By Mark Vester
At the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38KOs) made history by winning his seventh world title in his seventh weight division by punishing Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27KOs) and stopping him in the twelfth round to capture the WBO welterweight title and the WBC Diamond belt.
Cotto snapped Pacquiao's head back in the first five seconds with a jab. A very hot crowd began to trade chants for both fighters. Cotto had a good defense from the start. The two were trading stiff jabs. The two traded punches in the final ten seconds to lift the entire sold-out crowd. In the second, Cotto was picking up a lot of Pacquiao's punches. They were trading some heavy shots when Pacquiao came off with a three punch combo. Cotto landed a hard left hand. Pacquiao started to work his fast hands and Cotto responded by trading hard punches for nearly the entire final minute. Cotto landed hard left when Pacquiao came in. Pacquiao responded with a quick right that sent Cotto down. Cotto was fine when he got up. He landed a huge shot to Pacquiao's body. They started to trade more hard punches to make the entire crowd ris. Cotto started getting off with more body shots and landed good counters, including an uppercut to knock Pacquiao's head back.
During the fourth it was a back and forth war with both fighters trading a massive amount of power punches. Cotto had Pacquiao against the ropes and started landing some heavy shots. Pacquiao got away and got off with a left hand on the jaw that send Cotto down for the second time in the fight. Cotto was hurt but able to get to the bell. Cotto started doing better in the fifth round, landing some good counters and getting off with his jab to keep Pacquiao at bay and control the round. Pacquiao was able to get off with a flurry at the end. Cotto started with a hard jab in the sixth and landed a good left. Pacquiao started to pikc up the pace and landed some heavy shots to Cotto's head and body. The Puerto Rican star started taking a pounding. Pacquiao rocked Cotto with a left hand and the Puerto Rican star stood his ground by returning fire with a three punch power combo.
Cotto started boxing and less fighting in the seventh. Pacquiao was getting off with the harder and crisper shots to keep Cotto on the move at all times. Cotto came back out boxing in the eight round. Pacquiao continued to stalk, land hard power shots and was busting Cotto up. In the ninth, Pacquiao began to bust really bust Cotto up against the ropes and punished him to the head and body. Cotto's face was a bloody mess by the end of the ninth and trainer Joe Santiago told him that he was only giving him one more round to get his game together.
They came to the middle in the tenth round. Cotto started jab and stayed on the move. He was able to stay on his toes and avoided most of Pacquiao's big punches. Pacquiao continued to chase and looked for a big combination to finish him off. Cotto started going back on the move in the eleventh. Cotto was bleeding from his left eye, the nose, the mouth and Pacquiao was trying to finish him off. Pacquiao started running away as Pacquiao stood still and wanted him to fight. Cotto came back out running in the twelfth round. Pacquiao started busting Cotto up and ref Kenny Bayless jumped in and stopped the fight.
Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com
