There are those wingnuts out there who believe that Miguel Cotto against Manny Pacquiao is a donkey against a thoroughbred racehorse.
Mark them down: uneducated fools from uneducated schools, I guess.
No less an authority than Kronk Gym Goldfather Manny Steward told me Tuesday too much is made out of Megamanny’s last two bouts, against opponents who offered too little.
At the same time, Steward said (and I concur) that too much is made out of the Boricua Bomber’s crunching TKO loss to Antonio Margarito and his troubles while surviving a nasty cut to outpoint Joshua Clottey.
In fact, Steward said, if he had been calling the shots in the Cotto camp, the popular Puerto Rican fighter would still be unbeaten and would have dodged the difficult Clottey.
“If I was Miguel’s manager, I would have steered clear of Margarito like everyone else was. And I would have never put him in with Clottey. I’d have never had Miguel fight either of those two guys.”
The HBO color commentator makes it plain that he is no way belittling Pacman’s accomplishments nor the Herculean training efforts of Coach Freddie Roach. At the same time, attention must be paid to what Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton brought to the ring which wasn’t much.
“In Manny’s favor, you must say he did what he had to do with both guys. Manny and his trainer handled everything right as far as what they could control. But don’t get carried away and make Manny a god or a Superman who can never be beat.”
I pointed out to the Hall Of Fame trainer and developer of the great Thomas “Hitman” Hearns that Pacquiao effectively brought down the curtain on the ring careers of both Oscar and the fun loving British boxer.
“Oh, yes, that is quite an achievement when you look at what those guys had done before,” Steward said. “And Manny just crushed them both but I think this is why the Cotto fight is misleading for some people.
“Give Manny all the credit but you can’t say he’s become some invincible guy now. I mean, look Oscar came into the ring a physical wreck. Ricky Hatton ran up into the ring with no plan at all. Those are just facts of life.”
As far as Steward possibly becoming Cotto’s trainer, he said he has not been campaigning for the gig.
“It’s just people and fans who keep calling me from Puerto Rico. I’ve had no direct contact with Cotto on this. Between my fighters, working with a new amateur series in Detroit and my HBO work, I am more than busy.
“I said, ‘Oh, my,’ when I heard Cotto was fighting Margarito to begin with. Same with Clottey but for different reasons. That guy keeps a tight defense and you’ve got to throw 10 punches to get one in with him. Those two guys brought a lot more into the ring against Miguel than Oscar and Ricky did against Manny.”
Source: examiner.com
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