The Two Lives of Miguel Cotto (Very Good Article)

[Bushidō]

I think Cotto will end up fighting the winner of Berto-Mosley becuse Floyd wont fght him at all and then the Margo remath in July at The New Yankee Stadium!!!!

I think you are on to something

[PAC-BOY]

Well i read it. All of it! It was a Pro Cotto read and unbiased. Good read. Im not supposed to agree with some of it , but a lot of stuff in this was point on. Pacs supposed game plan was true. This is why this fight is going to be good. While it last. What isnt really realistic is the people thinking that Pac is a tiny dude compared to Cotto. It wont be the case. Despite peoples opinion on Pacs opponents moving up in weight he displayed he was not sluggish (like JMM for example) he had his speed (even more) he had his power(way more) and he was tested. His opponents were skilled fighters not on his level but they were skilled. IMO all tune ups to see where he stood. In the eyes of many he rose to the occasion and did it impressively. I see no reason that weight will play an issue. I dont see eithers power being more dominate they both have the power to end each others night. Cotto being naturally stronger longer. Speed hands down belongs to Pac. All in All no one needs to sleep on any fighter in this fight. IMO i believe Pac will win. Not because im a fan. That misconception gets played by ******ed haters a lot. I dont think Ill be surprised any way this fight may end.

[freedom213]

So, what can we expect to see in this fight?

First off, Pacquiao will be forced to show a side of him self that we’ve only seen in the Oscar De La Hoya fight. Conventional wisdom tells us that he will not challenge Cotto to an inside battle. I don’t think Roach is even capable of making such a terrible strategic blunder regardless of his recent KO prediction. If Manny is capable of delivering a KO in this fight the odds are it will take place much later in the bout. Roach will definitely send Manny out to box and to use his legs. BUT, that alone still may not be enough. Though many might disagree I believe Cotto is the more fundamentally sound fighter and is capable of stopping Manny’s forward advancement simply by using his jab and superior boxing skill. Cotto’s size and strength would also lead us to conclude that Pacquiao will fight in a style that he’s not all together comfortable with and one that generally goes against his natural instincts and talents as a fighter. The question is can the master fighter become the master boxer because that’s what he’ll need to be. Can he control and maintain distance throughout ignoring his natural instinct to stand and try to inflict punishment? Can Cotto successfully cut off the ring and keep him engaged or will Manny be able to deliver a finesse fight? At some point they’re going to clinch. Manny doesn’t want to get in to too many wrestling situations because it will sap his strength. He’ll definitely feel the difference in raw strength probably from the first clinch on. Both guys have shown a tendency to cut and bruise (Cotto vs Clottey, Pacquiao vs Marquez II) but hopefully that type of a situation will not impact the outcome of this fight.

The basic fight plan is simple in theory for Pacquiao. No inside exchanges (at least not early), everything on the move, keep your man turning and BOX, BOX and BOX some more! Power boxing. That’s the key. DON’T let Cotto get set to fire off his punches. And, DON’T LET YOUR BACK TOUCH THE ROPES!! This is a high energy fight for Pacquiao and his conditioning will tell the tale. In anticipation of that Freddie Roach desperately wanted to train at the highest altitude possible which would have been the mountains of Toluca, Mexico but was overruled so the bulk of training is taking place in Baguio in the Philippines. For his part Manny never allows himself to get too far out of shape in between fights and is always 100% committed once he does get in to camp. But my sense is that Roach still feels THIS fight requires a whole new level of conditioning.

Tactically, Freddie has mentioned Cotto’s performance against Shane Mosley as a point of reference in preparing his fight plan. Against Mosley, Cotto was able to neutralize Shane’s greater hand speed by attacking him using angles and out punching him in key exchanges. Roach has studied that performance no doubt concerned that Cotto was able to find a way to address his opponent’s greater speed and was able to make the correct technical adjustments to win. In that fight he showed versatility and intelligence and although many disputed the outcome I felt that he clearly won that fight. He landed the harder shots and dictated the pace. It was very impressive and a reminder of how versatile he is. That’s not lost on Roach. Cotto keeps his hands up high and works behind a very hard jab. He’s also known for maintaining his composure when he hurts his man and typically finishes an opponent with precision punching. If he hurts Pacquiao I tend to believe that he’ll finish him because Manny has never had to develop those type of survival skills. Even early in Pacquiao’s career when he was knocked out it was by single shots. He’s never had to fight his way through a bad stretch because he never made it back to his feet. His ability to survive is a big question mark. No amount of work in the gym can prepare you for that. You simply won’t know what will happen until you’re actually in that situation in a real fight. There’s no way to simulate the “fog” in training. Getting buzzed by your sparring partners is not the same. Cotto on the other hand has had to develop that skill over the years and in real time by picking himself up and holding on to his man until the rotation of the earth slowed. For better or for worse he knows how to survive.

The Zab Judah fight was also another strong indicator of Miguel’s ability to deal with a fast strong southpaw. In that bout Cotto displayed the approach that made him a fan favorite by stalking Judah round after round until he finally caught up with him in the 11th. It was a systematic and methodical dismantling of a world class fighter. Where he showed a cerebral approach in beating Mosley he showed an equally impressive and brutally calculated approach in the Judah fight.

Two world class, talented, fast handed fighters beaten by two different versions of Miguel Cotto.

I think Roach was right for emphasizing the enormity of this challenge in his initial statements.

In my opinion, this at best is a pick ‘em fight.

A win for Miguel Cotto and he will immediately begin a new life as the hottest fighter in the world with a whole new legion of fans and emerge as Bob Arum’s #1 fighter!

His narrative will change from “damaged goods” to that of overcoming adversity by facing his demons head on.

And for Cotto that has a much nicer ring to it!

EXCELLENT EXCELLENT BREAKDOWN OF THE FIGHT. pAC WILL COME OUT THE SAME WAY HE DID AGAINST DLH. I AM SHOCKED SO MANY "EXPERTS" ARE PICKING PAC TO DISMANTLE COTTO AND I HOPE THIS GIVES COTTO MEGA AMBITION.

[freedom213]

Well i read it. All of it! It was a Pro Cotto read and unbiased. Good read. Im not supposed to agree with some of it , but a lot of stuff in this was point on. Pacs supposed game plan was true. This is why this fight is going to be good. While it last. What isnt really realistic is the people thinking that Pac is a tiny dude compared to Cotto. It wont be the case. Despite peoples opinion on Pacs opponents moving up in weight he displayed he was not sluggish (like JMM for example) he had his speed (even more) he had his power(way more) and he was tested. His opponents were skilled fighters not on his level but they were skilled. IMO all tune ups to see where he stood. In the eyes of many he rose to the occasion and did it impressively. I see no reason that weight will play an issue. I dont see eithers power being more dominate they both have the power to end each others night. Cotto being naturally stronger longer. Speed hands down belongs to Pac. All in All no one needs to sleep on any fighter in this fight. IMO i believe Pac will win. Not because im a fan. That misconception gets played by ******ed haters a lot. I dont think Ill be surprised any way this fight may end.

If Pac gets big enough to negate the size difference he will get muscle bound and lose a lot of speed and likely negate his biggest advantage. If he can put on that kinda size and still be just as fast he puts the world on notice that he may well be the best we've seen in a long time.