Why Cotto Will Destroy Pacquiao

I’ve changed my mind about the November 14th fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. I originally saw the fight going for Pacquiao because of figured him and his trainer Freddie Roach would install some medieval catch weight that would leave Cotto too weak and drained to make a fight of it. But now that I’ve had time to look at the new variables with the catch weight only being 145 rather than say 142or 143, I think Cotto is going to wipe the deck with Pacquiao.

It saddens me because we’ll be seeing Pacquiao forced to eat his humble pie but heck, it was bound to happen sooner or late.

Pacquiao should have had a whole face full of defeat with his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez last year in March, but Pacquiao instead was given the win in one of the worst scored fights I’ve ever seen in my life. Just horrible scoring in that fight and no way should Pacquiao have won that bout. At any rate, I’m willing to put that fight behind me and forget about it all while I focus my attention on the Cotto-Pacquiao.

Like I was saying, Cotto is going to literally wipe the deck with the little Filipino and give him a lesson he won’t soon forget. Pacquiao would have gotten that painful lesson in his fight with Ricky Hatton in May, but the British fighter lost his fool head and went out there with some primitive caveman fighting style and got taken out. If Hatton had the brains to fight smart in the bout, he would have had the chance to hurt Pacquiao and give him a taste of real power.

I don’t think Pacquiao would have stood up for more than few rounds of Hatton’s big shots without going to pieces under the strength of his shots. But Hatton messed up and went out there like rank amateur and blew his chance. Cotto isn’t going to make that mistake you can bet on it. He’ll take his time, use his jab, right hand and high guard and coast for the first four rounds or so and let Pacquiao exhaust himself a little.

Once the fight gets past the 4th round, Cotto will start attacking Pacquiao’s body with huge hooks and give him a taste of power that he’s never seen before in his career. Pacquiao’s sparring partners and his trainer Freddie Roach won’t be able to prepare him for the torture he’s going to have to ensure at the hands of Cotto. This isn’t going to be a case of Cotto fighting a fighter his own size like Shane Mosley.

This is going to be Cotto whipping on a little fighter much smaller and weaker than him. Pacquiao will be faster, but speed is nothing when you don’t have the power like Cotto has. When Cotto discovers that Pacquiao doesn’t punch that hard, that’s when the beating is going to begin. Oscar De La Hoya said it himself that Pacquiao doesn’t hit that hard. He knows.

The only reason why De La Hoya lost was cause he was too weight drained from coming down from 154. Plus, De La Hoya was an old fighter by the time he fought Pacquiao and was essentially semi-retired at the time of the fight. Okay, so once Cotto realizes that Pacquiao has nothing in the way of power, he’s going to start torturing Pacquiao and beating him like an old rug.

This is going to be much worse than Cotto’s beating of Paulie Malignaggi in 2006 in which Cotto fractured Malignaggi’s orbital bone and beat him nearly senseless. This is going to be much worse than that. Cotto is going to make Pacquiao suffer and let him stick around so that he can toy with him for the full 12 rounds and show who the master is.

Now if Cotto is feeling generous, I think he’ll take Pacquiao out by the 7th or 8th round, but I think he’s going to let the fight linger and go the full 12 rounds so that he can toy with Pacquiao like a cat with a mouse. Afterwards, Pacquiao, badly beaten, will be cradled and mothered by Roach as he leads him out of the ring in defeat. And Cotto will be glorified with his career once again back to where it was last year before his defeat at the hands of the powerful Mexican puncher Antonio Margarito.

Is Cotto Damaged Goods?

By Dave Lahr: ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas made mention of Miguel Cotto looking like damaged goods last Friday night during the FNF telecast, remarking on how Cotto didn’t look good in his fight with Joshua Clottey in June and looked ready to quit during the later rounds. Atlas raised a very good point about Cotto. He doesn’t seem to be the same fighter he was before his fight with Antonio Margarito last year in July.

Cotto controlled much of that fight for the first nine rounds, but was tired out and was hurt at the end of the 10th round by a big uppercut from Margarito. In the 11th round, Cotto twice took a knee to escape the punishment that Margarito was dishing out to him in the round. The fight was stopped by Cotto’s corner after the second time that Cotto took a knee.

Although Cotto didn’t really get hit all that much in the fight, the punishment he did take in both the 10th and the 11th rounds, left his face a mess, making him look as if he had taken a severe beating in the fighting. It’s unclear how much damage that Margarito did internally to Cotto’s brain.

