The making of “Cottotito’s Way”
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
The more I play the upcoming superfight out in my mind, the clearer things become. Things like which one of their common opponents will matter the most on May 2nd. I’ve zeroed in on Miguel Cotto as the reason Floyd’s “0” will disappear like a rat in a “Godfather” movie. This fight feels very much like a major motion picture you can’t wait to see.
In late September 2009, Miguel Cotto arrived in Tampa to prepare for Manny Pacquiao. I was a member of “The Fight Factory” gym where Miguel trained and spent a large portion of it open to the general public. His sparring sessions were closed to the public, but he allowed me to stick around because he was fascinated by me. I remember feeling like we were on some sort of Hollywood set.
When I arrived, I wore a very loud yellow “MANNY KNOWS” shirt and immediately got into mostly friendly jawing with his extremely large Puerto Rican contingent. It got his closest camp members attention- and his. The first thing I said to him with a smile and shaking hands was “Its good to meet you and you’re a great fighter.. But you’re gonna get your ass beat!” He gave me this stare, as everyone got quiet for a few seconds, before laughing really hard (which is hard to get him to do). He told me I was very brave and very crazy (both probably true), and to make sure I come watch him everyday. He promised me I’d change my mind.
I almost did.
Fascinated by all the HBO cameras filming their epic series “24/7”, I got cool with one of the cameramen. I knew when Cotto would run, spar or decide not to go to one of Tampa’s many strip clubs. He was in sensational condition, broke every single really good sparring partner he faced, had a great strength coach and a very dedicated team of trainers and associates. He easily put in 70 hour weeks preparing for Pacquiao and is an extremely proud person. He very comfortably made 145, dedicated the fight to his father prepared and was as self-motivated as any person – famous or anonymous – that I’d ever met in my life.
And Pacquiao broke him.
I think Floyd is prouder and even more self-motivated. I tried going to the Mayweather Boxing Gym in Las Vegas a few months later to confront Floyd while preparing for Mosley (in some other loud Manny shirt) and it uh.. didn’t work out so well. Mayweather’s henchmen, who looked like Chewbacca and Boba Fett, were damn near ready pull out a shotgun on my ass. Whatever. His manager, Leonard Ellerbe, came out and calmed things down. We took a few pictures, shot the sh*t for a minute and I bounced.
But something occurred to me during my time with Cotto then… No one ever confronted him at all and he was absolutely his own boss. Cotto always had his way. Freddie Roach was quick to make that assessment and told the world that “Cotto trains himself, nobody corrects certain things he does wrong and we’re going to take advantage of that”. He’s already said the same things about Floyd now.
Floyd has told all of you– any chance he gets, that he’s his own boss. And because this is basically true, as I state here, he’s headed for a crushing defeat.
I’m not even close to changing my mind.
T@z
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Pacquiao is not almost six years better than his performance against Cotto, and Mayweather is three years worse than his performance against the very same fighter. Somewhere between November 2009 and May 2012, is May 2, 2015. They were two totally different fights with two totally different Cotto’s, and I believe that matters.
Cotto came into his bout with Mayweather nearly 3 years after being massacred by Pacquiao, and Pacquiao is facing Mayweather a little over 2 years after being electrocuted by Juan Manuel Marquez. Toss aside all the talks about PED use and any other speculation- all things are even heading into this fight and the better man will win.
Cotto pursued Mayweather with an almost reverent aggression. It was almost like a great waiter reluctant to serve his boss. Once he got past the appetizer and a few rounds of drinks, he settled down and delivered a serious entree to Mayweather. The problem is it wasn’t piping hot, and Floyd sent his ass back to the kitchen with a $1000 tip for Chef Q.
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Around the time Floyd turned the all-time great Marquez into an enchilada with absolutely no guacamole or seasoning, Pac-Man was preparing himself for an encore performance against Cotto, following his evisceration of Ricky Hatton. Pacquiao, unmoved by Floyd’s 12 round dismissal of his arch nemesis, probably rented “The Color of Money” with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise prior to going rogue pool shark on Cotto.
Sensing Floyd’s nickname was closer to “The Color of Envy”, Pacquiao ran the table on Cotto after allowing him the break and a few drops. Floyd will generally dismiss Pacquiao’s win over Cotto citing the 145lb catchweight, while ignoring his 152lb catchweight win over Canelo. What’s worse, is he has NEVER mentioned getting Marquez to come up to 144lbs from 135 to challenge him, only to delay the fight an additional two months and then deliberately cheat Marquez by 2lbs.
Floyd has mainly wanted to go into each bout feeling he’d certainly win because of physical or psychological advantages. He probably faced Cotto (remember, he announced after the Ortiz fight that “Yes, Pacquiao, you’re next”) because he felt he clearly had, given what he’d seen Pacquiao do to him and how Cotto looked since. I don’t believe he felt Pacquiao was diminished enough then – and he doesn’t believe it now – given his hiring of Alex Ariza and demeanor on that podium on March 11, 2015 to announce this fight.
Whether you’re a fan of Mayweather’s or not, you cannot help but notice the glaring fear he has when mentioning Pacquiao at the Ortiz press conference in September 2011, and the way he attempted to hide it a few weeks ago.
“He doesn’t think much of Mayweather and told me he thinks Manny is going to kill him,” Roach revealed to Yahoo Sports. “I do too, so that made me feel good. The things we’ve been working on have been going pretty well.”Roach was able to bring out the Felix “Tito” Trinidad in Cotto, as he tore into Sergio Martinez to lift the WBC middleweight belt in a way his legendary countrymen would be proud of.
Now, Roach seeks to reconstruct Pacquiao into a reasonable facsimile of the monster who dismantled Cotto, while infusing in him the spirit of Duran. As Floyd looks to be rounding into a 147lb “super” welterweight – very similar to the fighter who faced Cotto – he’ll be looking to recall the ghost of Leonard.
Somewhere, Aaron Pryor is smiling.
Up Next… Join my future video co-host and fight prognosticator (and I might add avid “TBE” fan) Richard “The Prophet” Solomon, as he weighs in on The Superfight Edition: Pacquiao vs. Mayweather [Vol.VII] “Ali vs. Frazier IV”
