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Philippines, 09 May 2024 |
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TECTONIC SHIFT CONTINUES... By Granville Ampong PhilBoxing.com Mon, 16 Nov 2009  POUND-FOR –POUND KING MANNY “PACMAN” PACQUIAO STILL REIGNS AND WON BOTH THE WBO WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP AND THE FIRST EVER MADE HONORARY WBC DIAMOND BELTS BY STOPPAGE IN FINAL ROUND PHILBOXING.COM’S EXCLUSIVE, MGM GRAND ARENA, LAS VEGAS, Nevada – The raucous crowd of 15,535 took their moments of madness with their voices in crescendo into a blockbuster haste as two great men pressed on time busting up to stamp their respective might in the annals of history in boxing. But, one man stoke the hearts of many and even now still strikes awe: Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao of the Philippines. Pacquiao, the Pound-for-Pound king of boxing, rigged his masterstroke of boxing skills over reigning WBO Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico, whose title was on the line along with the first ever-made honorary WBC Diamond Championship Belt and became the first boxer to have won seven titles in seven weight divisions. As Pacquiao reved up and accelerated his strength to put forth Cotto into submission in the final round, Referee Bayless aborted the bout while the former mounted series of landed shots to the head at 55 seconds from opening bell. It was tumultuous moment for Cotto. And Bayless just made it right when he halted the fight at such moment on the 20’ x 20’ canvas of MGM Grand Arena, which the world was anxious to see. Cotto shares with Pacquiao the unforgotten moments that cannot be forcibly erased in his memory – moments which he must bear a powerful wish to bury in order to deny the brutality of boxing it offers. Morphing into a “hopeless Pharaoh” unrepentantly with the same instinct, Cotto angled his sight digging repeated low-blows in round one, two and four. And indeed Cotto held his ground in the first round countering Pacquiao’s straight lefts , which gave a bit of trouble to the Maharlikan hero. Left hook to the body and one right uppercut to the chin snapped back Pacquiao’s head. Such signaled Pacquiao to be more calculating with his frontal attacks. In fact, he stroke back with right hooks but missed his targets. Round 2 shifted to more jabs of Cotto in the opening. But, Pacquiao took hold of his guard and launched effective combos, putting Cotto in puzzling mode from his opponent's speed and increasing accuracy. His nasal bridge turned red. And that's right, still unrepentant! Cotto promptly resorted to his basic instinct: his arsenals of digging low-blows which landed and sweeping head butts which failed to crush on. Yes, from round 2 through 4, Pacquiao surged to another level, of which vicious combinations of the former never stop Cotto's countering uppercuts. But, Pacquiao playfully allowed Cotto to land body shots while he was leaning to the ropes at times, blocking his face from potential shots upstairs. Testing his guard, Pacquiao encouraged Cotto to engage more and then the heavy exchanges took up insanity of the attendees' thunderous chantings. And so the tectonic left bolted in round 3 with a knockdown that shook Cotto’s senses. Nonetheless, Cotto kept his advances with counter-punching, one of which snapped back again Pacquiao’s head to the thin air of madness. And the crowd never stopped chanting “Manny, Manny, Manny…” and countering sporadically in vice-versa “Cotto, Cotto, Cotto…” as the two warriors fought each other back and forth in rapid succession. Then, Pacquiao surged again in earnest to a much higher level as manifested by him making a sign of the cross just when each bell rang. And, Pacquiao dropped Cotto again from a quick left uppercut in round 4. Round 5 brought tide of virtually divided cheering crowd at irregular beats and Pacquiao appeared to be closing the scene of brutality as he delivered intensive surgical attacks that somehow intercepted Cotto’s timing of his punches. Bombs after bombs exploded from bilateral jabs and uppercuts. But, Cotto started to refuse to strike a toe-to-toe combat and engaged instead in dancing retreat in the fashion of Old Taino Indians of Puerto Rico - - yes, retreating in fact like a bleeding bull but still with willful intent to retaliate all the way to the final round just before the stoppage as well. Despite his setbacks and likelihood to get knocked out, Cotto deferred the suggestion of his trainer, Joe Santiago, to give up the fight in the eleventh. Cotto chose otherwise hoping to