Why does Cotto fight orthodox?

[Toney616]

The problem is when a converted southpaw tries to fight a southpaw it smells of disaster.

What fights do you have in mind?

If you look at Pac's recent opponents you will notice they all tend to be left hand dominant fighters. They cannot jab and throw their main power punch at the same time, which is why Pac has looked so good against them. He basically beats them all the same way, by circling to the right, away from their left hand and using his waspish movement to close the gap get of his punches then step to the right. Even if Cotto was able to align himself with Pac, he would still then have to retract his jab, "****" his left arm then throw the left hook, by which time Pac would be gone again.

[Ray*]

What fights do you have in mind?

If you look at Pac's recent opponents you will notice they all tend to be left hand dominant fighters. They cannot jab and throw their main power punch at the same time, which is why Pac has looked so good against them. He basically beats them all the same way, by circling to the right, away from their left hand and using his waspish movement to close the gap get of his punches then step to the right. Even if Cotto was able to align himself with Pac, he would still then have to retract his jab, "****" his left arm then throw the left hook, by which time Pac would be gone again.

None in particular but when are converted then your cant go toe-toe and fight the other man's game.

[Toney616]

None in particular but when are converted then your cant go toe-toe and fight the other man's game.

Round 12 of Pacquaio-Morales I comes to mind, I remember Eric taking a lot of unnecessary punches in that round

I would also like to see Nunn-Liles, hopefully I'll watch that fight someday

[King Ju-Ju]

75% of punches are thrown with your lead hand so a lot boxers make it that their stronger hand. The Jab, the Hook up top and the Hook 2 the body. De La Hoya was a lefty 2 and fought in an orthodox stance.

[Toney616]

75% of punches are thrown with your lead hand so a lot boxers make it that their stronger hand. The Jab, the Hook up top and the Hook 2 the body. De La Hoya was a lefty 2 and fought in an orthodox stance.

Which was one of the reasons why Roach pushed for the Oscar-Pac fight

[crack_head25]

manny is a southpaw...but he writes on his right hand...lmfao

[ColWallace]

Maybe his uncle didnt know how to train a southpaw effectively, so he encouraged Miguel to fight as a orthodox fighter. I would argue that it really worked against him in the Pacquiao fight, when he threw his left jab he was basically "naked" in the ring, because Pac had nothing to fear from his right hand

Wouldn't it have therefore been better to fight Pacquiao from the southpaw stance and work on the right jab to set up the hooks to the body and head?

I think that was a problem, a bigger problem being no-one in the corner could think to suggest that change-up.

[Toney616]

Wouldn't it have therefore been better to fight Pacquiao from the southpaw stance and work on the right jab to set up the hooks to the body and head?

Anything had to be better than the strategy Cotto used in that fight. But I think it was too late, he would of been fighting out of a stance he hadnt had much experience fighting out of. A kind of alternative could of been to improve Cotto's straight right hand, a punch I can't remember Cotto ever using frequently It's the one punch which gives Pacquiao fits.

Or to look at it another way the fighters which Pac has badly struggled with were right hand dominant fighters (em1, jmm1,jmm2) who threw the left jab and when pac tried to slip it they hit him with the straight right. If you notice none of his opponents post jmm have a good striaght right hand

I think that was a problem, a bigger problem being no-one in the corner could think to suggest that change-up.

Cotto's corner was a joke, he practically trained himself for that fight. It was almost a bad as Tyson when he hooked up with Jay Bright (the guy was basically a cook, lol)

[-Antonio-]

It makes sense when you think about it. His strong arm is his lead arm. Oscar is the same way.