Manuel6

Hands Pacman throws faster combination and power punches (single and multi) Mayweather throws a quicker Jab Mayweather is more athletic in general but pac has quicker foot movement in making his angles Totally agree. Mayweather's initially delivery is faster. However, once Pacquiao's combination gets off, they are very, very fast.

I don't think it mattered much. Sure Santiago gave him no advice, but what advice was he going to give him. Cotto needed to hurt Pacquiao enough to slow him down, and he couldn't. He needed to manage distance better, and he couldn't. He was doomed. He did not have the conditioning to keep up with such a brutal pace. By the time the 4th came around, it did not matter. He was gassed already, as a policy he refuses to hold, and it was only a matter of time. I am a Cotto fan- no doubt. But during the 4th there was no hope for him; he looked physically wiped out. So, instead of Santiago telling Cotto, "Damn, you need to be in better shape", "****, why don't you hold every once in a while", or "damnit, force him to set-up again instead of exchanging 5-6 punches in a row", he told him the only thing Cotto might do...grow some balls and fight some more...and oh, yeah...keep throwing the jab.

Mayweather would "Mosley" Bradley. If you ask me, Bradley is overrated. Bradley needs to slow down and think about a future match up with Devon Alexander. Bradley's name should only come up in a conversation regarding Mayweather if, and only if, he happens to be fighting on the undercard!

I like Juanma. I really do. I think he's a great fighter. But he's making a mistake in not fighting Gamboa now. Right now, Juanma has a chance. If Gamboa gets a chance to polish himself over the next year or so and then fights Juanma, Juanma is done...and I don't think it's going to be pretty. My gut tells me that based soley on physical prowess Gamboa beats Juanma any day of the week right now- too fast, too powerful, too good. His technical defects are not enought to hold him back, and it's not as if Juanma doesn't have his share. However, with a little more work on his defects, he embarrasses Juanma. Straight-up!

Look I know paulie talks a lot of shit, and to be honest I haven't spoken much on the whole steriod issue one way or another, because I really don't know what to think. But Paulie was making a lot of sense in the interview at the khan presser. Talking about pac's performance against clottey I like most people thought pacquiao's workrate was astonishing, but not unrealistic because we have seen other fighters do it, micky ward, joe calzaghe just to name a couple. But Paulie made some pretty interesting observations, first he picked up on the fact that so many of pac's punches had almost everything behind them, a lot of fighters with great workrate in the past, a lot of the mexican guys for example throw a lot of sequential and fluent combinations in the pocket, but not huge power in each shot, normally there 1 or 2 power punches mixed in the combination here and there. But manny is litterally for a lot of that fight loading up and hammering power shots to the body and head, over and over, resetting and then over again. This leads me to the next point paulie talked about, the issue of overtraining was mentioned which has always been at the back of my mind, im surprised manny has never overtrained for any of his fights, especially when he was struggling to make weight. Look trust me when I tell you I am a huge fan and there is nothing that would please me more than to know for sure manny was clean, but I just re-watched the pac-clottey fight and I can kind of see what paulie is talking about. If he was using, how deep do you guys think the problem is? How long? Who in the team or at the wild card would know about it in your opinions? This has always been my contention. There are in fact superior athletes in this world. They have gifts that allow them to rise above and beyond the good. However, Pacquiao seems to possess every gift in the bag. He wins the 100 meter runs and the marathons, and for good measure wins the shotput too. It just doesn't make sense. He's never overtrained; struggles to make weight (allegedly), yet weighs in at 144 against Cotto only to rehydrate to 150 on fight night (how is this possible for someone with a weight retention problem), and for all practical purposes has not shown one negative consequence to his fast rise through the weight classes- not one...nothing. Mike Tyson was a very gifted athlete, but with all his gifts I don't think he could throw 1,200 bombs per fight. Ali, Mayweather, Martinez (Sergio), Mosley are gifted athletes, exemplifying great combinations of power, speed, endurance, agility, and coordination. Nevertheless, none has ever shown anything that is as freakish as what Manny does regularly. Manny seems to be greater than great and that merits an eyebrow or two.

