DESPITE having two straight KO wins against Oscar dela Hoya and Ricky Hatton there were still some who doubted whether Manny Pacquiao could stand the likes of Miguel Cotto.
“He has never tasted the power of the heavier boxers,” some said.
“Dela Hoya was a shell of his former self, barely able to offer much resistance.”
“Hatton, too, was barely in the fight.”
Climbing up another weight division, some feared, would be too much for the Pacman.
“Cotto will show him true welterweight power,” the critics said.
Some fans also cited history and feared that Pacman was in for a reversal of roles on Nov. 15, 2009 (RP time.)
On Nov. 15, 2003 (RP time), Pacquiao, then a gangly featherweight and a relative unknown, was facing one of the most feared fighters in his division, Marco Antonio Barrera, whose training camp was racked by distractions.
During the Mexican’s camp, questions were raised on whether Barrera would be allowed to fight as it was revealed he’d undergone surgery “to repair a cluster of malformed blood vessels on his head.
Barrera also had to move his training camp from Big Bear California after it was threatened by wild fires and when the time came for him to face the hungry Pacquiao, the legendary boxer seemed amateurish and the Pinoy supplanted him in the list of boxing’s elite.
Last Nov. 15, some thought it would be Pacquiao’s time to give up his spot as the world’s best.
And they had reason to believe.
While Cotto, who was off a tough victory over Joshua Clottey, was deep in his fourth week of training, Pacquiao was busy shooting for his movie, “Wapakman.”
And when he finally got to train, there were too many distractions.
At first, it wasn’t sure whether his trainer Freddie Roach would join him in his Baguio training camp, and when the two finally hooked up, a series of devastating typhoons kept him indoors.
Manny and Villar
Numerous visits by politicians also annoyed Roach, who at one point walked out while Manny was in a meeting with presidential aspirant Manny Villar.
If that wasn’t enough, conditioning coach Alex Ariza and Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz also got into blows, while the Canadian Koncz was also rumored to have pushed for the firing of Roach.
There was also the distractions provided by Krista Ranillo, the starlet, and Floyd Mayweather Sr., the loud mouth.
In the first round against Cotto, it seemed, the fears were not unfounded.
Cotto caught Pacquiao and stopped the Pinoy in his signature move.
Manny launched a left, and slid to Cotto’s right, but the Puerto Rican connected with a left to his chin.
But Pacquiao answered all doubters—except the Mayweathers—on Nov. 15.
Though he stopped executing that move in the latter rounds, he showed that he could handle Cotto’s power.
Pacquiao, inexplicably, let Cotto punch him at will.
Covering only his face, he egged on Cotto—a move that may have contributed to the relatively high casualties due to heart attack despite the lopsided win.
“That’s when he killed Cotto mentally,” said ALA promotions president Michael Aldeguer. “He showed he can take his punches.”
Cotto was a bloody mess and by the 12th, Kenny Bayless mercifully ended the bout.
And Cotto’s belt was his.
Pacquiao won a world title in a seventh division—112 pounds, 122, 126, 130, 135, 140 and 147. Some experts quickly pointed out that had Pacman gotten the chance to fight for the 115- and 118-pound division titles, he would have been a nine-time champ.
As the only boxer to win seven titles in seven divisions, Pacquiao’s storied rise, is now a part of history.
And this year, it seems, he’s ready to add an eighth division title to his resume.
After talks of a fight with Mayweather Jr. bogged down, Bob Arum wants the 154-pound champion, Yuri Foreman, to face Pacman.
