Manny Pacquiao has been largely lionized in the past year by the boxing public since beating Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. It’s sad that boxing fans have been so gullible as to be influenced by two pretty much empty wins as these when crowing Pacquiao as the top fighter in the sport. It’s actually sad when you think about it because it shows that fans don’t really have a great knowledge about the sport and can’t put wins in perspective.
Miguel Cotto is a great fighter, certainly better than De La Hoya and Hatton at this stage in my view. Maybe Hatton and De La Hoya were equally as good fighters at one point in their careers, but not by the time that they got to Pacquiao. Few boxing experts would agree that Hatton and De La Hoya had seen better days by the time that they fought Pacquiao.
So the fighters that Pacquiao faced were played out and vulnerable to getting beaten. And to a certain extent the same thing applies to Cotto, although he still has a lot despite his horrible 11th round stoppage loss to Antonio Margarito last year. Okay, so once we recognize that boxing fans have made the miscalculation of seeing Pacquiao as the top dog in the sport based on his empty wins over De La Hoya and Hatton, we must look at how good Pacquiao really is as a fighter.
The answer to that question, perhaps, can be answered by looking at Pacquiao’s “win” last year over Juan Manuel Marquez. In that fight, Pacquiao was out-boxed in eight of the twelve rounds by Marquez, yet the judges scored the fight for Pacquiao by a 12 round split decision.
I saw the fight five times in a row, okay, and I’m telling you that Marquez should have won that fight, period. I can take the fact that the judges saw it differently, while a massive amount of boxing experts like myself saw it as a Marquez win, but it tells you how good Pacquiao really is.
It doesn’t really matter who won the fight. What matters is that Pacquiao struggled badly against Marquez and won a controversial 12 round split decision. That much we can agree on. Marquez was Pacquiao’s last good opponent. I’m not taking anything away from Hatton or De La Hoya because they were great fighters in their day, but clearly not the same fighters by the time they fought Pacquiao.
But, really, Marquez is the last good fighter that Pacquiao fought and he looked horrible against Marquez. Since Pacquiao had a tough fight against Marquez, that you have to assume is about how good Pacquiao is a as a fighter. You can’t use De La Hoya or Hatton as a measuring sticking because they both looked like condemned fighters as they entered the ring against Pacquiao and didn’t look at all good.
Who besides Marquez can you use in recent history to judge how good Pacquiao is? David Diaz? How about a faded Marco Antonio Barrera? Other than Marquez, you really have to go back years to where Pacquiao fought Erik Morales in their first fight before you see Pacquiao fighting a live body who wasn’t faded, weight drained or just plain not that good.
Okay, so now we bring in Miguel Cotto, who I admit is still probably a little shaken from his beat down from Margarito last year, and put him in with Pacquiao. Say what you want about Cotto’s defensive skills, he’s a great offensive fighter and can punch like few others in the welterweight division. So you put Pacquiao in with Cotto and what do you expect will happen? The answer is in how Pacquiao fought against Marquez. Pacquiao is going to struggle and struggle big time against Cotto and end up taking a beating on November 14th. That’s just the way it is.
Source: boxingnews24.com
EMPTY WINS? YAH RIGHT!!! That's a really prejudioed way of describing Pacman's wins. Let me just remind you of HOW he (Pacman) won - a TKO vs ODH and a HELL of a KO on the 2nd round vs "The Hitman". If the fight went the distance, I might be telling a different story. But it didn't. Pacman KO both fighters in high fashion.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, make up your mind regarding Cotto's condition. Don't give me uncertain words like "Cotto might be shaken or shot". Coz I don't want another excuse from you once Pacman beats the crap out of Cotto come fight night. That's history already made.
Cotto is gonna show the world that he is not "shot".All you Pacquiao jock riders are gonna get a wake up call!!
ReplyDeletepacquiao fought the last 2 fighters of his fight same with mayweather's last 2 fights(before the mayweather-marquez fight)
ReplyDeletemayweather won over ODH, split dec.
after few months, pacquiao won over ODH, 8rd TKO
mayweather won over hatton, 10rd TKO
after few months, pacquiao won over hatton, "2 ROUND-TKO" and on hatton's comfort weight division(he was undefeated on that weight division before he fought pacquiao).
And mayweather jr. was the #1 pound-for-pound fighter back then. I think this alone is a proof that pacquiao won over ODH and hatton convincingly.
lol the last post he try to make sense but he didn't. Mayweather fought DLH like 3 years ago, fought hatton almost 3 year ago... paquiao fought a damn old DLH at 147 and he cannot go back to his weight at fight night(150 something)... fought a Hatton that didn't care what happened on the ring (he already lost) he just wanted a big payday nothing more. He even didn't bring defense on the fight, he wanted to be KO'd. Paquiao skip the best to fight the shot and done fighters, know he had a BIG problem against Cotto. Lets see if Pacman is really as good as the MEDIA make him look like.