thanks for reading my first post and replying accordingly...up until saturday I was almost 100% sure pac was not cheating, but that performance just didn't sit right with me after watching it again. The first time I watched it I thought it was very impressive and couldn't believe how many peeps on here were critiscising it, and saying floyd would destroy pacquiao based on that! I felt like saying, did you actually watch that fight? Yeah he got hit, but clottey is a world class fighter and got dominated badly...I don't belive floyd could do that to clottey, no way! After watching it a few times then reading paulie's comments and going back and watching it a couple of more times it dawned on me how unbelievable the performance was and his output was. Look I know this sport well enough, I have competed as an amateur and know how hard some of these top pro's work I have trained with low level professionals, so what these top guys put themselves through...trust me I get it, but knowing what I know I can't help it if these thoughts about pac are there in my head, because it is now above and beyond what anyone has ever done. I mean if he fought with that workrate and velocity on his punches at some of the lower weights then that would be unbelievable but to do it at a weight where he has to actually build up to is crazy. Like I have said before I would love to be able to say in 20 years that I was around when manny pacquiao was in his prime, and what an amazing fighter he was, and that he was clean No problem. I, like you, don't want to come out and call him a cheater. But, his performances are so far beyond the norm that it leaves you scratching your head. Boxing skill aside, his physical performances are absolutely incredible, especially when you consider that he has had to do it in a weight class almost 20 pounds north of where he was just a few years ago. And as if that weren't enough, he's fighting in a weight class that is full of talented, strong boxers and embarrasing them. It does not add up. In every sport, there is one best person; however, most "great" others are somewhere in the neighborhood. This is not true with Pacquiao. He's in his own class. Last time I saw something similar to this, I was watching a guy name Bonds make MLB pitchers look foolish...

Only Pac can win this fight. There is no doubt that the Cotto-Pacquiao fight should be interesting. But before going overboard on knockout spectulations, most should acknowledge that this fight can only serve to lift Pacquiao- if he wins. Cotto has nothing to gain from this fight. He should win. He doesn't have the greatest style in the world, but his style is good enough to go toe to toe with the best in welterweight division, nobody should take that away from him. He can fight and he can box, even though he is not "superb" at either. He has no gross weaknesses that could make him an easy opponent for Pacquiao; he throws clean, accurate punches, and has a variety of punches, has a good defense and slips well, has power in both hands, a rock solid chin (proven by now, atleast @ 147), but most of all, he can take all of his talent and mold it into a sensible fight plan for his opponent. He has proven time and time again that he can take his skills and his style and tweak it to fight opponents with varying styles. He is not the type of boxer that does well against only against certain opponents (like another former popular boxer from P.R.). Cotto should beat Pacquiao. He's naturally the bigger man. Even if Pacquiao sneaks upper cuts and right hands on Cotto all night, chances are Cotto will not go down. Pacquiao does not hit harder than Margarito, Mosley, etc. Pacquiao may be able to outbox Cotto. This possibility definitely exist. I win on the scorecards for Pacquiao is not outside the realm of possibility. However, I cannot see Pacquiao knocking out Cotto- in any round, even the late rounds. Pacquiao will have to worry the entire night about Cotto's power, which will put a damper on his offense. And if he gets lit up in the early rounds, even more so. Cotto will have to contend with Pacquiao's sneaky quickness from different angles, and if he cannot figure Pac out, he may get frustrated, fall apart, and look like an amateur boxer...but who are we fooling. He has never acted like that before. The scariest thing for Pacquiao is that I think Cotto might think Pacquiao is better than he is. He's been quoted as saying that Pacquiao is going to be his toughest challenge yet. Really! Roach gives Cotto more credit than he does. Hopefully Cotto gets serious about this fight, trains like hell, and looks great. Hopefully Pacquiao will do the same. But only one person can really win this fight and that is Manny Pacquiao. Cotto should win, and he should win convincingly. Anything less is a loss for him. Why he took this fight I do not understand. I would have respected him more if he had fought and beat Paul Williams.

Gamboa will be too much for Juanma. Juanma is very good, but Gamboa is great.

Miguel Cotto is the poster boy for what boxing should be- all business and all class. Any shortcomings he has had in the past are outweighed ten fold by the fact that he conducts himself like a real championship caliber boxer. Why anybody would want to throw spurs at the man that has given boxing great, no-bullshit fights for the past 5-6 years is beyond me.

