Miguel Cotto, 34-1, 27 KO’s, has been on a collision course with Floyd Mayweather, JR., for some time. Floyd has always found other opponents and it made financial sense to do so. Cotto has opted to take on the best available opponents like Shane Mosley, Zab Judah, and of course, Antonio Margarito, a guy that Floyd elected not to ever face, and in retrospect, it was probably a good idea. There may not be a fighter out there that would have stood up to those plastered fists…they crumbled Kermit Cintron and gave Cotto his only defeat. It is that defeat that people are looking at, combined with the latest Pacquiao KO wins. Those factors combined paint a bleak picture for Cotto, but it is misleading.
Cotto began as a light welterweight and was too big for the division. His strength was too much for his opposition but he wasn’t nearly as strong as he would be at the welterweight limit. At 140 pounds, he destroyed quality opponents like DeMarcus Corley, Mohamed Abdulaev, and Ricardo Torres. When he moved to 147 pounds, he immediately took the WBA Welterweight crown with a fifth round stoppage of Carlos Quintana, who would later go on to defeat Paul Williams.
A stoppage of a game Zab Judah would come up shortly thereafter and this is the fight that might want to be examined when considering Pacquiao – Cotto. Judah is very heavy-handed, very quick, and has amazing reflexes. He was able to find Cotto early and stun him and that is exactly what most expect from Manny. Cotto weathered the storm and came on late to stop Judah in the 11th round, mainly from body shots and pressure. Can Pacquiao withstand the pressure should he not dispatch of Cotto early on in the fight?
The grit of Cotto was on display when he fought 12 hard rounds with the experienced and very talented Sugar Shane Mosley. The fight was close but the best weapon in the Cotto arsenal was on display. Cotto has a tremendous jab. It’s jolting and reminds me a lot of Ray Mercer’s. It isn’t used as a rangefinder. It’s used as a weapon and it was the edge that he needed over Mosley.
The next big fight on the Cotto record was the most infamous. On July 26, 2008, he stepped into the ring to take on Antonio Margarito in an HBO PPV spectacular. Most picked Cotto to win because of his superior skills but he pressure and relentlessness was too much and he crumbled in 11 rounds. It looked like Cotto had went through a windshield of a car wreck and with good reason. Margarito has been proven a cheat and used plaster of Paris on his hand wraps, explaining why Cotto put on his running shoes and tried to win without sustaining any damage. He is not a runner. He could not maintain the pace and the bricks that were being thrown at him caught up with him and he was done. The fact that he went 11 rounds says a great deal about the heart of this warrior, and it is fair to say that Cotto would have beaten Margarito had he not cheated.
Shane Mosley easily stopped Margarito when the fight was on the level and Cotto hits harder and would walk through Margarito if he didn’t have the loaded gloves. Even if that was not the case, you still have to remove that fight from his record and say he has a record of 34-0, 27 KO’s. The thing in question though is how much did that beating take out of him?
In 2009, he beat up an overmatched Michael Jennings and then went punch for punch with Joshua Clottey in a very close match. Cotto hasn’t looked the same since the beating and it will be that hesitation that may cost him dearly with Pacquiao. Can he keep his cool and make it through the early onslaught. That was the question with Ricky Hatton and we saw what Manny did to him.
Manny Pacquiao, 49-3-2, 37 KO’s, has made a huge statement to the boxing world as of late. His last two fights may be the two highlights of his career. Certainly one of them is…the December 6, 2008, TKO over Oscar De La Hoya. The “Golden Boy” made a career of beating down smaller guys but what goes around comes around and a much too light De La Hoya couldn’t fend off the relentless Pacquiao. Manny would follow up with a devastating knockout of Ricky Hatton, leaving him lying in just two rounds. Those two fights are the focus of most, but should they be?
I think that we can throw out the De La Hoya victory as a win over an all time great. Manny did what he had to do and pummeled the spent force, much like Larry Holmes did to an old Muhammad Ali. Pacquiao deserves all the credit in the world for doing what he should have done and got rid of Oscar, something that Floyd Mayweather, JR., was unable or unwilling to do. The fight with Ricky Hatton was much more impressive, but it may also be misleading. Hatton ran right into the minefield and was quickly blown away. He could not have fought a worse fight. The goal, I guess, was to impose his size over Manny and muscle him around the ring, but it was the wrong plan and he paid dearly for it.
So if those two recent wins are overrated, we must rewind further to the fights that I think mean more when breaking down the Miguel Cotto challenge.
On March 15, 2008, Manny rematched Juan Manuel Marquez. They had battled to a memorable draw in 2004, and this fight was just as close with a knockdown being the difference and Manny walking away with a win. Marquez found a way to time Manny and hurt him upon occasion with the left hook, which is one of Cotto’s better weapons. His left carries much more power than that of Marquez.
On October 6, 2007, Manny was involved in another rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera, a man that he stopped in 2003. This time Barrera played it safe, never allowing himself to get into an exchange. He lost badly but he also was able to nullify the offense of Manny, and that is something that Cotto might attempt to employ in November when he faces off with the Filipino superstar.
One other fight of Manny’s that deserves mention was in 2006, when he took on Oscar Larios. Larios was able to hang tough and corner Manny at times. Cotto is stronger and will try to bully him too, but not run in as Hatton did, exposing his chin and giving Pacquiao an early and easy target.
What happens when these two fighters collide? The early pick has to be Pacquiao. His speed and accuracy will be very difficult for Cotto to deal with, especially early, but he should learn from what has happened to Ricky Hatton and play defense early on. Two punches in the Cotto arsenal will mean a lot in this fight should he make it beyond the third round. His jab and his left hook are his ticket to win. If he can find a home for his left hook, the boxing world may be in for a surprise with Pacquiao left in a heap on the canvas. It is certainly a possibility. How Manny reacts to the jab is another question that will have to be answered. This is a great match up and the early prediction is Manny by mid round stoppage, but I’m not betting the house on it.
Source: http://ringsidereport.com/rsr/news.php?readmore=2255
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