catch an opening for a one-punch knockout or rather finish up the night with 12 rounds of boxing. In due course at exactly 55 seconds from the opening round of the final round, Referee Bayless saw it timely to stop the fight after Manny unloaded shots heavily to the swollen and crimson red face of Cotto, notwithstanding the neuro-vascular shots to the head that put Cotto in momentary stupor by the rope twice before the stoppage. Cotto landed single digit in power shots from fifth round through twelfth. Cotto threw 597 punches, of which only 172 connected versus of Pacquiao, 780, out of which 336 landed. Jabs thrown by Cotto were 227, of which 79 connected versus of Pacquiao, 220, out of which 60 connected. Total power punches thrown by Cotto were 300, of which 93 connected versus of Pacquiao, 560, of which 276 landed. Status Post Fight: Cotto kept his composure at ease despite his brutal defeat in the hands of the Maharlikan hero. "Pacquiao is one of the best boxers in the world," said Cotto in the post fight interview just before he was brought to a nearby hospital for brain scans and for other medical protocol to be observed. "I am amazed at his speed. I didn't see many of his punches coming, but they were landing harder and harder." "I thought I was going to control the fight from round 1 and the rest of the rounds, but he surprised me with big combinations." Cotto said while his escorts were leading him out of the arena to his convenience room to ready for ambulance transport. Asked if he has intent to fight again, Cotto said: "I want to have a vacation with my family and I will let Bob Arum to decide my next fight." Cotto's utterances upon his defeat told a lot of a humble man. He was not defensive of his shortcomings. Meanwhile, Joe Santiago, Cotto's trainer, said his "boxer had a tremendous heart". In fact, "he made it a fight with Pacquiao despite the fact he got cuts and bloody and he was retreating in the later rounds but still had capability to strike back." "I admire Cotto's courage." Santiago said. "He is a great boxer." Yes, Pacquiao said good points of Cotto's courage:"Cotto is a very respectful person and he is a tough fighter and a good boxer." In fact, "I had difficulty adjusting his counter-punching in the early rounds." Pacquiao explained as he touched and pulled a bit down the tip of his black French hat on the top of his bandage on right temporal area, which was protecting his right ear canal that had an output of fresh blood. Pacquiao said further: "In the first three rounds, I was trying to measure his power." Other than head-snapping uppercuts, Pacquiao took several head shots as well to both lateral sides. And he said, "I got hurt, too. But, I was just pretending that I did not get hurt." He chuckled. "Cotto is a strong puncher." Pacquiao added. Asked as to how does he compare with other boxers, Pacquiao said: "I do not want to compare myself with anybody." But one thing is clear: Pacquiao had an edge over Cotto. In contrast, he has an anointed Master. "Now, I call him: Master Freddie Roach." Pacquiao declared before over 300 media personnel and VIP's in the media center. In Pacquiao's brief speech other than the interviews, Pacquiao said: "I was just doing my job. My goal is to give happiness to people." But, Freddie Roach, the celebrated trainer, thought otherwise. He said: "You're the greatest fighter of this era." Pacquiao responded: "Sorry, Master...". He was referring to his refusal to acknowledge his greatness before the media, reminding him that he is just a fighter who does his job in the ring." Asked as to how he felt about the fight with Cotto, Pacquiao said: "I think this is one of my toughest fights in my carreer." Asked once more about how he thought of himself for the fight from the start, Pacquiao said: "Be smart in the fight and control the fight" and "...pretending I didn't get hurt, but it really hurts"(sic). Pacquiao closed his brief appearance at the post fight conference with an invitation to attend his concert costing $ 40 per person. He did not hesitate to tell the media personalities to pay the price, in that he said he will have his renditions of eight songs. Asked by the media to let them hear a sample, Pacquiao exuded in a flashy shift singing three lines of his favorite song he sang at Jimmy Kimmel Live Show: "Sometimes When We Touch". And so the TECTONIC SHIFT CONTINUES. Note: To send your comment(s), please e-mail at granvilleampong@maharlikantimes.com. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Granville Ampong.  |
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