Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao, 50-3 (38), solidified his reign a top the mythical “pound for pound” rankings with a dominating twelfth round TKO over Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao seemed to have answer for anything that Miguel Cotto threw at him and gave Miguel that second biggest beating of his professional boxing career. In doing so, he made history, becoming the first fighter to win seven titles in seven different weight divisions.
The damage was evident when referee Kenny Bayless stepped in to end the fight at 00:55 of round twelve. This fight lived up to it’s hype with two very good fighters meeting up and doing what each other did best, in the end it was Pacquiao’s speed that hurt, and at times confused, Cotto.
In the early rounds, Cotto was able to catch Pacquiao when he was coming inside, but starting in round three, Pacquiao started to exert his dominance. Pacquiao began to pepper Cotto with straight left hands that found their mark every time. Cotto was knocked down, albeit briefly, in round number three and looked like he was starting to lose confidence. Cotto bounced back somewhat in round four, pushing Pacquiao against the ropes but was caught late in the round and went down for the second time in the fight. Rounds five through eight seemed to make Pacman stronger, seeing him apply pressure and start to land at will, sort of toying with Cotto.
Round nine was the worst round of the fight for Cotto, as cuts opened up and blood started streaming down his swollen face. After this round, Cotto’s wife smartly left the arena with her children, to shield them from watching what was almost inevitable at that point, a damaging victory by Manny Pacquiao. The cuts and selling on Cotto’s face was reminisce of the Margarito fight, a fight that Cotto appears not to have recovered fully. In round nine, it was evident that Cotto would need a knockout to win, but the power he would need to do so, was gone.
Rounds ten and eleven saw nothing new for Cotto, as Pacquiao chased him down, winging lefts and rights at the former champion, who could not defend himself from the punches. I wondered aloud whether Cotto’s handlers would stop the fight in between rounds, but I knew how proud a fighter Cotto was and realized that he would not let that happen.
Round twelve started out with Pacquiao chasing down Cotto, pummeling him with lefts as the battered fighter tried to cover himself up. Occasionally Cotto would throw a defensive jab, but that would prove in vain, as Pacquiao answered with two punches to Cotto’s one. At the 00:55 mark, referee Kenny Bayless had seen enough and stepped in to stop the carnage. Cotto started to protest a bit, until the ringside official stepped onto the apron of the ring and advised him that had Bayless not stepped in, he would have stopped the fight himself. At that, Manny Pacquiao went where no other fighter has gone before, his seventh world title in as many weight divisions.
What comes next for Manny Pacquiao? It’s a no brainer that a match-up with Floyd Mayweather Jr should be in the cards. The public demand is there for this fight. People who have not watched boxing in years will be drawn into the debate of who will win this fight. Mayweather Jr. play the part of the talented, but overly cocky bad guy, as Pacquiao will fit perfectly into humble good guy. The fight will generate enough publicity that people who have not watched a fight in years will be drawn to this fight. It will be the biggest fight boxing has seen since Tyson-Holyfield 1. The fight itself will help boxing regain most of it’s swagger. The problem? It lies with Money Mayweather himself. Mayweather will tell anyone who is listening, that he, not Pacman, is the best pound for pound. That is fine for him to tout himself as, but Mayweather has to face Pacquiao in the ring in order to be considered the man. Almost three years ago, at the peak of his career, Mayweather “retired”. Most felt that he did so to avoid a showdown with either Miguel Cotto or Paul Williams. I tend to agree that Mayweather should have fought one of these guys at that time, but now is the perfect time to make up for possibly avoiding those guys. Time to put your “Money” where your mouth is Floyd.
On last not about Manny Pacquiao. Everyone who knows me, listens to Fightin’ Words Radio Show or reads my articles is well aware that I have somewhat of a hero worship thing going on around Pacquiao. That aside, we are watching history in the making with Manny Pacquiao. Win or lose to Mayweather Jr (assuming that fight will take place), Pacquiao will forever be mentioned when our future generations are debating the greatest fighters of all time. Years from now I will be sitting in a lounge chair, watching a boxing match and one of my grandchildren will ask me if I had ever seen Manny Pacquiao fight. I will be able to look at him/her and say “Yes, and it was an amazing sight!” Congratulations to Manny Pacquaio, one of the greatest fighters to grace the squared ring, in my opinion at least.
For more on Pacquiao’s victory, listen to Bob Carroll, Butch and "THE Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr. every Wednesday night on Fightin' Words Radio Show from 8-9pm EST. To listen live via the internet, go to http://1490wwpr.com and look for the "listen here" tab.
