of stinging shots, jolting Cotto’s head back on several occasions. Pacquiao placed himself against the ropes to bring Cotto on to him in taunting fashion, but Cotto was mainly unsuccessful in his attempts to hurt Pacquiao, despite landing a decent right hand. Cotto then came forwards throwing a combination of punches and Pacquiao countered well and caught Cotto with a powerful left uppercut and he hit the canvas quite heavily and looked hurt. Taking the eight-count, Pacquiao then backed Cotto up and caught him again with a couple of strong shots, and then the bell sounded, no doubt to the relief of Cotto.

In rounds five and six, Cotto started well but could not establish anything significant to hurt the Filipino man. Pacquiao then outclassed, out-punched, and out-moved the champion. Any shots that got through from Cotto unfazed Paquiao, proving that Manny Pacquiao has adapted to his new weight in all aspects rather than just punching hard. Rounds seven, eight, and nine told that the fight was likely to get stopped early as Cotto looked to survive rather than win the fight. His face was badly swollen and blood covered his face, resembling a similar sight to the Margarito defeat. His corner should have had the compassion to step in at this point to tell their fighter that his time is over for now. Sadly, Cotto continued with little chance of winning the fight, and more time to get hurt.

In round ten Cotto started to box better and displayed his warrior mentality despite being hunted down by the Filipino man. After a better but still negative round ten for Cotto, round eleven was a relief to see Cotto able to move around more to avoid being hit so often. Cotto was backed in to a corner and whilst under fire from Pacquiao, he caught the Filipino with a strong left hook, slightly hurting Pacquiao. This merely proved that Pacquiao can absorb punches at welterweight rather than any sudden success from Cotto coming into action.

Coming in to round twelve, and losing all but the first round, Cotto looked dejected and wanted to avoid as much punishment as possible. Pacquiao was still walking forwards with his gloves high and close, looking fresh and confident. It would have been nice to see Cotto ‘make the bell’, but Kenny Bayliss waved the fight off at 2:06 of round twelve after Pacquiao landed a hard right hand.

When a warrior like Cotto will not quit, his corner or ‘team’ are there to step in and save their man for better days, but they failed to do so and Cotto should now consider the people involved around his career. Cotto can still be considered one of the top modern fighters, but like several others, has just been unlucky to get caught up in Pacquiao’s reign as a super-champion. A fight with Ricky Hatton would be a great match-up, propelling one’s career and no doubt finishing the others. I’d favour Cotto if that fight was signed. Whilst Cotto looks to rebuild himself once again, Pacquiao can look to Floyd Mayweather for his chance to reveal the best pound for pound king. It would be a great fight, but I can’t see Floyd willing to risk his unbeaten record any time soon.

Let’s remember that the fighters respect each other, and we can do the same on this website.

May the best man win



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