Champs choose Pacman

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FORMER world champions Evander Holyfield and Glen Johnson believe that Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao will dominate World Boxing Organization welterweight king Miguel Cotto in their upcoming super fight on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Holyfield and Johnson think Pacquiao is a complete fighter and he has the arsenal to hand Cotto his second career loss.

“Miguel Cotto gets hit a lot. Pacquiao holds his hands up, he bounces in, he bounces out. Pacquiao throws fast punches, and Cotto has not shown that. If he does not have an answer for someone like that, he dies out,” said Holyfield in a report posted at Examiner.com.

Holyfield had memorable battles with Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and has held world titles in the cruiserweight and heavyweight classes, and at 47, he is still fighting professionally.

Johnson, on the other hand, a former International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champion, said that Cotto hasn’t recovered from the beating he got from Mexican banger Antonio Margarito last year.

“Cotto took a whooping from Margarito, so he is a little punch shy. I think Cotto still has some tools that he can use, but I believe Pacquiao will come out the winner.

Manny is fast, he learns on defense on the way, and he has good reflexes. He is a precise puncher that is a force to be reckoned with. Manny Pacquiao is my favorite

fighter to watch,” said Johnson, who is scheduled to battle undefeated fighter Chad Dawson on Nov. 7 in Connecticut.

Cotto lost to Margarito via an 11th round technical knockout but the victory was tainted after the Mexican was caught placing a hardening substance on his hand wraps in his world title defense against Shane Mosley.

The 30-year-old Pacquiao will be fighting for Cotto’s WBO welterweight title and the vacant World Boxing Council Diamond belt.


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 21, 2009