Cotto vs Pacquiao Reviews

Cotto vs Pacquiao Fight

Less than three months separate salivating fight fans from the November 14 catch weight showdown in Las Vegas between WBO Welterweight Champion, Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs), and pound-for-pound kingpin, Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs). At stake is Cotto’s WBO Welterweight Belt, along with the newly-minted WBC Diamond Belt, though most fans know there’s plenty more at stake than title straps.

Also up for grabs are legitimate claims to pound-for-pound supremacy within the boxing world, and a seemingly guaranteed match-up with the winner of the September 19 bout between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) and Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs).

And while Internet chat rooms are abuzz with passionate support for both combatants, who will really have the edge on November 14? The theories are numerous, but the old adage still rings true: Styles make fights. It’s one of the reasons Kelly Pavlik was able to vanquish Jermain Taylor on two occasions, and why Bernard Hopkins was able to completely outclass Pavlik in a separate bout, despite the fact that Taylor had beaten Hopkins twice himself. Whose style suits them best in this fight?

The vast majority of analysts seem to agree that Pacquiao’s speed and footwork have the potential to give Cotto fits, and conversely, that Cotto’s power and potent body attack embody threats that Pacquiao has likely never faced in his long and illustrious career. However, both fighters have proven in the past that they have the tools necessary to adapt to their opponent’s attack. Cotto managed to neutralize the speed and footwork of Zab Judah in 2006 and Shane Mosley in 2007, and Pacquiao quickly put to bed any concerns over his apparent size and strength disadvantages in his dismantling of Oscar de La Hoya and Ricky Hatton earlier this year.

Leading up to Pacquiao’s last two fights, critics argued that his opponents possessed physical characteristics that would spell his doom. Both times they were proven wrong. However, assuming a normal rehydration between the weigh-in and fight night for Cotto, its safe to say that Cotto will represent the biggest obstacle that Pacquiao has ever met in his career, both literally and figuratively. Will this finally be the fight where Pacquiao meets his match in someone who’s simply too big for him?

Or will this be a fight that turns out exactly as odds-makers are predicting? The early 2-1 odds in favor of Pacquiao spell the belief that Cotto won’t be able to keep up with a fighter with the speed, pop, and footwork that Pacquiao possesses.

Critics can argue advantages and disadvantages until they’re blue in the face, but one point that everyone should agree on is that this fight was named “Firepower” for a reason. For as long as this fight lasts, fans can expect high-paced action from bell-to-bell. Cotto and Pacquiao have built fan-friendly reputations because of their penchant for delivering and absorbing punishment, not because they were content to Compu-box their way to a points victory. And despite your allegiances, fight fans from every corner should be thrilled that this bout has come to fruition.

What does the future hold? Over the next three months, how the boxing landscape will be painted is anybody’s guess. Will we see Pacquiao vs. Mayweather in 2010? Cotto vs. Marquez? Or some other variation among the four fighters? Time will tell. Let the countdown begin.

Cotto vs Pacquiao (Boxing Fight)

Cotto vs Pacquiao - Big Fight
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Pacquiao vs Cotto - Big Fight

Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions officially announced yesterday that the Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto fight, scheduled for November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is a done deal at a catch-weight of 145 pounds. In what has been a strange, transitional year for the sweet science, this is likely to prove the only true super-fight of 2009 in terms of both the legitimacy of the match-up and the interest it generates.

So far this year, there’s only been one really big boxing event – Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton on May 2. And though that was a high-profile bout that garnered a lot of crossover attention and did big business (over 800K in PPV buys), when Pacquiao pulverized Hatton in only two rounds, it confirmed the belief of most boxing pundits that the fight was a mismatch from the start. Once again, Hatton rode his rabid following and great popularity in the UK to a gigantic payday, and once again he proved to be a second-rate fighter with first-rate drawing power.

Other than Pacquiao/Hatton, the only other meeting of A-list names in ’09 was January’s fight between Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito at the Staples Center. But while that was also a very successful promotion, the mere fact that it wasn’t a pay-per-view event indicates its stature in the category of bling. When a fight is really big, it’s PPV, no questions asked. Mosley/Margarito was right on that pay-per-view bubble, and in the down economy, the promoters chose to put it on regular HBO, a smart move for all concerned.

As far as the rest of the year’s schedule goes, there’s only one fight left on the roster to even compete in magnitude with Pacquiao/Cotto, and that’s the Floyd Mayweather/Juan Manuel Marquez fight taking place on September 19, also at the MGM Grand and also on pay-per-view. Buoyed by a media blitz and the HBO 24/7 treatment, this bout may do big numbers, although doubts linger about the interest in the fight. But for boxing insiders, the doubts concern the relative size of the two principals. Marquez is a truly great and heroic fighter, but he recently looked undersized at 135 pounds when fighting Juan Diaz. He’ll be fighting Floyd at somewhere in the neighborhood of 144 pounds. The likelihood of a man who is at his physical best as a super featherweight jumping up three weight classes to defeat a talent of Floyd’s caliber has to be rated at slim to none.

Thankfully, Pacquiao vs. Cotto is not sullied by any such concerns. This is a Grade A, hands-down, pay-per-view level showdown of stars in which there are sound reasons to believe that either man has the edge going in. The first gambling odds to appear on the internet list Pacquiao as a 2-1 favorite, but I doubt that will stand up for very long. Serious questions will hover over both fighters heading into this thing. Will Pacquiao be able to handle the punches of unquestionably the biggest, strongest man he’s ever faced? Will Cotto be able to maintain his strength dropping down to 145 pounds, and will he be able to cope with Pac Man’s blinding speed and relentless attack? These and other questions are sure to provoke fiery debate among the boxing cognoscenti over the next four months, because each of these fighters is backed by a large and devoted following. In short, what we have here is a true fight fan’s delight, a meeting of high-profile and worthy opponents that right now looks as if it could pull off that rare boxing double of being both big and good.

Pacquiao vs Cotto
Cotto vs Pacquiao - Big Fight