Williams is not fast. His jab is not that good and his left is powerful but usually long. Short, effective counterpunching beats Williams all-day, everyday. The question is can Cintron do that??????? He's not really that type of fighter.

I am sick and tired of hearing that Mayweather is trying to change the rules. Mayweather makes a demand in contract negotiations, and he's changing the rules. I am sure that Mayweather does not give a shit if any other fighter has or has not an olympic style drug testing protocol as part of his fight contract; however, he wants one for his fight with Pacquiao. What's most pathetic is that this kind of demand is actually a positive thing for boxing, yet many complain. Meanwhile, we don't see the same passionate argument behind the elimination of fights with a catchweight between top contenders, the "I think I'll retire today but I'll come back 18 months later and fight a top contender" bullshit, or an insistence that there be a universal ranking system to force the top fighters to fight each other, no matter what belt, organization, or promoter may be an obstacle.

By dehydrating. Almost all fighters; from wrestlers, to MMA fighters, to boxers do it. The body, by weight is 65% water. You can easily lose 2 liters of water weight in an hour. Do the math. A lot of water is held within muscle tissue. Who's to say they aren't affected? Dehydration reduces blood plasma, and plasma volume, decreases testosterone levels, reduced muscle blood flow...and many other detrimental effects. Depending on how much the fighter is cutting, most of the weight will be lost during training. Usually 10lbs. or less remains, and that can easily be cut with a few hours in a sauna suit. They aren't dropping the entire, let's just use for an example 20 pounds before the weigh in. The final dehydration begins the week of the weigh in, and almost all fighters significantly lower carbohydrate intake, which in turn causes the body to store much less water, and expel less water in the process. It actually is quite common. I use MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre as an example because he cuts around 30 pounds to make the 170 limit. He is an even better example to use because his muscle is so dense...comparable to Manny Pacquiao. Its all water weight, and these guys have experienced trainers and nutritionists who have dehydrating and rehydrating down to a science. How does it seem suspicious? Most fighters in these weight classes rehydrate to similar weights. Find the glaring difference in the physical statures and weigh in weights, and you'll see that there really aren't any. O.k. I was asking questions hypothetically; I know enough about losing and gaining weight naturally to know when something does not seem right. First, let's get this out of the way: George St. Pierre walks around at 185, not 200. See link http://www.mmanews.com/ufc/Transcript-Of-Exclusive-Georges-St.-Pierre-Interview.html. Now, Pacquiao at 144 is already in state of dehydration. We know this because for the Cotto fight he weighed, fight night, 149-150. And we all know that a fully hydrated individual does not put on 5-6 pounds with just food. Let's also start by noting that 5-6% body fat is about as good as it is going to get for a natural man. This is also a body fat level for which one must train and diet. There is no such thing as being born with genetics that allow you to stay at 6% body fat all the time. We also know that the closer you get to this number, the more difficult it becomes to achieve more body fat loss. You seem well versed in biology and physiology, so I don't have to tell you that. Pacquiao weighs naturally 150 pounds at 8% (12 pounds of total fat) body fat. He starts to diet and train to make 129. In the weeks approaching the fight, he trains and diets hard to lose 5 pounds of fat; unfortunately, he loses 3 pounds of muscle in the meantime (muscle catabolism -wasting, it sucks, but it happens). He now weighs 142 with 5% body fat, extremely ripped and hard. He has already lost significant amount of water, but he's not done, he's going to lose an additional 13 pounds of water (9% of total bodyweight at this point) the last week before the fight. He does so successfully, but not before stopping by the hospital.... Come on! Not even you believe that is possible. The trip down from 140 is not that difficult and is what most people would expect. Pacquiao out of shape at 150, loses 10-12 pounds of fat, water, and some muscle, and then loses the additional water weight to make 130, looking rock solid. It is a journey of 20 total pounds, but starting from 150 and out of shape. It makes sense. So...where did those extra 10 pounds of lean mass come from? That is what has everybody in a frenzy my friend.