Cotto wasn’t really hurt by any of Clottey’s shots in their June 13th fight, yet Cotto looked like he was there for the taking during several of the later rounds. Cotto looked like he was ready to quit again for awhile there. Clottey, however, didn’t have the work rate to finish Cotto off and ended up losing a close 12-round split decision.

But the way that Cotto looked in the later rounds, he seemed to be confused, worried and giving up on himself. It was like looking at a replay of the 10th and 11th rounds against Margarito. Cotto looked like a shell of himself.

It’s very lucky for him that he was fighting Clottey rather than a more active welterweight like Shane Mosley, Margarito or Andre Berto otherwise I think Cotto would have lost the fight. Could it be that Cotto haunted by the Margarito fight? Is this the lingering effects of that fight or is a neurological problem?

With the way that Cotto looked against Clottey, it’s not a good thing that he’s now fighting Manny Pacquiao on November 14th. Cotto really needs a couple of fights against easier competition to build up his confidence and see whether he has a chin problem that’s lingering from the Margarito loss. We learned nothing from Cotto’s 5th round stoppage win over Michael Jennings in Cotto’s first fight after his loss to Margarito, because Jennings, a light puncher, barely laid a glove on Cotto that night.

But, we did see Cotto struggle badly as he went life and death with Clottey last month. That fight left a troubling feeling in my mind about Cotto. He doesn’t look like the same fighter he used to be and probably is making a huge mistake in fighting Pacquiao at this time.

I think Clottey actually won the fight, but Cotto, the more popular fighter, got a gift decision on that night. It might have been better had Cotto lost the fight, because at least he’d be rebuilding his career more slowly instead of rushing from his poor performance (his second in his last three fights) against Clottey into a fight with Pacquiao.

It’s too bad, because Pacquiao won’t get the credit that he’s seeking if he beats Cotto, because Miguel simply doesn’t seem to be the same fighter mentally that he was before his loss to Margarito. This is why the choice of opponents for Pacquiao was pretty poor. I can understand why his promoter Bob Arum pushed for Pacquiao to fight Cotto, since he also promotes Cotto. But it may be a fight where Cotto had wished that he didn’t take at this point.

Manny Pacquiao needs to clean his own house right now

Right now it's Miguel Cotto who is ahead on points against Team Pacquiao (AP Photo)

I don’t need HBO’s unofficial judge Harold Lederman to tell me who is ahead in the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto preflight fight.

I give the first round to the Boricua Bomber and his legal adviser, Gabriel Penagaricano Jr., by a 10-8 margin due to knockdowns.

Seriously, while all the controversy has pumped up Pacquiao-Cotto big time even before tickets go on sale, it has been strictly “Amateur Night in Dixie” for Team Pacquiao.

For a millisecond, let’s put aside the endless brouhaha about whether Cotto will risk his WBO welterweight crown against Megamanny and talk about other issues.

They are:

1. NO SIGNED CONTRACT: Meaning that the so called verbal agreements about a 145 pound weight limitation and anything else are not worth the paper they are not printed on. Let’s make it clear that Cotto is in the driver’s seat as the Pacman camp has poorly played its strong hand. You cannot blame Penagaricano from squeezing both promoter Bob Arum and Team Pacquiao like a lemon. No signed contract means no signed contract meaning that only spoken words have been exchanged here.

2.PACMAN MUST DROP HIS TWO POUND CRUTCH: This may have been Cotto’s two-pronged ploy from the get go, milking Arum for more dough in the bout contract and a new promotional contract or extension of same and also getting around the 145 pound limit insisted upon by Coach Freddie Roach and the other members of Pacman’s team.

(AP Photo)

3. PUTTING WBO PRESIDENT VALCARCEL’S HEAD IN A VISE: He lives in and practices law in San Juan. Do you think Paco wants to be the villain who strips an extremely popular Boricua of his title for not fighting top contender Pacman especially when he knows neither Cotto nor Manny have any particular loyalty to his Alphabet Group? (Kudos to Boxeomundial.com's Jose Martino for gleaning the fact that the WBO is insisting that Cotto pay a sanction fee ($150,000 cap) even if his bout with Pacman is a non title affair.

