By Manuel Perez: Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2. 37 KO’s) better hope that he can stop Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KO’s) as early as possible in this fight, because once Cotto gets his train started, Pacquiao is going to be in for a world of hurt on November 14th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. What we’re looking at here is a fighter that has had it easy in his last seven fights (with the exception of Pacquiao’s fight against Juan Manuel Marquez), defeating most of his opponents early on without having to take very much punishment in the process.
Pacquiao has been able to move up in weight recently and still win without getting hit all that much because of his selective match making. Oscar De La Hoya was a light middleweight at the time that Pacquiao fought him and was forced to melt down to 147 to take the fight.
In effect, De La Hoya was a weight drained, older light middleweight. Instead of facing De La Hoya, Pacquiao – if he wanted to prove himself – should have fought either James Kirkland, Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams or Alfredo Angulo instead of a shot De La Hoya. All of these fighters would have been a better test for Pacquiao if he was interested in fighting a light middleweight.
Let’s face it; those guys would have knocked Pacquiao cold if they had fought him even with a weight draining catch weight because they are all in their prime, whereas De La Hoya clearly wasn’t. The same applies to Hatton.
If Pacquiao wanted to fight a light welterweight, why didn’t he fight Timothy Bradley, Kendall Holt or Marcos Maidana instead? All of them were in their prime at the time that Pacquiao fought Hatton and I considered all of them as better fighters than Hatton at this point. For some reason, Pacquiao chose not to fight them. I wonder why?
Now, Pacquiao is going to be fighting Cotto instead of Shane Mosley, Paul Williams and Andre Berto. Although Cotto is still in his prime, there are questions about whether he’s the same fighter he once was after losing to Antonio Margarito by an 11th round TKO last year. Why didn’t Pacquiao fight Mosley, Berto or Williams if he wanted to fight a welterweight?
Cotto may or may not be the same fighter he once was, but I think Pacquiao is in for big trouble if he can’t get Cotto out of there as quickly as possible. Cotto hits much harder than any opponent that Pacquiao has fought before and doesn’t have to load up with his shots to hit really hard. Pacquiao is going to be in for a shock if he can’t score a quick knockout because for once, he won’t be the stronger fighter.
I think Hatton was stronger than Pacquiao but he messed up by getting taken out so quickly and didn’t get much of a chance to show his power in that fight. Cotto has a better chin than Hatton, and will be able to take Pacquiao’s shots early in the fight without folding up. I think Cotto is going to rip Pacquiao apart as the rounds go on after he realizes how much bigger and stronger he is compared to the little Filipino.
This is going to be fun to watch because it will show what would have likely happened had Pacquiao fought a fighter in his prime like Mosley, Williams, Berto, Kirkland, Maidana or Bradley instead of someone on the downside of their careers.
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