Cotto vs pacman

I trust you agree with me on the footwork point since you shirked mention of it this time. You clearly don't pay attention to such things.

Hatton had never been stopped at light-welter, and had fought guys like Tszyu and Urango. The fact that Pacquaio single-shot KO'd him is evidence of considerable power, regardless of whether Hatton had a Chuvalo-like chin or not.

No lighter weight fighter has ever moved up and become p4p a more powerful puncher?

Right off the top of my head, JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ was clearly a harder puncher at lightweight than he was at feather or super-feather. The added muscle saw him stop two previously unstopped lightweights in Diaz & Casamayor.

Glad to clear that up for you kn0b :nut

 

Judah was innactive but whenever he threw he landed clean, early he badly hurt Cotto and Cotto fouled to give himself respite. Judah just didnt have the balls or stamina to throw punches. I truly believe if Judah threw 40punches a round he'd have had Cotto out of there. Judah also had an easy to tee off on defense, especially after the early rounds, Pacquaio doesnt

These are the core differences, Pacquaio doesnt have to hit as hard as Judah he just has to throw more and be more elusive, both of which arent too hard

 

I wonder if Judah 'punches too hard for his own good'. I mean the type of powerpunches that sap all your energy so you gas early and cant throw many punches because each uses up so much energy

 

This is sure a hard one to call. It is reasonable to think that Cotto's power and ample weight advantage on fight night combined with his punching ability is gonna be a handful to deal with for a guy who has come from a buck and change. No one foresaw Pac going this far, climbing this many weight classes, and having this level of success (at these higher weights).

I saw many of Pac's fights from his start in '95 through '97 as I was in Asia and he was televised often. I thought he was special and he stood out relative to his comp (but I never expected him to grow and slice his way to 140).

In recent pics Cotto looks very fit and very strong. I expect he is gonna be 100% prepared and won't be overlooking Pac at the risk of being "Hattoned". That kind of embarrassment would be a huge motivator to cut no corners. If he gets destroyed I think it would be very hard to overcome (no loaded gloves to give peace of mind here).

One big advantage that RJJ had and FMJ has is they are basically quicker than their opponents and as counter punchers (and champs) they know their opponents have to "come to them" and commit first. I expect Manny will continue to have this same circumstance as Miguel will be expected to try and walk down Manny (he can't very well stay on the outside and have a jabbing contest for 12).

Manny is one of the few fighters that combines the toughness to fight bigger guys with the quickness (because he is coming up in weight and is a small guy) to actually cause even Floyd difficulty if Floyd has to press the action (as I would expect Floyd would be booed if he just remained on the outside and didn't "make the fight" as the bigger guy at some point). Manny is the one guy who could possibly catch Floyd jabbing and land the left over it or upper cut inside it. I doubt Manny's ring style would allow him to merely counter for 12 and his willingness to press the action is what would give Floyd his best opportunity to catch a Pac mistake too.

Manny is able to see and read and his quickness enables him to throw and land the straight left shorter and more accurately than anyone bigger than him. I think Cotto is going to look slow in that he will regularly get beaten to the punch just like everyone else. Manny was able to beat little guys to the punch. Miguel is gonna seem ponderous in comparison.

Judah is very fast handed. But, I think Manny as a smaller, shorter man, with a bit less arm length, is arguably even slightly quicker and gets his left off with less of a cocking motion. Judah landed a bomb of a left uppercut in the 1st versus Cotto as Cotto threw the left jab and really rocked him. The accidental low punch from Cotto may have given him some useful recovery time.

Manny also has better lateral and in-and-out movement than Judah driven off of some remarkable calves. He also fights better than Judah in reverse and punches better as he moves laterally as Judah often pulls straight back and his legs are hardly his greatest strength or asset.

This once again may come down to whether Cotto (like Hatton before him) is quick enough to land on a guy who is constantly bouncing and shifting. If Cotto can't catch up with any regularity he is gonna catch an awful lot of punches that will add up (but unlike Ricky I certainly expect he will demonstrate a much different level of resiliency and punch resistance as he has caught bombs from guys like Mosley, Judah, and Plaster-hands).

I think the version of Mosley that fought Cotto isn't the same as the younger Mosley and that Pac as a smaller guy is simply quicker of foot at this point in time. Cotto has seen fast, hard punchers in Mosley and Judah. But, both are comparatively more flat-footed than Pac.

When guys win too many huge event fights you start to wonder if that unimaginable level of success will impact their training and prep at some point. Could this be the one? Cotto has to be hungry and losing to a great fighter is one thing - but this is still a smaller great fighter and I think athletes fear losing to such an opponent even more.

At this point I'm leaning toward Pac being fit enough to stay on his bike when necessary and hopping into range to strafe Cotto. The clean punches add up and slow Cotto and Cotto is never able to successfully corner and trap the elusive Pac. They apparently have the same reach so there is gonna be some clean hard shots landed by both. Pac takes a tough 7-5 decision. Pac versus Mayweather sets up to cap his career in the summer of next year.

Mayweather 7-5 decision. Well, I think anyway ...