Emmanuel Steward noted in his interview that Pacquiao is a natural lightweight while Cotto is a natural Welterweight. There is about 12lbs difference. As a casual weight lifter, I notice the difference between 12lbs. A friend and I train together and he max out at 305lbs while I max out at 185lbs in our benchpress. Although strenght does not equal boxing skills, is the weight advantage overlooked between the Cotto and Pac fight? Cotto is a good boxer, but is 2lbs difference from the weight limit enough to warrant fans to complain about the catch weight and argue that it is to Pac's advantage when they are trying to create an even playing field?
the reason this fight is considered competitive is the weight difference. If Pac and Cotto were the same size, the odds for Pac would be alot wider than 1/2. Even though Cotto is a top10 p4p fighter, thats just how good Pac is at this point. Only Marquez would be considered to give him a hard fight, size being equal, and even then he probably wouldn't at this point since he is not getting any younger.. Without the size difference, Pac has practically no challengers. Look at what he did to the bigger Hatton, the best super lightweight in the world and a top10 or borderline top10 lb for lb fighter.
Nobody told Manny to move up in weight and fight Cotto. Nobody is holding a gun to his head and said he had to do it. He chose to do it. He is demanding for every pound Cotto goes over a million dollar prize tag. He fought Oscar at welterweight and creamed him. Oscar, too, had to lose weight to get down to 147, therefore, being at a disadvantage. He also was to be fined a million dollars for every pound he went over the limit. So, what is the big deal? Manny fighting Cotto at 145 or at 147 makes no friggin' difference at all. This ****, Roach and Manny are playing with the catchweight is b.s. People seem to forget Manny weighed more than Oscar on fight night, 148.5 to Oscar's 145. So, who the fug is at the disadvantage, Manny or Cotto? Pure b.s.
No one is overlooking size. Everyone knows that Miguel is a lot bigger and I don't think that anyone thinks that Manny's request for the 2 pounds is unreasonable. Where most people have a problem is with a title being on the line. In that case the fact that it's unfair that Cotto is bigger is not really relevant. I used this analogy before. Suppose a guy is offering $200 to anyone that can dunk a basketball on a regulation basketball court. I go in there with all 5'8" of myself and say that I'd like the hoop lowered a few inches because it's not fair to expect someone my height to be able to jump as high as a 6'7 NBA player. They lower the hoop 5 inches and I dunk. If it still impressive for someone my height to dunk on a hoop that high? Yes it is. Do I deserve the $200 for dunking on a regulation NBA hoop? No I do not.
Ive mentioned this point many times. If manny and cotto were the same size pacquiao would be a huge favourite. People should really stop picking fights on size and strength and pick the fighter with the better skills.
