143 catch-weight will only diminish Pacquiao's legacy

Most recent reports coming out from the Manny Pacquiao camp indicate that they now want Miguel Cotto to go down to 143 if they were indeed to meet on top of the ring for a year-ending boxing blockbuster.

Honestly, I was already a little bit skeptical about the 145 or 144 stipulation since it takes away from the accomplishment. If Pacquiao wanted to fight Cotto, people want to see him fight the real Miguel Cotto not a compromised version of him.

The whole Oscar De la Hoya situation was a totally different case. Oscar thought he can take advantage of Pacquiao and his ambitious nature and take the easy way out be fighting a smaller man for his retirement fight. Back then, nobody knew how Pacquiao would do moving up 12 pounds in weight and the disparity in height and size was just too big of a difference for them not to give Pacquiao concessions. Add to that the fact that De la Hoya and Pacquiao were the two most popular boxers during that time and had somewhat of a personal conflict from when Pacquiao spurned the contract he signed with Golden Boy. There were a lot of intangibles that pushed the fight to happen. It was "The Dream Fight", by all means it had to be done.

After the fight however, Pacquiao proved that he can hang in the higher weight classes. He beat De la Hoya at 147 and despite people saying he was dehydrated and all, I still believe he was simply outclassed. It's just a matter of which De la Hoya you believe. The De la Hoya that said before the fight that he was utilizing all the technologies and sciences available for him to lose weight properly and that he was feeling great and stronger than ever (Not to mention employing two of the greatest trainers in boxing history). The De la Hoya that told Freddie Roach after the fight that he simply did not have it anymore and that Pacquiao was just a great fighter and deserved everything he achieved. Or the De la Hoya that told the media weeks after his embarrassing loss that he was simply dehydrated and drained. Personally, I tend to hear-out what people say first and use my observations and logic to make the call. And from what I saw, coupled by Pacquiao’s destruction of the then best 140-pounder in the planet in Ricky Hatton, regardless of what the Golden Boy says, the fact is that Pacquiao is still one of the best fighters even at welterweight. He did not ask Hatton to go below his natural weight and he simply destroyed the linear champ who incidentally was also undefeated at 140. The lack of big names in 140 leaves Pacquiao no choice than to fight the bigger names at 147 if he truly wanted to stage the biggest event and further his legacy.

But if Pacquiao is going to force Cotto into agreeing to fight him at 143, I’d rather have him fight a willing Mosley at 143. The difference is they want it. De la Hoya wanted Pacquiao at 147 and bragged before the fight he felt great in the weight, so he deserved the beating he got and makes his complaints about dehydration sound more like excuses.. So if Mosley wants Pacquiao at 143, by all means.

Cotto has already shown in the past that he could not force his body to lose any more weight. He can legitimately claim that another pound demanded by Pacquiao for him to lose after conceding a couple already is simply overkill. He may very well agree to the 143 catch-weight because the money will be too hard to pass up, but beating Cotto because he is dehydrated nullifies the glory of the victory. The money Pacquiao will make will still be glorious but fans don't get any of the money fighters make anyway so why concern themselves with that. If we're talking about legacy, which I’m sure Pacquiao and his fans value, fighting Cotto at 145-144 which Cotto said he could swing, is enough to keep the fight legitimate. Anything lower than that would somewhat be an abuse of power. That's not what Pacquiao's career and legacy has been about. His mystique is that of an underdog that took on all challenges, not the bully who strongarms and takes advantage of his leverage. And being that he's on the way out, why would he want to taint that image now?

Remember how you felt when you found out Pacquiao was forced to wear Winning gloves instead of his Cleto Reyes punching gloves in his loss to Morales?

In my perfect world, I’d rather Pacquiao really just fight Cotto straight-up at 147 if he really feels he can beat him. Win or lose, there will be no shame in that. If he doesn't feel he can beat Cotto fair and square, then find somebody at 140 and sacrifice a few million dollars for taking a lesser risk. There’s no shame staying at your rightful weight class and sweeping the belts. I believe in earning whatever it is you get in life. To this point, I believe Pacquiao earned everything he has achieved and should be fully credited for all of his victories including his beating of De la Hoya. If he however insists on having Cotto go down to a weight the Puerto Rican already mentioned he couldn’t make and would be extremely uncomfortable with, then a victory over Cotto at 143 will definitely feel half-baked. It’s almost as if it’s not boxing anymore and turns the contest away from Pacquiao versus Cotto into Cotto versus the scales. The biggest payday of his life would be too hard to pass up though for Cotto that 143 would be a bait he might actually just bite.

That isn’t really what Manny Pacquiao has been about though. Pacquiao’s legacy has always been about taking the biggest and most dangerous challenges. That’s how he earned the Mexicans’ respect by beating all their legends. That’s how he made Americans look and remember his name after beating De la Hoya. That’s how he turned the Brits into believers after beating Hatton. What would beating-up a reluctant and drained Cotto at 143 do? He's already the Pound-For-Pound king, why would he want to be called the Drain-Your-Pounds King?

I’m not saying Cotto can’t win and that Pacquiao will have a walk in the park if they do face at 143, but it will definitely take away from the achievement if Manny wins. Most of you might disagree with me, and that's cool, but this is just my take on it; my honest 2 cents. 147 would be perfect, but 144-145 is enough for the fight to make sense.

Source: examiner.com