Cotto beats Pac: Deep Analysis

I am going to go with Cotto. The Pacman nuthuggery is out of control. I like Pac I think he is an exciting fighter and is good for the sport of boxing. Pac has brought his speed and power but I don't believe that his speed at 145 is going to be the same as at the lower levels. I think he is still a strong puncher. Let's look at his last fights. 1. Beating DLH was a great achievement but the fact that he was weight drained puts a tarnish on it, being the bigger man and the better skilled boxer means nothing when you have no energy to do anything. Although DLH face showed some swelling I didn't see DLH being hurt by Pac. 2. The Hatton fight I was impressed with the KO cause it was one for the highlight reels. However, you can see that Hatton's chin first approach and weak punch resistance leaves much to be desired. I mean PBF puts him on his ass going backwards, he was almost KO by light handed Collazo and was in trouble against career lighteweight lazcano. Hatton was then placed against light hitting Malignaggi and puts on a good performance that kinda gave people the impression that Hatton was coming back strong. Diaz was just a walking punch bag cause he didn;t offer much of anything and he got a controversial decision against Morales when Morales was at the tailend of his career. The 2nd JMM fight many people feel he lost.

That being said, let's look at Cotto's last few fights. Clottey is an underrated boxer yet he is a top WW. The hardcore fans of the sport know this. He is also considered a big WW due to the amount of weight he rehydrates himself too. The knock on Clottey is that he seems to tire in the late rounds, but that seems to be the knock on Cotto so it would all even out. Cotto fought most of the fight with blood pouring into his eye. Some people feel that Clottey won but after looking at most press side scoring, scoring the fight myself and looking at forums it was seen as a Cotto victory by most. The Jennings fight was a gimme. The Margo fight was viewed as a tough fight by all and it was. Margo's tough chin and pressure is tough for most to deal with. Although the victory is tainted due to the plaster incident in the Mosley fight margarito did well to expose one of Cotto's flaws which is the suceptibility to the uppercut. The Gomez fight was a gimme and although Gomez has been in the ring with 160/168 lbs and go the distance Cotto was able to put him away. The Mosley fight he boxed nicely off the jab picking his spots.

Size advantage-Cotto
Although there is negligible height difference and arm length the size advantage goes to Cotto. Cotto will probably be bigger but I don't think it would be over 10 lbs. Where the size advantage comes into play is that Cotto's size and weight and his experience in the ring against bigger man will add to his punch resistance and having dealt with bigger stronger men.

Speed-Pac
I think this is quite obvious that in the speed department it is Pac that holds the biggest card. However, Cotto's handspeed/footspeed are very deceptive.

Timing- Cotto
I think that Cotto has superb timing in his punches and if there is anything that can offset speed, it's timing.

Defense-Cotto
I have to give Cotto the edge because overall he is more defensively astute. He has great evasive manuevers with this body and knows how to circle and fight of the backfoot. Although he is suseptible to uppercuts I think overall he has more defensive tools than Pac. Pac's offense is his defense. Pac has a jerky side-to-side movement that works for him but he can't fight going back defensively or otherwise. Cotto get's the not on defense for more versatility in this department.

Ring Genarlship-Cotto
I think Cotto uses the ring better overall because he fights going forward and coupled that with his defensive abilities he has greater ring generalship.

Power- Pac
I will hesitantly go with Pac, and I say this carefully, because his power cannot be ignored but yet I think it is still untested at the WW limit. I also have to acknowledge that Cotto has power but we have seen Pac KO opponents in a more devistating fashion and although his power is untested at WW he will get the nod in the power department.

What we don't know is how Cotto will handle Pac's power and vice versa.

The arguments are being made that Pac will be too much for Cotto to handle. Let's put this into perspective. Pac is not the whirlind of punching that he used to be nowadays he is more measured in his aggression. If you notice the way he knocked out hatton was because hatton carelessly leaves his chin in the air and was carelessly aggressive. The KD in the 2nd JMM fight was due to Marquez agressively jumping in and got caught. Diaz was too slow to do anything. Cotto doesn't jump in on really lunges with his punches.

The pace of the fight will be one that Cotto will be comfortable with. Many people feel that Pac is going to pressure Cotto but the thing is that Manny throws punches in flurries but he doesn't provide the constant pressure of a Margarito or even Clottey to an extent. I think that with Cotto's educated jab and footwork he will beat Pac. However, it would be foolish to say that Pac doesn't have the power to turnt he fight around. I just don't think that Cotto will commit the mistakes that others have made. If you look at the Barrera 2 and JMM 2 with a measured pace and not too overly agressive style you can avoid getting caught with something big.

This is Cotto's PR style is somewhat different than the come forward mexican style. So even in the styles makes fights I think Cotto will win.

 

I already made my points on Hatton and DLH. Manny may be a smarter boxer now than he was in the past but he is not a smarter boxer than Cotto.

Roach is looked as one of the best because of his work with Manny. If there was no Manny Pac then I doubt there would be a real reputation for Roach.

I can understand your prediction but I respectfully disagree.