Cotto vs Pacquiao

[H2O Man]

The two will fight on November 14th, at the MGM Grand Garden in Vegas. It will be the sport's end-of-the-year "Super Fight."

Not long ago, I would have considered Cotto to be simply too big and too strong for Pac Man. At this point, I would tend to favot Manny.

It is a good choice -- unless he loses -- as it will give him more experience at the higher weight, before eventually fighting Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

I think this will appeal to the general sports fan, as well as the boxing community. I'll be tempted to ask my west coast brother if he wants to get together to see it live.

[JonLP24]

1. I can't say I know anything about the fighters

But I will pay attention from the outside as I assume the fight will be on PPV?

I do know who Floyd Mayweather Jr is. I've seen on an ESPN interview a few months ago and he was incredibly arrogant or it may have been a show for the interview as he may be different outside of the cameras. I'm not saying it bothered me as I'm sure you have to be somewhat arrogant to be successful in boxing but it exceeding the norms of arrogance and I'm not afraid to admit it was entertaining to watch him in an interview. Also it was in fact last Friday I saw him being interviewed on ESPN by the same reporter in fact and Mayweather even acknowldeged the controversy(which I wasn't aware of) surrounding the last interview. However he is one of the most interesting characters I've seen in interviews and it is entertaining to hear what he has to say.

[H2O Man]

2. You'll like this one.

Cotto and Pacquiao are two of the top fighters today. I have a great deal of respect for both of them. They are both gifted athletes, who conduct themselves in a manner outside of the ring that does the sport proud. They are also both extremely popular, and so their fight will definitely be a PPV event.

Cotto holds the WBO welterweight title. Previously, he held the WBA welterweight title. He has never been, of course, the actual world welterweight champion, as that title belonged to Mayweather.

He was the world junior welterweight champion (aka "super lightweight"). He is an intense fighter, who spent most of his time in the lower weight as an aggressive fighter who wore opponents down, and usually stopped top guys in the later rounds. He was never an extremely hard puncher, but he was strong, hit fairly hard with great accuracy, and had a beautiful left hook to the body. But when he moved up, his power didn’t translate to the bigger class. He began to rely more on his boxing skills, which are considerable. However, the welterweight class has a number of extremely talented punchers and boxers. Thus, while he usually wins, he has been getting cut, and hurt. And he suffered his first loss.

When he fought Antonio Margarito, it was a war. Margarito was able to move Cotto backwards, and that just isn’t Miguel’s game. Margarito stopped him in 11 rounds, after decking him twice. Cotto told the referee he was unable to continue – a smart move, but one that rabid fans disapprove of and rarely forgive.

Since then, Cotto has won two fights. The first was a soft tune-up; the second was a war. But Cotto won an unpopular decision, though he was cut and hurt badly. The fellow he fought, by the way, is tough-as-nails, and also happens to be a light heavyweight who can cut weight ….but with weigh-ins held 36 hours before a fight, boxing has changed for the worse. Some fighters put on 18 lbs between weighing in and entering the ring.

Pacquiao started his career at 107 lbs. He was good, but got KOed twice, both times in the second round. As he moved up in weight, he improved considerably. He won the flyweight title; the junior featherweight title; the featherweight title; a welterweight title; and then a junior welterweight title. He was involved in some of the most intense series of ring wars in recent years; he drew with, then decisioned Juan Manuel Marquez, who will be fighting Mayweather in September (many boxing experts felt Marquez won both fights).

A couple years ago, he hired Freddie Roach as his trainer. Roach is among the very elite trainers. He improved Manny by 200%. I don’t mind saying that I’ve been surprised how much better he is today, than 18 months ago. And in his last two fights, he destroyed bigger opponents who are among the greats of our era – though neither are "all-time" great fighters. He TKOed Oscar de la Hoya, then KOed Ricky Hatton.

Cotto is only a ½ inch taller; their reach is equal, at 67". Hatton is faster, and his power is enhanced by his speed and accuracy. Plus, Freddie studies his opponents, and trains Manny to expect exactly what he will face in the ring. Cotto has slowe down, cuts easily, and has absorbed a lot of punishment lately. He has recently split with his trainer (his uncle), and he is probably finding better qualified help in Florida. One thing for sure: Cotto is as dirty of a fighter inside the ring as I have ever seen, and that can always change the dynamics in the ring.

In my opinion, Cotto is among the great fighters of our era, but not among the "all time." Pacquaio is without any question among the "all time" great fighters. He will probably cut and TKO Cotto.