No no no no no, don't get me wrong. Not where I'm getting at. Just that Pacquiao clearly looks more muscular against Cotto, wondering if people see that. I noticed it at the Cotto weigh-in. I could not believe my eyes. How is it possible for him to continue to be ever heavier and be so ripped. It just didn't make sense. There wasn't an ounce of softness on his body, unlike Marquez when he fought floyd, who looked as if he had come up into a weight division not his.

an accused is not required to produce evidence in his defense until after the prosecution has established his guilt prima facie. By prima facie we mean that the evidence adduced by the prosecution, standing alone, that is without any evidence adduced by the accused, is sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. The judge is tasked to determine whether the evidence adduced by the prosecution is sufficient, and only until the judge rules in the affirmative is the accused required to present evidence in his defense. This is a universal rule in all civilized societies, the essence of due process. Nobody is required to present evidence in his defense if in the first place there is no evidence establishing his guilt prima facie. As a lawyer I find the clamor for Pacquiao to "prove his innocence" revolting to my sense of justice. He should not be required to present evidence in his defense if there is not a single iota of evidence showing his guilt. the people clamoring for him to "defend himself", are saying, in effect, that his guilt has been established on the mere say so of a convicted felon by the name of Mayweather Sr. Those who do have their own agenda for doing so, and I hope the rest of the boxing world will see through what they are doing. You are misrepresenting the criminal legal system. People are charged all the time upon affidavit of an officer or other individual who at the time cannot produce evidence that can presumably overcome reasonable doubt in court. It only needs to overcome probable cause- not perfect cause. Investigations, discovery, etc. will provide the missing pieces. After charges are brought by the State, due process requires that the defendant have a reasonable opportunity to mount a defense by deposing accusers, officers, etc.; collect and examine physical evidence; and at trial, may choose to not bear witness against himself and continue the enjoy the presumption of innocence. Unfortunately, innocent people are found guilty everyday in our legal system. Some of them are only guilty of bad circumstances. This is the case with Pacquiao. It is suspicious that somebody from his beginnings would have the type of success he's having now. It is more suspicious that his body has transformed the way it has. That does not mean he's guilty, but as we discussed, if are continuing the analogy, filing charges don't require perfect evidence- just something. However, unlike a defendant, Pacquiao can choose to ignore the charges and send everyone to hell. For now, he has choosen that option. It is too bad the people that end up in jail everyday on bullshit charges do not enjoy the same.

2006 | 129 | Morales III | Ring Weight: 144 | Rehydration: 15 lbs 2007 | 130 | Barrera II | Ring Weight: 144 | Rehydration: 14lbs 2008 | 129 | Marquez II | Ring Weight: 145 | Rehydration: 16lbs 2008 | 134½ | Diaz | Ring Weight: 147 | Rehydration: 12½ lbs 2008 | 142 | De La Hoya | Ring Weight: 148.5 | Rehydration: 6½ lbs 2009 | 138 | Hatton | Ring Weight: 148 | Rehydration: 10 lbs 2009 | 144 | Cotto | Ring Weight: 149 | Rehydration: 5 lbs 144-149 = 5 lbs difference in three years. The real difference is nowadays he isn't cutting so much weight. For the second Marquez fight, for example, Pacquiao would be cutting around 20 pounds (possibly more) from his walk-around weight. Less starvation appears to make Pacquiao a much better fighter. Is this abnormal? Personally, I don't think it's any cause for concern. You are using numbers to make a point, which I get, and your point is taken. But let me ask you this: How does a extremely lean man at 144 make his way down to 129? Secondly, how does a naturally lean man lose 16 pounds leading up to a fight and not be decimated. How could he even train? Do you know what it takes for a naturally lean (6-8% body fat) man to lose 20 pounds of water and fat that he does not have. It is unheard of, naturally. Most natural men can only make it down to about 6% body fat before the body starts to fight back. Bodybuilders are usually in the 2-4% range, and they of course are drugged beyond belief. Most fighters that step on the scale looking "dried out" are at this 5-6% number, extremely lean. Also, no real performance issues during this 20 pound drop...weird. So, please, and I am not being critical, how in the world did Pacquiao do it? It is the equivalent of Roy Jones, when he fought at 160, looking very lean and muscular, being able to make 147...simply unnatural. Pacquiao at 149 looked very lean and muscular. I suppose who could be "out" of shape at around 160...think about that...does that seem consistent with this "little guy" everybody knew just a year or so ago. It seems suspicious.

