Dougie's MASSIVE Monday Mailbag

THE ‘RJ’ LEGEND & COTTO

What's up Dougie. So not sure if you caught the Jones/Lacy bout, but if not it was a hell of a beatdown. I figured Jones would outpoint him, but the way he threw his combinations with blazing handspeed served us all notice that the fight wouldn't go the distance. Lacy god love him tried and tried but to no avail. Roy has entirely too much left for a majority of fighters out there. I think another scalp he would easily add would be Jermain Taylor who doesn't even deserve to be a part of the SM tourney. And Taylor gave Carl Froch all sorts of trouble before running out of gas, which again leads me to believe that Jones would whoop Froch as well. Now it would be best to avoid young studs like Abraham, Kessler, and Ward, but I would rather see him add the two aforementioned scalps than take on Danny Green. Green while not the most skilled fighter on the planet is a big dude and packs a heavy punch, which may spell trouble. I digress.

Miguel Cotto too will not lose to Manny Pacquiao. It's gonna become very clear after 5 rounds that Manny is in over his head. We've seen Cotto blow up to well over 150 pounds come fight time and his punches pack some weight as well. I know the danger of fighting a guy with the tenacity and power of Manny, but I believe that Cotto's body attack will saw him in half sapping his energy. People say Cotto this and that but he has been taking on only the most serious tests and prevailing through adversity and pain. It seems as if Manny took my advice and decided to add a few easy scalps to his resume before he hangs em up eventually by adding Diaz, De La Hoya, and Hatton. I give him credit for picking Cotto in his next bout, but he's only doing it because he feels Cotto is on the slide and that's why he won't be the victor in November. You heard it here first man. Well you've probably heard it somewhere else but still! Yea, that felt good. Peace Dougie. -- David

I think Pacquiao wants to fight Cotto because he knows the Puerto Rican is a worthy opponent. Just because some fans and members of the media (and I ain’t one of them) think Cotto is “sliding” because he had a tough fight with a top contender (Joshua Clottey) doesn’t mean Pacquiao is that dense. The PacMan knows fighters. Real champs recognize real champs. He was ringside for Cotto-Clottey and he knew more than anyone inside Madison Square Garden or watching on HBO that night what it is like to suffer a bad eye cut while fighting a world-class boxer. He saw how Cotto handled adversity and found a way to win. He knows Cotto is not a one-dimensional fighter. He knows Cotto is stronger than he is. He knows he’s got a real fight on his hands. Because of tax issues that will keep Pacquiao out of the U.S. until fight time, Freddie Roach knows that his star fighter may not have the best training camp for Cotto. Trust me, Team Pacquiao does not believe they have an easy fight on Nov. 14.

As for Jones-Lacy, I missed it and I will probably take my sweet time in reviewing a DVD of the fight. I had no doubts that Jones would win that fight. If you go life-and-death against Epifanio Mendoza and Otis Griffin even a 40-year-old Roy Jones is going to slap you silly.

Anyway, I’m happy for Jones and a little sad for Lacy. I think it’s time ‘Left Hook’ considered retiring from prize fighting. He had successful amateur and professional careers. He was an Olympian. He fought on television numerous times, he won a major world title, defended it a few times, and made some good money. He’s got nothing to be ashamed of and plenty to be proud of.

As for RJ’s future, do you REALLY think he’s got “entirely too much left for a majority of fighters out there”? Just because he beat up Jeff Lacy, who has looked horrible in every single fight he’s been in since getting beat up by Joe Calzaghe?

Do you think he’s got entirely too much left for the majority of legitimate top 168-pound and 175-pound contenders?

I don’t think he would have his way with any world-class fighter who has something in the way of hand-speed, reflexes, footwork and basic boxing ability. I’m talking about real contenders like Mikkel Kessler, Lucien Bute, and even a still-learning Andre Ward (at super middleweight), and Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal (at light heavyweight).

I think RJ’s fellow 40-something world-class veterans like Hopkins, Johnson and Tarver would also give him all he can handle.


Source: ringtv.com