Pac Man vs. Cotto

Manny vs Cotto was highly anticipated by Puerto Ricans and Filipinos alike. With both sides thinking that the other was gonna win. I couldn't help but think Cotto was gonna win this one (before the fight), because he really picked up on being a better boxer than a bully-brawler type. Cotto's ability to bully someone into the ropes and bang the body is beyond impressive, and Manny's tendencies to work the inside with aggressive speed seemed like the fight was going to be in Cotto's favor. On the other hand, Manny is like fine wine; he gets better with every fight. He came from being a left handed brawler into an inside power/speed boxer. He has one of the most feared left hooks in the business, and showed his right handed power by defeating (or as my friend would say "killing") Hatton. Boxing fans could not help but think that this was going to be a fight to watch. But despite all the tension for months everything ended up with a W in Manny's corner despite the switch from Plan A to Plan B.

My prediction for the fight was not biased unlike the Puerto Rican and Filipino fans. I didn't want to join in on the hype by becoming apart of the race wars that proceeded for months. It was a bit irritating hearing Filipinos talk about Manny when I knew they were not boxing fans before Mr. Philippines. I went into this fight as a boxing fan and made predictions for both sides. For Manny I predicted a knockout in the 7th and south, because Manny always finds a way to knock out his opponents in an exchange. My 2nd prediction was a fight to the finish. The reason I said this was because of the situation back in the Philippines. I believed that with all the things that were going on back home, he wanted to be a good countryman as opposed to being a good boxer. On top of that, after his fight with Hatton and saying he was gonna perform after the fight made me think that Pac Man was getting cocky. In other words, I believed the Pac Man's odds of winning were unlikely, but possible.

I wasn't too sure about Cotto as well. After Cotto's return to the crime scene, I thought he wouldn't be in tip-top shape. I did believe that he would be more of a boxer than a brawler, and he would win be decision straight up. I knew he wasn't gonna get a knock out on Manny unless he placed his counter punches every time Pac Man tried to capitalize on a situation. I also believed that Cotto wouldn't go down like Hatton did.

After all the thinking and all the boxing science was discussed it was crunch time. I discredited Freddy Roach's prediction to end it early, and saw a bad round by Pac Man. This is when Manny's camp started to switch to Plan B, which seemed like they wanted to fight smarter and contain Cotto's jab which was dominating Pac Man. Pac Man continued to dominate in scorecards, but failed to knock Cotto out. Cotto began to look like a chump, but ran away trying to draw Pac Man into the corner. The shock of that night, which I'm trying to still understand is Pac Man's "rope-a-dope" or what looked like a rope-a-dope. It was shocking because it was convincing..then Pac Man got the knock down..SHOCKER. By the 8th round, Cotto looked like shit, and Pac Man was still looking classy. By the end of the 10th Cotto's corner considered throwing in the towel, but Cotto kept his heart and showed Pac Man how to move his feet. Although Pac Man outclassed and bullied Cotto, Cotto had the best foot work of the night. I often saw Pac Man performing poorly placed footing during punches, leaving openings after power punches, and showing signs of stumbling. If it were not for Manny's quick recovery he would've performed badly. By the 12th round, Cotto had been beat and the ref stopped the fight.

This fight showed Pac Man's ability to dominate with accuracy and block breaking punches. Yet it also shows that he did lack some training by failing to end it early. All in all it was a good fight, Cotto was outclassed, Cotto showed heart, and showed Pac Man's camp that he was no chump. Whatever fight Pac Man has in store, he needs to put all the bullshit aside and train harder to end it early. As for Mayweather, we'll see..he says one thing then contradicts it. GO SUGAR SHANE MOSELY!