4. ARUM SHOULD HAVE PUT THIS BOUT TO BED BEFORE HIS HOLIDAY ROMP IN ITALY: I can understand a 77 year old rich guy taking a nice vacation with but couldn’t Todd duBoef, his stepson and Top Rank president, have tied up the loose ends here? I mean, was he just too busy with Latin Fury or inking heavyweight ne’er do well Samuel Peter? or maybe duBoef, an able fellow, was too swamped carving out a new or extended contract with Cotto.

5. DID MICHAEL KONCZ GET LOST IN AN AIRPORT: Is he Pac’s Man or Arum’s Main Main? They say no man can serve two masters. What is he doing messing around with undercard fighters when Manny’s business has not been properly handled? He may be from Canada but the Cotto camp has skated rings around him and MP lawyer Jeng “Jackal” Gacal.

Suddenly, having Sugar Shane Mosley “sitting in the on deck circle” (Arum’s exact words) does not seem so ludicrous or farfetched, does it?

And he not only willing but eager to take the short end of the financial stick and agree to a weight limit, or so he said, of 140 pounds.

Maybe it’s time for Pacquiao to clear out of the welterweight division entirely. And that includes the inevitable Floyd Mayweather Jr. megabout.

I know one true thing and that is Team Pacquiao needs a housecleaning and needs it now.

Otherwise, it will continue to be Amateur Night in Pacland.

Time to banish some of these Slumdog Millionaires, Manny.

Suddenly, Sugar Shane Seems Sweeter

When Manny Pacquiao told Bob Arum he wanted to fight Miguel Cotto next, all eyes fell on Cotto. But it seems Cotto sees a grave risk to his career if he fights Manny Pacquiao next. At 28 Cotto is not ready to get retired as has been the case of the last two fighters who faced Manny.

What is $150,000 sanctioning fee compared to the extra million dollars that goes Cotto’s way if he fights Pacquiao instead of some other opponent? It seems that the WBO 147-lb belt graciously given to Cotto is being used by the Cotto camp not more on squeezing some more dollars for Cotto but on how to avoid a Pacquiao fight.

The 145-lb catch weight is not an excuse for the fight to be non-titled. Any weight beyond 140 and below 148 lbs is welterweight. 147 is only the ceiling for a boxer to not go over to remain a welterweight. The catch weight was presented to address one fighter’s size advantage over the other.

The catch weight is to enable the bigger man who needs it more to fight the smaller man. On paper Cotto needs to fight Manny and not the other way around. On paper and not necessarily in Cotto’s mind.

Cotto doubts he can beat Pacquiao. So there’s no point for Manny to pursue a fight with one who does not want to fight him. Cotto may now be given the graceful exit. Being the gentleman that he is, Manny may now train his sight on one who is interested. The one most interested.

And suddenly, Sugar Shane seems sweeter!

Manny’s next fight is for the history books. How many fighters can win 7 division titles in his boxing career? Should Manny accomplish it, it would be a long time before the feat can be equalled and surpassed. If it’s not for the WBO, there is the WBA, the WBC or the IBF titles.

And Shane Mosley is not just another champion. By the way he destroyed Antonio Margarito, Sugar Shane is a more difficult fight for Manny than with Cotto even at age 37. While Cotto has a win over Mosley, Cotto is not the same fighter now as he was when he fought Mosley. Cotto had become more beatable after his severe beating by Margarito.

Mosley holds the title he took from Margarito who took it from Cotto who took it from...and so on.

And Shane is willing to have a fairer fight by agreeing to concede his size advantage. The fight can be fought at 143 or 145 lbs with the WBA welterweight belt at stake. It should not be at 140. Nothing is sweet in beating a bitter Shane. There is no glory since Manny will not remake history.

It is written by some that Manny might be fighting his last. It has been proven that it is wise to retire while, not only at the top of your division as has been done by Lennox Lewis and Joe Calzaghe lately, but more so when one is at the top of rall. As the pound for pound top dog.

And there’s no sweeter way for Manny to end his fighting career by scoring a win over the suddenly sweet Sugar Shane Mosley.

Pacquiao Poll: What course should Manny take?

What should Soulja Boy Pacquiao do next?

By popular demand, as the Pacquiao Worldwide Army is on air raid alert, a White Gorilla poll of you the paying customers.

