Miguel Cotto may be loved by his loyal fans in Puerto Rico but the rest of the boxing world will be hoping Manny Pacquiao knocks him out in Saturday’s welterweight title bout to keep the Filipino on course for next year’s super-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
American Mayweather did his bit by coming out of retirement and oozing class against Juan Manuel Marquez in September and now, as he rests up and has so far avoided the temptation to fight Shane Mosley, we can expect Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations to begin soon – providing the Pac Man wins on Saturday.
Pacquiao’s legion of fans are confident he will beat Cotto, the bookmakers are confident and his revered trainer Freddy Roach approved the fight meaning he must be confident, but there is a nagging doubt that all won’t go to plan and that is because Cotto is a classy fighter.
His only defeat came at the hands of disgraced Mexican Antonio Margarito, who was subsequently banned for fighting with illegal padding in his gloves, and he is a strong, fast and a natural welterweight.
However, since that fight he has had two mediocre contests.
Firstly he knocked out the hopelessly mis-matched Britain Michael Jennings in five rounds before claiming a hard fought split-decision against Ghanaian Josh Clottey in June.
But Pacquiao is a different beast. His ability to waltz through divisions and claiming world titles is borderline genius and, as with nearly all sports, there is no defence against speed, which he has in abundance.
Boxing needs a mega clash like Pacquiao v Mayweather and I think they will get it once Pacquiao knocks out Cotto in 10 rounds on Saturday.
Source: reuters.com
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