PACQUIAO VS. COTTO POST-FIGHT REPORT

Posted on | November 14, 2009 | No Comments

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By: Rich Bergeron

Yuri Foreman and Juli Cesar Chavez Jr. both remained undefeated in their undercard battles. Foreman was the more impressive of the two and actually looked close to knocking his veteran opponent out a few times. Chavez Jr. slugged his way to victory looking as if he was on cruise control. He notched another win but didn’t seem to gain any more fans as the crowd began booing near the end of the fight.

The main event was really what the crowd came to see, and the two fighters did not disappoint early on. It seemed like Cotto actually had the perfect game plan for Manny at the close of the first round. Nothing really severe landed for either fighter, but Cotto seemed to be getting the better punches off and connecting well with his jab.

The second round was possibly one of the best rounds in boxing I’ve seen this year. Both fighters went toe to toe trying to take each other out. Pacquiao waded in and took some of Cotto’s hardest shots to land flurries of his own. It seemed as if Pacquiao was consciously trying to make Cotto punch himself out. After the fight Pacquiao said he wanted to get hit to feel Cotto’s power. I guess he wanted to convince himself he could take Cotto’s best.

The third round was more of the same competitive back and forth slugging until Pacquiao landed a right hand blast that sent Cotto tumbling to the canvas with about 20 seconds left in the round. Though Cotto did not seem stunned and the knockdown was more the result of poor balance than a lousy chin, he seemed to know he suddenly had to overcome a 10-8 round and tried with all his might to do just that. Pacquiao continued to take hard shots from Cotto through the round, but he kept up his own relentless counter punching as well.

Pacquiao scored another knockdown in the fourth, this one more impressive. He crashed a left hook angled like an uppercut into Cotto’s chin as part of a counter-flurry, and Miguel was all out of game plan. Cotto did a bit of the stagger leg before dropping down on all fours for another count, already in the hole with just a third of the fight in the books. Cotto collected himself just in time to sneak out of the round still dazed. He wandered to his corner with a hollow look in his eye and the hope of wearing his belt home fading. Though he was able to regroup between rounds, he was never the same after that knockdown. A mouse formed under the eye where one of Manny’s spitfire shots crashed home, and Pacquiao used both eyes for target practice throughout the rest of the fight.

Over the course of the next few rounds, Cotto would land some hard shots, but Pacquiao’s chin withstood everything. He outpaced Cotto with sharp combos and punches from unorthodox angles. Every now and then Pacquiao would go back against the ropes or retreat into a shell where Cotto would try his best to get through the defense and land a damaging blow. A few nice Cotto uppercuts split the uprights and some rib shots landed with a thump, but Pacquiao just grinned and asked for more.

Cotto used every bit of strategy and tactical movement he could to stay on his feet, but the 9th round proved to be the beginning of the end as Pacquiao poured it on with impunity. It wasn’t long before Cotto’s trainer kept telling him he could only give him “one more round.” Cotto survived the 9th only by way of a miracle as Manny beat him all across the ring with vicious flurries. Manny’s sympathy seemed apparent over the 10th and 11th as he seemed to be trying to land as few shots as he had to and kept looking to the ref to end it. Cotto’s hopes of making it to the final bell were dashed when he backed up against the ropes near a corner in the 12th round. Manny pounced and landed a few final exclamation points that opened Cotto’s face up even more.

Cotto fans must have been watching in horror having to see their fighter cry tears of blood in defeat yet again. It was certainly not as bad as those torrents of blood caused by the hands of Margarito (which might have been tampered with), but the beating was bad enough for Cotto’s wife and son to leave their ringside seats and refuse to look at certain points in the later rounds.

Pacquiao was a gracious winner and heaped praise on his opponent for being so tough. He is leaving his next fight up to his promoter and repeatedly made it a point to tell Larry Merchant he’s going to take a vacation. Bob Arum is Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s mortal enemy lately, so the chances of Pacquiao getting a “Money” fight are pretty slip, but a better and more possible match-up might involve Manny in a “Sugar” fight. Shane Mosley is due to battle Andre Berto in January, and the winner could face Pac-Man to leave no doubt as to who Floyd should fight next if Manny wins that clash. Berto may win that encounter, but Mosley was so impressive in his last bout. It will definitely be a war. If Mosley can maintain the same kind of speed and power that helped him beat Margarito, he might be the only guy to give Pacquiao a real challenge.