Did Pacquaio force Cotto to engage with him?

It was Cotto's choice. Like alot of champions, Miguel's instincts are to unload when he starts getting tagged.

 

He took his chances. Round 1 was doing well for him, putting Pac at bay with his jabs. Then Pac figured him out by the 2nd rd and then suddenly fight plan was gone.

 

Where is the part that says it is required in the contract!

 

Hell no. Manny was picking him off, in and out. The only way Cotto had a chance was to fight fire with fire but the problem was while cotto was a fire, PACQUIAO WAS A BLAZE.

 

Pac forced it. Cotto was doing some good, aggressive boxing in the first round and then Pac began landing that lead left in the 2nd round and started pecking away at Cotto. At that point Miguel had no choice but to engage Manny so that he could get some offense in of his own.

Basically, plan A failed so he said **** it! Time to go to war.

 

No, instead he forced Cotto to shrivel up into a weight drained corpse below the WW limit only to fight for a WW title.:huh

 

oh the pain of losing 1 pound from 146 to 145!

didnt pacquiao go up 8 pounds from 138?

 

Cotto did what he used to do - come forward. When he saw that Pac brawled his ears off he suddenly became a slickster, LOL.

 

I think the punishment Cotto took on the 2nd round (and 2nd half of the first round), "forced" or "instinctively" made him abandon the strategy.

 

He only forced him to fight @ a catch weight :d

 

both

 

Way I saw it was that Miguel was having success in the third and decided to get into a longer exchange of shots. Foolish against someone as fast as Manny, really. Manny caught him and Miguel came back strong.

Manny admitted Cotto was hurting him recently and, if Miguel had just kept his discipline, the fight would have been a lot more competitive.

In the fourth though, Manny was waiting for Miguel to open up. Manny was getting caught, he was getting moved, so Cotto got over-confident and opened up and stayed in range. Cue brutal combination and the end of the fight effectively.

Now, a good corner would have been clear with Cotto after the third: you got caught cause you tried to trade. He's too fast for you. Keep to the plan and you'll get your chance later on. Keep working that body.

 

After Cotto abandoned his jab that won him rd 1, Pac figured him out and procceded to make the fight his by neutralizing it and forcing Cotto to fight.