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Now...this is in no way a comparison on how the actual fight will take place stylistically, but I'll let you know why I kind of mirror Tito vs Bernard to Cotto vs Pacquiao.
If memory serves you correct, Trinidad was being ushered in to being the next WW to move up to Middleweight and reign. He went through Joppy and the Bernard fight was set. Now, Bernard was the Middleweight champion for quite sometime up until he fought Trinidad, but unfortunately didn't receive the notoriety he deserved as he had been champion for close to 7 years. The majority of people anticipating this fight saw a good chance for Tito to land shots, use his aggression, and hurt Bernard down the stretch ignoring what Bernard brought to the ring himself...and boy were a lot of people awed.
Now, what won the fight for Bernard? His size? Punching Power? Ring generalship? Boxing ability? The answer is...all of the above. Now when I look at Cotto vs Pacquiao, I can't help but look at the similarities coming into this fight. Pacquiao is the favorite going in, he's the biggest star in Boxing right now, very exciting to watch, has a mega fight waiting for him in the Horizon...everything you could ask for as a fighter. With Cotto, he's been looked at as the workhorse of the WW division and has fought all comers win or lose. With the recent fight with Joshua Clottey, many observers have called him "Shot" or "Damaged Goods". But is Cotto really damaged goods...or has he simply been fighting the toughest fights the Division has to offer?
Whether its writers, sports announcers, fans (casual or not), This fight reminds me too much of how Tito vs Bernard was being promoted. The talks of what Tito was going to do after Bernard was being spoken without hesitation before the fight even happened. I see the exact same thing happening with Cotto vs Pacquiao. The assumption already is the Pac vs Floyd will be set for next year totally alienating the chance of Cotto beating Pacquiao. Bernard became a Full Fledged name after beating Tito the way he did, I have a very strong feeling the same will happen to Cotto come Nov 14th.
Just my 2 cents....
If memory serves you correct, Trinidad was being ushered in to being the next WW to move up to Middleweight and reign. He went through Joppy and the Bernard fight was set. Now, Bernard was the Middleweight champion for quite sometime up until he fought Trinidad, but unfortunately didn't receive the notoriety he deserved as he had been champion for close to 7 years. The majority of people anticipating this fight saw a good chance for Tito to land shots, use his aggression, and hurt Bernard down the stretch ignoring what Bernard brought to the ring himself...and boy were a lot of people awed.
Now, what won the fight for Bernard? His size? Punching Power? Ring generalship? Boxing ability? The answer is...all of the above. Now when I look at Cotto vs Pacquiao, I can't help but look at the similarities coming into this fight. Pacquiao is the favorite going in, he's the biggest star in Boxing right now, very exciting to watch, has a mega fight waiting for him in the Horizon...everything you could ask for as a fighter. With Cotto, he's been looked at as the workhorse of the WW division and has fought all comers win or lose. With the recent fight with Joshua Clottey, many observers have called him "Shot" or "Damaged Goods". But is Cotto really damaged goods...or has he simply been fighting the toughest fights the Division has to offer?
Whether its writers, sports announcers, fans (casual or not), This fight reminds me too much of how Tito vs Bernard was being promoted. The talks of what Tito was going to do after Bernard was being spoken without hesitation before the fight even happened. I see the exact same thing happening with Cotto vs Pacquiao. The assumption already is the Pac vs Floyd will be set for next year totally alienating the chance of Cotto beating Pacquiao. Bernard became a Full Fledged name after beating Tito the way he did, I have a very strong feeling the same will happen to Cotto come Nov 14th.
Just my 2 cents....
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