Pacquaio Versus Cotto Fight of The Year
Cotto and Pacquaio Fight for the Right to be Called Boxing's Best
Nov 6, 2009
The world’s number one fighter is traditionally someone who commands the unequivocal respect of the boxing community. The winner of next week’s Welterweight super fight will deservedly assume that mantle. Both men are world-class practitioners, possessed of guile, strength, technique and that most intangible of all fighting pre-requisites-heart.
Cotto, 34-1 (27 KO’s), is the reigning WBO Welterweight Champion and it is he who will be defending his title against the redoubtable Filipino dervish Pacquaio, 49-3-2 (37 KO’s). Pacquaio, in attempting to annexe the Puerto Rican’s crown, is aiming for his seventh world title in as many weight divisions; an achievement unparalleled in the history of the sport.
Cotto A Formidable Opponent
Cotto, at twenty-nine, has matured into one of the most complete fighters in the sport. Hugely powerful at the weight Cotto is arguably the best body puncher in the sport. His left hook downstairs is a truly debilitating weapon, a fact made all the more pertinent when one considers Pacquiao’s two stoppage defeats came as a result of body punches, though it must be said in early career fights over ten years ago. Cotto’s sole, highly contentious defeat against Antonio Margarito, comes packaged with a huge question mark in the light of the Mexican’s attempted larceny in the Mosley fight.
Cotto is technically excellent, while he has added versatility as his career has progressed. He has shown he is capable of out punching heavy-handed bombers like Ricardo Torres, while (in arguably his most complete performance) he out jabbed and ultimately out boxed master technician Shane Mosley.
Cotto is teak tough, resilient and adaptable, having survived cuts, knockdowns and adversity in battling back to win countless fights. His power at 147 pounds is genuine and on his best day he can resemble a force of nature, relentlessly pursuing opponents and grinding them into submission with a measured and pitiless two-handed attack. His ability to cut down the ring is reminiscent of a peak Duran and he rarely lets a wounded quarry escape once hurt. His most recent win over the obdurate Joshua Clottey showed he could also think and make adjustments in the ring. Cotto is no one-dimensional slugger; rather he is the consumate thinking man’s pressure fighter.
Psychological Scars
However, many critics believe that Miguel is still carrying the psychological scars inflicted in his bruising loss to Margarito. Harried to the point of exhaustion by the indefatigable Mexican, Cotto had his aura of invincibility punctured in 2008. His two subsequent wins have arguably seen him return to action as a slightly less formidable fighting machine. It remains to be seen if he has truly put the loss behind him.
The Pound-For-Pound King
Pacquaio is a fighter who literally defies superlatives. He has run roughshod over a bewildering array of opponents in a career that has seen him capture titles at six different weights. Flaunting quicksilver hands, one punch power and slippery lateral movement, the Filipino has presented opponents with a virtually unsolvable conundrum in recent years.
Manny appears to be improving as he moves through the divisions. His punch perfect demolitions of Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton have highlighted his skills for a growing worldwide audience. He certainly has the advantage in speed over Cotto and his ability to fire off lightning bursts of heavy punches and then skip out of range may well be crucial in this fight.
Defensively Manny appears to be indistinguishable from the fighter who lost to Erik Morales in 2005. He is deceptively difficult to tag cleanly and his southpaw style, deft head movement and in and out tactics are sure to present the more orthodox Puerto Rican with problems. Add to this Pacquiao’s devastating left hand, shown to explosive effect in his last fight against Ricky Hatton and you can make an argument for why he has been installed as the betting favourite.
The Intangibles
In a fight between two such evenly matched talents the result may well come down to a number of intangibles. The issue of weight may be a factor, the Pacquaio camp having insisted on a 145-pound limit for the match. However, looked at objectively it is hard to see how it will seriously disadvantage Cotto, who weighed 146 for his previous fight.
Reputed bust ups in the Pacquaio camp may well have retarded the smaller man’s training routine (some of which was spent training in the Philippines). Though most impartial critics believe the father-son relationship between Pacquaio and trainer Freddie Roach to be strong enough to recover from any minor altercation.
The most telling factor may be how well Pacquaio, who only moved up to 135 pounds last June, copes with a direct hit from a noted Welterweight puncher like Cotto. Manny, as he showed against Marquez in their second fight, has a tendency to get drawn into a war on occasion and this may prove his undoing against a puncher of Cotto’s calibre.
A Hard Call To Make
If the Puerto Rican is able to corner and slow down the more fleet-footed challenger it is possible his greater strength allied to his ferocious body attack will prove too much for Pacquaio. Moving up in weight Manny has been irrepressible. The difference here (as the likes of Alexis Arguello, Carlos Zarate and Wilfredo Gomez discovered in days gone by) is that he is facing a truly outstanding champion in Miguel Cotto. In a fight that will literally bring the MGM Grand roof down Cotto looks set to win a thriller by stoppage around the tenth round. However, if Manny manages to prove everyone wrong one more time he will have firmly written his name into the very bedrock of the sport. Whatever happens boxing will get the shot in the arm it needs on November 14th and for that we can all be truly thankful.
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