IT has been almost a week since Manny Pacquiao made history by becoming the only boxer to have won seven titles in seven different weight divisions by dethroning World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, but Filipinos all over the world continue to rejoice!
The fight did go as I expected, a Pacquiao victory, but I’m still baffled regarding the strategy employed by the Puerto Rican after a successful first round, which really led to his downfall.
At the opening bell, the champion seemingly made it clear that he was going to take advantage of his clear size advantage to take another win, possibly via decision, by using his strong left jab.
It was obvious he didn’t mind a victory in that fashion over Joshua Clottey, a few months back, and remember—a win over Pacquiao is a win, period.
He clearly won that round, and no one could disagree.
But in the second round onwards, he became overly aggressive.
He began to engage Manny in what should be an advantage for the challenger since it now gave our “Pambansang Kamao” the opportunity of an exchange, enter Cotto’s defense, score, and then get out.
I’m really not sure exactly what Cotto saw after the first round. I watched the replay of that round and it didn’t seem that Manny unloaded a really big punch. I was thinking, maybe Cotto tasted Manny’s vaunted power and thought that it wasn’t enough to hurt him, so he decided to now take the fight to Pacquiao and maybe score a knockout of the Filipino.
Whatever it was, it was wrong.
Pacquiao took control of the fight from there and never looked back.
He knocked Cotto down twice after that, and after the second fall, he went into flight mode.
Cotto decided to evade Pacquiao’s exchanges and looked to just survive the contest, which was shameful.
A champion should go down fighting, but Cotto wanted to have none of it.
I guess the picture of Ricky Hatton stiffening up after getting sent to dreamland by Manny’s left hand recently was clearly etched into Cotto’s memory.
Better to lose on your feet he figured, and that’s what he decided to do.
Referee Kenny Bayless saw that it was already a mismatch and he was waiting for the opportune time to stop the carnage, so in that fateful 12th round, he did, and Pacquiao is now in the record books.
What prompted the change in approach for the champion?
We probably will never know, but we continue to salute the strength, bravery, and heart of our Manny Pacquiao!
Listen to Real Sports later today at 2:15 p.m. on Wace 891! We will finally air the interview we had with NBA Legends Tim Hardaway and Dominique Wilkins. We will also feature Rob Crisostomo of La Mancha Productions, as he talks about the World Pyro Olympics, which begins tonight in Taguig!
Have a great weekend! God Bless! E-mail me at realsports891@yahoo.com