ReplyDeletePS The MEDIA built the "AMAZING" Pacman legacy....
the mayweather-dela hoya was just a little more than 2 years ago and the hatton was just less than 2 years ago pal. and the pacquiao-dela hoya and hatton was just a little more than a year later. better check your calendar dude, is it 2010 already? let's just wait for the fight.
ReplyDeleteOMG you did the homework of researching the exact date!!! id!ot... time keeps going 2 years 3 years you get OLD!! The hatton fight i didnt said time was the fact of his loss was nothing to lose he didnt care for a victory he just wanted the money... ODLH was damn old he cant get to 147 without hurting himself... he got patched just after the fight...
ReplyDeleteok so i see a few people left a comment here so will i.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this marquez was the last real fighter manny has faced, DLH & hatton are old and pass there time. but i do say one thing if manny would have fought oscar when oscar was fighting trinidad or chavez there would be no pacman. second hatton has no defence and leaves himself open all the time mayweather exposed that so did manny. anyone with good skill would know that. now Cotto has great wins over fighters who are smaller and difficulty with larger oppenents. its been proven see the fights. but has won them all ( and I mean all) margarito busted cotto using bricks and still didnt ko him cotto went down on his own terms and it took 11 rounds. and if you see the fight Cotto fought so beautifully fast sharp and out did margarito in every way. manny has had probelms with fighters who can control the pace of the fight. marquez was one to do so, even though he was dropped three times he came back and gave the pacman a fight. cotto can do that and inflict damage. bigger,stronger, counter puncher. cotto will win 7,8,9 on of theses rounds. i read that roach said that he will tell manny to pressure cotto and body punch him i don't see that working unless roach will willing to allow manny to trade with cotto. which roach also said he didn't want manny to do, that he was going to avoid taking hits. i have read so many different plans from roach that i don't think there is one. i see Cotto controlling the pace of the fight letting manny come to him, pressuring him, trading, counter. and out boxing manny, yes they will trade but manny will take to o much damage and roach wont allow him to do it. so there you have the way the fight will go. Edwin Rios
I'm not sure if you guys who admire cotto said the same things before the pacquiao-DLH and hatton fights.
ReplyDeleteBut here's what I'm sure of, "IF"....again, IF pacquiao defeats cotto(since this fight is 50-50 for me), you will come up with brand new alibis on why cotto lost the fight, that cotto has passed his time, that pacquiao team cheated and all that crap, because you just could not accept the pacquiao is better than cotto.
Edwin Rios has a very good point.
you are all idiot! why always keep insisting that those past fighters ODLH,HATTON are passed thier times? some says that DLH was drained, and hatton was no deffense, yet i watch all hatton fights @ 140 division where he was undisputed. and when he fought pacman,nothing thesame the way he fought before,the only problm was that his dirty tactics while fighting pcaman DIDN'T WORK AT ALL! one thing for sure..MANNY IS VERY SMART THAN MORON HATTON!
ReplyDeleteyou all pacman haters are idiot! i admit that cotto is bigger and stronger in fight night, but 1 thing cotto dont have, SPEED...!!!
PACMAN can give solid and accurate punches,with power while moving out,moving lateral, side by side,which cotto will not see it coming..
conclusion...manny will dominate cotto in 1-6 rounds, cotto will be out of gas in the mid rounds, which will give him more problems..
7-8 cotto will be punish by hard shots to the heads, he will suffer big cut on his right eyebrow,which unable him to see the punches of pacman.
ROUND 9 COTTO WILL KISS THE CANVAS, AFTER A BIG LEFT STRAIGHT LUNCH BELOW THE EARLOB OF COTTO'S CHAIN, AND THATS WHAT WE CALLED THE BOXERS BIBLE PUNCH!
PACMAN WIN VIA TKO!!!!
Wow, you got balls calling yourself a boxing expert. Who the hell are you? What are the criteria for becoming a boxing expert? Have you even step inside the ring and spar with another man? Now, I'm no expert and I'm not a professional boxer but I am a fighter, I box and I fight muay thai and spar 3x a week. How about you? I bet you're one of those lazy ass bastards who can't even get up of the couch and do some real work out. I bet the only workout you do is get up from your dirty bed and go to your pathetic job working for McDonalds or BK flipping burgers. And, please don't call yourself a boxing expert and tell everyone that you are because not even Manny Pacquiao would call himself a boxing expert and he holds 6 titles in 6 different weigh class, enough said.
ReplyDelete"Cotto the man but PACMAN will be the CHAMP"
I'm with the last guy who made the last comment, the writer for this column is an idiot for calling himself a boxing expert :) Everyone can talk the talk but not everyone can walk the walk. Its easy to become a boxing commentator or boxing column writer and believe you are boxing expert. You ought to try and get into the ring for a change and I bet you won't last 1 (2 min) round. My first time sparring inside the ring, I could barely last 3 (2 min) rounds and I thought I was in great shape. Reality check, those who believe and think they are boxing experts are usually the ones who have not stepped into the ring. Please don't embarrass yourself by shouting out loud that you are a boxing expert.
ReplyDelete"Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face."