The day is upon us, it’s do or die for two warriors from opposites sides of the world. Manny Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines will square off against Miguel Cotto, the pride of Puerto Rico. Cotto, a full fledged welterweight champion comes into this fight with only one blemish on his record. That blemish comes via Antonio Margarito and his possible loaded gloves. Cotto gets a pass on that one, and in this writers eyes holds an undefeated record with victories over some potent opponents. Pacquiao comes into this fight having demolished just about every opponent put into his path, including wins over Morales, Barrera, Marquez, Diaz, De La Hoya, and Hatton.
This fight is a story of two styles. Pacquiao has already proven that he can not only fight, but he can win against larger opponents. His speed and awkward style has proven to be a very difficult nut to crack. Pacquiao trainer, Freddie Roach has turned a great fighter into a legendary elite fighter the very day he taught Pacquiao how to use his right hand.
Miguel Cotto is no joke, and is to be taken very seriously. If Pacquiao and Roach for one second think that this is going to be an easy task, they have another thing coming. In fact, if Manny Pacquiao knocks out Cotto, or wins decisively, he will have to be considered one of the greatest fighters of all time. Even if you’re not a Pacquiao fan, you would have to see the man from the Philippines as one of the greatest ever. Former Jr middleweight world champion, Sergio Mora recently commented on http://www.8countnews.com his thoughts on Pacquiao, “If Pacquiao beats Cotto, we would have to rank him as one of the greatest fighters of all time. With 7 world titles in 7 different weight divisions? The great Muhammad Ali had three world titles in one weight division. How do you not consider Pacquiao one of the greatest ever?”
Miguel Cotto has a say in all of this. A victory for Cotto immediately launches his stock into the stratosphere and would provide him with a few juicy options. A rematch against Pacquiao would be in the mix, and a possible fight against the PPV King, Floyd Mayweather Jr would be a real possibility as well.
In a conversation that this writer had with an amateur boxing official who’s been in boxing for a long time, I heard a good point. He asked me if I remembered when Marquez knocked down Pacquiao. I told him that I did remember that. The official said, ” If Marquez can knockdown Pacquiao at 125lbs, what will Cotto do to him at 145lbs?”
There is no doubt that Cotto can damage Pacquiao if he lands one of those hooks on him. The big question however is, can he do it? Pacquiao is notorious for bouncing in, and bouncing out, and hitting and moving. Cotto will have to figure out a style that as of yet has not been figured out by anyone else minus perhaps, one. One exception to that is Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez was effective against Pacquiao, but Freddie Roach will argue that, that was then, this is now. Pacquiao has evolved tremendously since his struggle against Marquez.
Cotto fans are jumping up and down screaming at everyone about this fight. A lot of them feel slighted and disrespected by the boxing media. A lot of them feel as if their guy, Miguel Cotto will knockout Manny Pacquiao and in doing so, shut the media’s mouth. Tonight they will get their chance, but in order to do that, their Miguel Cotto will have to defeat one of the greatest fighters that ever lived.