How did Cotto do it? When he fought at JWW---he dehydrated from 160~ to 140. And I laugh at what you call "rock solid": http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/320/photo7w.jpg 20 pounds is doable. Read the post. It's 30 pounds that I scoff at. Let Cotto step on a scale at 160, and we'll see if he looks like Cotto at 147- not a chance in hell. Like Marquez at 142, Trinidad and De La Hoya @ 160+, etc. They all look heavier and chubbier period. This is the natural order of things for athletes that don't predominantly train to gain muscle mass, which boxers don't. You go up significantly in weight from the weight at which you looked lean, and you stop looking very lean. This is actually quiet simple.

No doubt that some boxers move up in weight during the life of their careers. I can only comment on De La Hoya. De La Hoya at 160 did not look like De La Hoya at 147. Again, he did not look the same. He was bigger, yes. But he was also smoother, which is expected. What has me perxplexed about Pacquiao is that he goes from 129lbs. to 147lbs. and looks the same, which is remarkable, especially when one considers that he's a mature adult with no prospects of natural growth. That is why I personally believe the PED charges are credible. A young man (18 years old) fighting at 129lbs. and then making his way up a few weight classes as he matures makes sense. When you are that young your body is still maturing, your bones are getting denser and continue to grow. Thus, being naturally heavier at 29 than you were at 19 makes sense. What doesn't make sense is being considerably heavier, while maintaining your conditioning, at the age of 30, and gaining all of this lean mass in short time period. So, that is what really needs to be answered!

Come on guys. Say all you want about the drug test demanded by Mayweather, but you can't say that it's unfair or not needed. Professional athletes go to great lengths to hide the PED's they use. This is a fact. I will repeat. It's a fact- from swimmers, to weightlifters, to boxers, etc. They all cheat and would cheat even more if testing standards were less rigorous. It never fails. Testing standards get tough and performance goes down. I have seen it time and time again. Pacquiao should not be scared of a random blood test. The amount of blood needed would be so small as to be non-consequential. Scared of needles, psychological issues??? I can't believe we are taking this seriously. Both he and Mayweather should test randomly, urine and blood. Neither has anything to lose if he's clean.

I don't think so. If Miguel Cotto moved up to LH and started knocking people out left and right everybody would be suspicious. But I will give you this: In his prime, Roy Jones continue to move up in weight classes and be dominant. While he was moving up, nobody was making claims about him using steroids (at least not that I remember). However, I remember watching his fight with John Ruiz and thinking that he was on steroids for sure. When I made the comment to the crowd at the house where I was watching the fight, I almost got kicked out. No doubt Jones used roids during his career (he got caught with andro, but I think he was using other stuff too). Same shit with Pacquiao. He got on the scale for the Cotto fight and did that lat spread, with that glass skin, and I couldn't believe it. How in the world does he have that dry look at 144, when he just looked like that at 129 12 months ago...my gut tells me he's not clean...asian, black, hispanic...it doesn't matter...athletes know...you just do!

What does pride have to do with it? I can see pride being a factor if he were the only person being subjected to the testing-but he's not. Mayweather would have to subject himself to the random tests also. And for all we know, they might test Mayweather 3-4 times close to the fight, and he may not like it. Where does pride factor into any of this? He's a professional athlete. I wonder if the filipino olympians object to the random tests also. I'm sure they don't, or they would not be participating in any events. Come on...let's stop with the bs.

only an idiot believes this article 75k haha He gives away more than that to his entourage for nothing. Its USA Today. It isn't like its the National Enquirer or some shit. Yes, Pacman is suing one of them for 75k. This whole situation is dumb This is a joke of a suit. So, for me there's no surprise that they are asking $75,000 because of image defamation. It proves, how serious is Manny about this. The article states that Pac is suing for more than $75,000. If you file a civil case in Federal court averring "diversity of citizenship" (simply means two or more persons from different states), you must also aver that the damages you are seeking total more than $75,000. He could not sue in Federal court for less. He is likely seeking more.

There's already an article/thread for this that say in ten and ten millions... lol. That sounds about right! This will probably be the toughest part of Pacquiao's case. If he gets over the "actual malice" element, he's going to have to show how he came up with the 10 million dollar figure (why not 1, 5, or 20). If he wins, but cannot prove his damages, he'll walk away with nominal damages, which is essentially a pat on the back.

