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Cotto drubbing sets up Mayweather vs Pacquiao By Mark Lorenzana PhilBoxing.com Tue, 17 Nov 2009 Cotto drubbing sets up fight between self-proclaimed greatest and true pound-for-pound champion What happens when an ordinary fighter with a less-than-decent chin gets hit by a natural, full-fledged welterweight champion, especially a welterweight champion that is known for his superb body punching and powerful left hook? That fighter will most certainly go down with one shot. If he doesn't, then the accumulation of punches will eventually take its toll and wear the fighter down in the later rounds and force him to quit or force his corner to throw in the towel, whichever comes first. What happens, on the other hand, when a pound-for-pound champion, a legendary fighter who is known for bucking the odds and who seems to get better with every fight gets hit by a natural, full-fledged welterweight, especially one that is known for his superb body punching and powerful left hook? That legendary fighter eats and shrugs off the punches, asks for more, keeps on coming forward, and destroys and punishes that full-fledged welterweight champion, forcing the referee to stop the carnage by calling an end to the fight. Of course, obviously, that legendary fighter is Manny Pacquiao, and that full-fledged welterweight (former) champion is Miguel Cotto. Everybody knows that Pacquiao can punch. It has been apparent when he first stepped into the ring at 106 pounds until he moved up in weight and destroyed everyone in his path. Indeed, it is truly mind boggling that a fighter that is supposed to be the smaller man each time he invades a higher weight division could dispose of, nay, knock out the supposedly bigger and stronger fighters opposite him. This is the reason why a lot of those mindless critics who still don't want to give Pacquiao credit accuse him of juicing up or taking steroids. In boxing's rich and storied history, there is no lack of examples and evidence of fighters who have tried to push their luck while climbing up a weight division too many only to find out that their power did not travel north with them. They find out too late and to their horror that their punches do not hurt and have no effect on the other guy. But what's more mind boggling is when the supposedly smaller fighter shrugs off the power punches of the supposedly bigger man. Yes, everybody knew that Manny Pacquiao can punch. Now everyone knows that he can take a punch, too. Freddie Roach was aghast when he saw Pacquiao, early on in the fight, leaning against the ropes while egging on Miguel Cotto to punch him in the body. Cotto is known for softening up and slowing down his opponents by going to the body. And Pacquiao purposely asking Cotto to give him his best shots by doing his own version of Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope was unthinkable. According to Roach, what Pacquiao did was not in their game plan. "Why are you fighting his fight?" Roach asked Pacquiao in-between rounds while he worked the Filipino's corner. "I can handle him," Pacquiao confidently answered. "Then prove it," Roach said. And prove it he did. He shrugged off Cotto’s best shots and kept on coming. It's not as if Cotto did anything wrong. Far from it. He was fighting the perfect fight early on and won the opening round convincingly by using a stiff jab, and he repeatedly tagged Pacquiao with solid punches that seemed to make the Pacman think twice about going in and engaging with the Puerto Rican. If Cotto was not the same fighter he was since being stopped by Antonio Margarito a year and three fights ago, it certainly did not show. He looked sharp, he did not look slow at all, and he certainly appeared to have a game plan against the fiery Filipino. But all that would change in the second round. Pacquiao began to find his range and his speed began to make a difference. He began to pepper Cotto's head and body with lighting combinations, each punch thrown with mean intentions. In the third round Cotto absorbed a Pacquiao right hand in the side of the head and went down. Cotto immediately stood up, showing none the worse for wear, perhaps because of his superb conditioning. However, in the succeeding round, Cotto would again go down courtesy of a Pacquiao left uppercut, and this time he was visibly hurt— the Puerto Rican was on rubbery legs. Cotto was lucky that the knockdown came a few seconds before the bell sounded, or else he would not have survived the round. In the ninth Cotto absorbed a beating so severe, it forced his wife and kid to get up from their prized ringside seats and leave the arena. The next few rounds had forced a battered and bleeding Cotto to backpedal, prompting the crowd to emit a few boos, and prompting an increasingly frustrated Pacquiao who was tired of following Cotto around to ask him to engage. There would be no more engaging at least from Cotto, however, as it became apparent that the Puerto Rican— who had long abandoned any notion of turning the bout back in his favor —only wanted to survive the fight. At the end of the eleventh round, Cotto's corner, specifically his father Miguel Sr., wanted to throw in the towel but the fight continued at Cotto's insistence. Alas, the fight would not last the distance as referee Kenny Bayless decided to put an end to the bloodbath 55 seconds into the twelfth and final round. So where does Pacquiao go from here? Who does he fight next? Right now the most lucrative fight which makes the most business sense is against Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, another name has been floated as a possible opponent for Pacquiao, newly-crowned WBA Jr. Middleweight champion Yuri Foreman. Indeed it will be a great achievement for Pacquiao should he win another title in his eight weight division, but in terms of monetary compensation, a fight against Foreman would not put the same amount of cash in Pacquiao’s pockets as a fight with Floyd would. Sure, a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight would be appealing and exciting as it would be lucrative. But you have to wonder whether Mayweather would be willing to fight Pacquiao after the Filipino’s recent destruction of Cotto. Mayweather so far has avoided fighting Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Cotto, and now Pacquiao. You have to remember that in Mayweather’s comeback fight he opted to fight the world’s best lightweight in Juan Manuel Marquez rather than get into the ring with the best welterweight at that time, which was Mosley. Just makes you wonder: What would happen if a self-proclaimed greatest that carefully cherry picks his opponents to protect his unbeaten record finally musters up the courage to fight the true pound-for-pound champion? What will happen is this: That self-proclaimed greatest who is also a legend in his own mind will get his ass kicked from pillar to post by the true pound-for-pound champion. Oh, and to make things clearer, just replace "self-proclaimed greatest" with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and "true pound-for-pound champion" with Manny Pacquiao. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Mark Lorenzana.  |
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