That will set up the biggest fight in boxing: Pacquaio and Mayweather. And that is going to be a hell of a fight.

[JonLP24]

3. Freddie Roach is a familiar name

I'm sure you watched the two fights before Prescott vs Vasquez? The first fighter fought someone near me from Glendale, AZ in which the AZ guy got knocked out by a shot to the body. I believe the announcers mentioned the winning fighter who I forgot the name was has been training with Freddie Roach at Wild Card gym in LA I believe. Feel free to correct me if I'm completely wrong. The first two winners of the early fights looked really good imo. I believe one was a gold winner and the other a silver winner in the Olympics. I do remember the 2nd was Johnson in which he beat Paulo. I have a gut feeling I will be hearing about those two especially the first one in the future.

I did mention this in your weekly boxing thread but I wanted to know what you thought about the judge that overwhelmingly scored in favor of Prescott? Teddy Atlas seemed upset and suggested that if he was the commissioner he'd sit down that judge, replay the tape and ask how he scored that fight.

[H2O Man]

4. Right.

I had posted about Guillermo Rigondeaux right after he scored the KO with the body shot. He had set it up perfectly, and the opponent "took the bait." You'll recall he was throwing a semi-uppercut/bolo punch from a distance, in order to get his opponent to try to cross it with a right-hand punch (the true "right cross"). The skill of feinting is one of the most important. I was browsing through Bert Sugar's "100 Greatest Boxers" yesterday, and enjoyed what he wrote about Wilfred Benitez, who is considered the most skilled in this art ever. It allows a fighter with average power to get the same results as guys with extreme punching power.

There are a number of impressive Cuban fighters now. Rigondeaux and Yuriorkis Gamboa are, in my opinion, going to do the best in the professional ranks. I also like Eris Lara, who shows good ring skills. (The other Cuban on the card hasn't transitioned to pro fighting yet; you'll recall that he threw a lot of punches that either missed, or were ineffective. But he'll do well, with a good trainer.)

The Ring recently had an interesting article on the Cubans in professional fighting. There were some outstanding ones in the '50s and '60s.Luis Rodriguez won the welterweight title, and also beat my friend Rubin Carter twice. Perhaps the best was Jose Napoles, who left Cuba for Mexico. That is interesting, in part because of the competition between the Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican fighters. (As a general rule, Puerto Rican greats are boxer-punchers; Cubans are boxers; and Mexicans are known as vicious punchers -- the left hook to the floating rib is their trademark.)

Regarding Teddy on the last fight: I disagreed with how wide his scoring had the fight, but he certainly had the correct man winning.

On an "off topic" note: yesterday, I had a good day, as a young man I have known since he was in diapers came to my house to say he wants to give boxing a try. Decades ago, his father was part of our team, though he did corners, rather than fight. This is the youngest of four brothers; I expect him to grow from cruiserweight to heavyweight, as his older brothers are 6'4", 6'5", and 6'8" tall. Gifted athletes, all. Anyhow, he did some bag work, and four rounds of sparring with my son. Not hard sparring, of course, but I liked that he said that one minute in the ring is harder than an entire basketball game ("especially with D punching ast me!"). But I expect at least two Golden Gloves champions in Feb/March. I'll post a few photos on a thread soon. I'm working on an article comparing the differences between the newer "city gyms," and the old-school "country training camps."

[JonLP24]

5. That's it. Rigondeaux.

Even as a novice his style looked impressive. I recall telling myself he is going to win this fight but I didn't expect it to end so soon. I do have a gut feeling Rigondeaux will be successful but I also said that about Johnson about his 2nd fight but Rigondeaux was clearly more impressive.

Were you actual friends with Rubin Carter or did you mean that figuratively?(if I'm using that word correctly) If so that is neat to know. About the Cuban fighters I will research those and Teddy had some back story I believe about one of the Cuban fighters, I think Rigondeaux, that he fought in a lot of amateur matches as well as defected from Cuba at least once but I believe he said twice due Cuba banning him from boxing I believe. Not sure which ones but I believe he said one of the fighters had to skip a Tucson card because of something about work permits and had to wait for the Las Vegas one which was obviously last week.

I'll be looking forward to this threads. A question is there FNF on ESPN this week? Also that is very cool. I liked how he said it was harder then an entire basketball game but I'll say that football practices in 110+ weather in high school was the hardest training I've been through and I've graduated from basic training if that says anything. Best of luck from me to the young man.

[H2O Man]

6. Actual.

We've been good friends for 35 years now.