What could be that amount "in excess" of 75,000? There is an ocean of difference between 75,000 and 75,000,000. Who knows. The journalist that wrote the article probably does not know for sure, but he does know enough about the law to know that to get in to Federal court you have to ask for more than $75,000 in damages. I have a friend who has an Federal ECF account (federal court filings). I will ask him tomorrow if I can use it and see if I can find the case. It was likely filed in Nevada Federal court since that is where the defendants live. If possible, I'll get a copy of the complaint and pass it along.

Your entire post fails because he did weigh as high as 148 the day after the weigh-in for previous fights at super featherweight. HBO does not lie. He hasn't gained any weight at all. He just doesn't want to cut weight to fight at lower weight classes anymore. So by your stupid logic, many boxers must be on some type of performing enhancing drug because many of them put on 20 pounds on fight night. Marquez, in the second fight, went up 14 pounds. Must be steroids or something. That was pretty pathetic. I cannot remember seeing him weigh close to 150 when he fought at super featherweight. And it's not logic, it's math. If you weigh 150lbs. @ 8% bodyfat and are trying to make 130lbs. (without the aid of drugs or any other diuretics), the bulk of your weight loss is going to be muscle and water. This is human physiology. With every degree of leaness (body fat) you achieve, it takes an ever higher effort to achieve an even greater body fat loss. And I mean pure body fat loss. Pacquiao looked just as full and ripped at 144 as he did when he fought at 126-130.That is shocking. And, in the past, he has never showed himself to be affected by making 126-130- his stamina and strength were always good. When Marquez tried to put on some weight to fight Maywhether, you could see the extra weight on him (body fat). This is the natural order of things, unless you are 14 and going through puberty, which Pacquiao is not. Other boxers, lifters, wrestlers, etc., make weight by PEAKING at their target weight. They were not as lean or dry before reaching the target weight. I cannot fathom seeing Pacquiao fight at 130 today, as ripped as he was weighing 144 against Cotto, without serious performance issues. HE WAS JUST FIGHTING AT THAT WEIGHT ONE YEAR AGO. Use your head. ONE YEAR AGO. It is suspicious, which is why I said he is a great target for these types of accusations. And that is all I said.

Of course without proof who can say for sure? But that is the whole point...to never have proof. A cheater never wants to get caught, and it's much easier to pass drug tests than many think, especially if you have a smart doctor or coach who fully understands clearance times. The accusations againt Pacquiao may seem whimsical, but it's hard to ignore the facts. He has put on quiet a bit of weight without gaining any fat. Such an increase in lean body mass is unusual for an adult his age. It is even more unusual for a boxer, who presumbably, does not workout with weights with the dedication and intensity necessary to stimulate the natural growth of lean body mass. I cannot accept for a minute that Pacquiao before walked around at 150lbs. at his current level of body fat and would trim down to 130 for a fight. That would require losing 20lbs. of muscle and water to make weight, since he is already very trim at 150. Such a decrease in muscle and water would have left him emaciated on the day of the weigh in, and he would have ballooned in weight for fight night. Ask any bodybuilder, who usually has to "dry" himself out to the fullest, how much weight they put on the next day after a show...it's scary. I have never seen that happen to Pacquiao. I olympic lifted, powerlifted and played baseball in college. It was no secret that the olympic lifters and powerlifters juiced. If you didn't like it, you had to accept that your total may not be as high as the next guy. Likewise, it was no secret back in my day (1997-2000) that collegiate baseball players juiced. Hell, some guys on my team were juicing in high school. When competition is fierce, you do some stupid things, especially when you are young. Pacquiao is a decent human being and a great boxer, but I would not be at all shocked if he was getting his hiny poked with a needle. As much as I hate to think it, based on what I have seen of him and what I know, he is a prime candidate for that type of accusation.

Manny Pacquiao is a multi millionaire athlete that is loved in the U.S. He's certainly not being bullied. It was his choice to walk away from the fight, because at the end of the day, the drug testing was a component of negotiations; he's not being forced to do anything. It is also true that because of Mayweather's demand that some think that random blood testing across the board would be a good idea. I don't see how that specifically is "bullying", since all would be subjected. Pacquiao has been great for boxing. To many he's a hero. To others he's too good to be true. Nevertheless, it's hard to not respect the guy and his performances even if you really don't care for him; however, what does any of that have to do with improving the sport of boxing with random blood testing. Boxing has great athletes that are subjected to some real bullshit: asshole promoters, bullshit catchweights, 500 organizations, drug abuse. What is wrong with taking care of one of things that is taking away from boxing.

