Cotto-Pacquiao: What Will Manny Do If Miguel Destroys Him?

By Manuel Perez: Alright, Manny Pacquiao got his way and now he’ll be fighting for all the marbles against WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on November 14th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas. Cotto has no choice but to put his WBO title on the line for the fight, thanks to the WBO who within the past few weeks suddenly pushed Pacquiao to the number #1 challenger spot in the division, despite Pacquiao having no experience against credible welterweight contenders or champions.

Don’t you love boxing? So, with little choice but to have his WBO title on the line or else having it stripped from him by the WBO, Cotto will be defending his title at the 145 pound catch weight instead of the full weight of 147, which is the norm form the division.
The two pounds won’t matter anyway, but it’s the principle of thing that gets me. Now that Pacquiao has his wish fulfilled by being able to fight for a chance at winning a seventh world title, what will Pacquiao do if he gets spanked by Cotto, knocked out and sent packing in shame?

I really don’t think Pacquiao and his Nostradamus of a trainer Freddie Roach have given that much thought. I think they needs to start doing some planning about it, because I think Pacquiao is going to lose this fight, probably by a knockout.

First of all, Pacquiao hasn’t been losing lately because he’s been sitting on easy street with a slew of easy fights – with the exception of his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez – in the past three years. So Pacquiao is probably more than a little drunk on his own success and is probably seeing himself as invincible. This is where Roach comes in handy.

After Pacquiao takes his beating by Cotto, Roach needs to step up to the plate and whip out a nice excuse for the loss, something along the lines of the one Nonito Donaire used in his disappointing performance against Rafael Conception last Saturday night, saying “I hurt by hand hitting him on the head.” The earlier the hand injury occurs the better for Pacquiao.

If Roach is smart and well prepared, he’ll say it occurred in the 2nd round, or maybe the 1st depending on when Cotto starts pummeling the little Filipino fighter. I think the 1st round is a safe bet, because it makes an excuse for virtually the entire fight while at the same time make Pacquiao look slightly heroic because he fought the entire fight with the injury.

Okay, so Pacquiao takes the humiliating loss, Roach gives the excuses and Pacquiao flies out of the country licking his wounds. Where does Pacquiao go from here? Well, if Pacquiao takes the kind of beating that I think he will, boxing fans probably won’t care to see a rematch between him and Cotto, even if Roach comes with the injury excuses afterwards.

The excuses really don’t have much weight with boxing fans if they see that a fighter is getting dominated. In guess you can say that boxing fans have excuse radar and smell a rat when they see excuses flying following a defeat. The reason for that is pretty obvious.

Most boxers don’t own up to their defeats and instead blame it on a myriad of things, such as their trainer, they weren’t feeling well, they didn’t’ train well enough or the old classic, they injured their hand. It’s pretty pathetic all of it and forlorn. So a rematch with Cotto is probably not going to happen.

Since Pacquiao has two fight timeline on his career, I guess he’d be looking at taking on the best opponents that he could. My hope is that would be the winner of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr,. fight.

The problem with that is Pacquiao probably will be tarnished after a loss to Cotto, especially if it’s a bad one and instead of Pacquiao getting the fight with the Marquez-Mayweather winner, it will probably be Cotto, at least it should be.

You never know with boxing, though. Let’s assume that it is Cotto. That would leave Pacquiao to try and get the loser of the Marquez-Mayweather bout. I know it will probably hurt to have to face a loser, but then again Pacquiao will be a loser to at that point, so he’ll be in good company. So I expect Pacquiao to lose that fight as well, whether it be Mayweather or Marquez.

Both are superior fighters and will box circles around Pacquiao. The judges won’t give Pacquiao the benefit of the doubt like his previous two fights against Marquez, because Pacquiao will be seen differently after being destroyed by Cotto. After losing to Marquez or Mayweather, Pacquiao will likely go after his one remaining opponent that he can get a good payday against and that’s Shane Mosley.

By this time, Pacquiao will probably be on his last legs from his two consecutive beatings. I expect Mosley to make quick work of Pacquiao and stop him within eight rounds. At this point, retirement will be the only real option for Pacquiao. He can then be free to follow his dream and try to become the president of the Philippines. I wish him luck.

Source: boxingnews24.com