Pacquiao vs. Cotto: Prediction of pain and suffering for Manny

By Manuel Perez: I really hope that that Manny Pacquiao will do well next month against World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on November 14th, but I can’t see things working out that way. Pacquiao is too small and limited to do much against the powerful Cotto and this fight is going to get out of hand early on. You can say that the hype bubble for Pacquiao will be burst on November 14th, when Cotto gives Pacquiao a beating that he and his loyal legion of adoring boxing fans won’t soon forget.

They say speed equals power, and that may be true. But speed doesn’t mean as much when a fighter is tiny compared to the other one and doesn’t have the ingrained power. Cotto you see is just bigger, more rugged and inherently more powerful than the little Pacquiao.
In my boxing days, I was always able to wipe the deck with littler fighters than me – always. It didn’t matter if they were faster than me, I was able to beat them up with my superior size. And this is what the main problem will be for Pacquiao against Cotto. Pacquiao will be too little and his power shots won’t have any effect on Cotto. Pacquiao’s shots may be powerful to fighters in the lower weight class or ones that are washed up and nearly defenseless, but against an talented able bodied fighter like Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao will be like a small insect flying around Cotto’s head.

Once it becomes clear that Pacquiao doesn’t have the power to hurt Cotto, look for Pacquiao to start taking terrible punishment to the head and body. Pacquiao has shown problems with taking body shots in the past, and I expect that Cotto will cause Pacquiao problems in their fight next month.

I thought Pacquiao was a halfway decent fighter when he was fighting at the lower weight classes, but he started to experience problems when he met up with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2004. Marquez out-boxed Pacquiao for 11 rounds and had to settle for a draw in that fight. I had Marquez winning easily. Pacquiao would later lose to Erik Morales, and then have more problems against Marquez in their rematch last year.

By this time, Pacquiao was very popular with the boxing public for some reason and ended up winning a controversial 12 round split decision over Marquez. I had Marquez winning by four rounds in that fight, and many other boxing fans felt that Marquez won the fight.

So, Pacquiao finds himself against one of the best – not the best through – welterweights in the division in facing Cotto. Pacquiao will start to have problems starting in the first round when it becomes clear that he doesn’t have the talent – or power – to compete with Cotto. Pacquiao’s head will be ripped one way and then the other with each combination that tags him in the face.

The scar tissue over Pacquiao’s eyes will tear apart early, leaking his blood down across his face, into his eyes and all over his white trunks. Pacquiao, at the sight of his own blood, will immediately become weak and pliable, just as he was in his first fight against Erik Morales after he sustained a cut. Cotto will then use Pacquiao as a punching dummy for the next seven or eight rounds, batting his face a dark red, further busting up his eyes and knocking his nose askew.

Pacquiao will soon look like a fighter who was dragged off a bloody battlefield from a terrible war, as every inch of his face will be covered with blood and swollen purple. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s longtime trainer, will advise Manny that the jig is up, recommending that the fight be stopped.

Pacquiao will agree with Roach and allow the bout to be stopped in between rounds seven and eight with Pacquiao still on his stool with a look of anguish on his face. It will be hard to make out his facial emotions because his face will be distorted by then and look like one big red dot from all the blood and swelling.

Source: boxingnews24.com