Any argument is without merit. Cotto is a creature of his time. He is a powerful welterweight and damn good boxer- like most of the welterweight division. Maybe I have forgotten what the 90's were like, even though I was an adult, but to the best of my knowledge, the welterweight division did not resembled anything like what it resembles today. I challenge anybody to pick comparable boxers to Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, or Andre Berto in the early 90's. The truth is none existed. The welterweight division is bigger, faster, and stronger than when De La Hoya was in his prime. I wonder how much success De La Hoya would have had in his career if he had to constantly face the monsters that exist today. Morales was a great boxer, but he was in a different weight division, and really shouldn't be discussed along side Cotto and De La Hoya. If we are going to discuss intangibles (heart, tenacity, etc.), then MAYBE the discussing has merit. My favorite all time baseball hitter is Ted Williams- considered by many to be the greatest hitter that ever lived. But truth be told, Ted Williams did not have to hit against the physical phenoms that take the mound today. You just can't compare his career to say Albert Pujols, who promises to be one of the greatest of era. This shouldn't be a serious discussion. It mostly for fun, if even that. Miguel Cotto has proven to be one of the great welterweights of his era- period.

Yeah...Ike and Sweet Pea...next to Williams, Margarito, and Berto...are you kidding me! The point I'm trying to make is that today's welterweight boxers are physical phenoms that did not exist 10-15 years ago. Maybe Tito, but Tito did not have great boxing skill. And to best of my knowledge speed and power still matter in boxing. The 90's were not 100 years ago, but you wouldn't know it by taking a look at today's boxers. All weight divisions, not just the welterweight division, seem to be producing top level physical athletes with great boxing skill- that's the point. And if De La Hoya were in his prime and fought today's welterweights he would have as tough a time as anybody. De La Hoya was no Mike Tyson during his day; I hope we can at least admit that.

I don't get it I used to think the bias against Cotto was bullshit, but I'm seeing now that people who make this claim may be on to something. First, they said he had no chin. Then all of sudden at 147 he gets pounded by uppercuts and overhand rights without budging an inch, and the no chin people had to wonder if maybe he had some plates implanted in his face. Even during the brutal fight he had with Margarito, he was not knocked down, rather he took a knee. Needless to say, the chin question has finally been put to rest (for most). Next in the line of weaknesses is an inability to handle boxers with great hand speed. Even though he managed just fine againt Mosley and Judah, we still here that he won't be able to handle Pacquiao's hand speed, even though it is only marginally better than Mosley's and Judah's. Now, it's his skin. Cotto's skin on his face is obviously made up some super thin stuff. Abnormally thin for a boxer. In fact, it is so thin that surely in the first round, after two pacquiao jabs, he'll be brutally cut and the fight will likely be stopped . Scar tissue is weaker than normal skin on everybody . When he faces Pacquiao, the cut will have healed for five months. I am sure that he would like five more months for his cut to heal so that he can create the optimal conditions under which to fight- but that is not life. We need to stop supporting these boxers that think that they need to cancel a fight because of a hang nail. He has fought fighters bigger, stronger, faster, and with better boxing skill, and somehow he puts forth a great effort, no matter the adversity. It is a great reflection on him as an athlete. So let's stop making excuses for the man that doesn't make excuses. Real Professional athletes (boxers should be included...) perform at high levels even when they are not 100% physically. Faith does not wait around for one to be at 100%. You can just hope that you will be at 100% when faith comes knocking. This is Cotto's moment to show the world that he is the standard in the 147 pound division. And even though the skin on his face may allegedly be made of super thin stuff, you can't put in question his heart. I wish more boxers had more of whatever he's got.

Miguel Cotto does not fight dirty. He likes to go to the body, and occassionally some of those punches go a little too low. The one question mark for some fans was the Judah fight. But nobody really believes that Zab was still feeling the effects of the low blow by the 10th round (at least I hope not) when he was eating hooks and taking rib shots. Cotto shouldn't need to do anything dirty to Pacquiao. At the end of the day, after all is weighed, he brings as much physical talent to the fight as Pacquiao does and is as good a boxer. It should be a great fight.