What should Manny Pacquiao do now:

a) Forget about 145 pounds, agree to fight Miguel Cotto for WBO title with 147 limit

b) Fight the Puerto Rican, hold to 145 pound limit, and don’t worry about the belt

c) Tell Cotto to stick it where the Boricua sun don’t shine and fight Shane Mosley at aqreed to contract weight of 140 up to 143 or 144.

d) Demand that Bob Arum make Cotto risk the title and keep to 145 pounds as verbally agreed to.

Post your vote on the Comments section under this article as my email mailbox is limited in space.

Pacquiao doesn't need Cotto or his belt

Truth be told Manny Pacquiao does not need Miguel Cotto, nor his belt. Just based on both fighters' recent history, it should be Cotto crawling on all fours wanting to fight Pacquiao to revive his slumping career.

I don't know whether Cotto is posturing or is simply stubborn when he said he wouldn't put up his WBO welterweight belt against Pacquiao even if he had to vacate it. Fighting words from the gallant Puerto Rican, but why would Pacquiao care?

If that's the case then Cotto isn't really interested in the biggest payday and break of his career after all. If I was a Team Pacquiao adviser, I'd simply tell Manny to walk and explore his many other options.

Mosley is willing and waiting in the wings and would even go down to 140 and take 40% of the pot just to dance with Manny. Of course there's still the option of paying Marquez step-aside money as Floyd Mayweather Jr. himself suggested and get right down to business with "Money May". Or he can stay in his division and fight the winner of Timothy Bradley and Nate Campbell next week at the Agua Caliente Casino in Palm Springs. Call me T.I. because fact of the matter is Manny, "you can have whatever you like". Such are the rewards of being the best and most popular boxer in the planet. When Cotto actually locates his heart after Antonio Margarito beat the crap out of him and fighting the last four rounds of his controversial win against Joshua Clottey on skates, then he can start acting like a diva.

Really? He will vacate his title just so Pacquiao wouldn't be able to get a shot at it? That's simply disrespectful in my book. You wouldn't even give a much smaller person a shot at a belt he very well deserves if he beats you just because of two almost meaningless pounds? Even when it means you are to get the biggest payday of your career? Really?

Pacquiao did not invent title fights at a catch weight, in fact great boxers like Sugar Ray Leonard have done it before him in the past. The welterweight limit is from 141-147 pounds, the 147 is just the maximum weight they can come in at the weigh-ins. Realistically, Pacquiao is really that small compared to Cotto so the two pounds only makes it sensible. Just a year ago, even Bob Arum himself said imagining Pacquiao in the ring with Cotto was ludicrous and he simply could not see it happening. That was then, this is now. And now all of a sudden it's ridiculous for Pacquiao to ask for a title-fight for asking Cotto to come down 2 pounds?

Let's put things in proper perspective. Pacquiao does not need Cotto right now. Actually, Cotto is fortunate that he is getting all this attention and publicity after his ho-hum victories and devastating loss to Margarito. A lot of people even consider him damaged goods and actually lost to Clottey. That's not to say I agree with that, I personally feel Cotto is still one of the toughest fights for Pacquiao out there but it doesn't mean it's the best fight for him necessarily especially if it would be a beltless fight and if Cotto would go out of his way just to not make it a title-fight. Pacquiao can fight Mosley who is a better sell for American veiwers and Pay-Per-View buyers anyway. You also finally get to see Pacquiao fight an African-American boxer, one of the best at that, as some people have been clamoring for. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record but Pacquiao got options... Pacquiao got options....Pac-paca-pac-pa-pac-pac got chiki-chiki op-tions... Pacquiao got op-o-o-options. Broken record, scratch, scribble, dice and transform it, whatever it takes to send the message. Got it? Good. (By the way shout out to my boy DJ QBert, one of the best skratch DJs to have ever lived)

Perhaps somebody whispered something behind Cotto's ear for him to be confident of whatever happens at the moment. It's almost as if he is willing to just finish up his contract with Top Rank against whoever and jump ship to Golden Boy where promised greener pastures await. It makes sense. De la Hoya could have very well guaranteed Cotto a shot at Mayweather or a rematch with Mosley with some serious dough in tow. Nobody really believes that all Cotto and De la Hoya did was a round of golf a couple of weeks ago.

That's besides the point however. Last time I checked, Pacquiao hasn't signed any papers to fight Cotto yet. Cotto is a good opponent but there are better options for Pacquiao out there if Cotto insists on playing hard-to-get. He can go for Mosley's belts at 143 if he wants to rather than negotiate with a fighter people consider as "damaged goods".