In my opinion i think the factors for each fighter to win will be these: Pac: His lefty style will trouble Cotto,his speed and constant lateral movement will also be huge factors,and i also feel that Cotto will be suprised that the little guy hits harder then he will have anticipated....So to me for Manny he has to keep it in the middle of the ring and be in and out and slowly wear Migeul down all the while without getting into slugfests with the bigger man,use his speed and combinations to his advantage. Cotto:He has to impose himself on Manny right away and let him know right off the bat that you are in there with a true welterweight and make him respect his power immediately.Miguel should go to the body right away to slow down Manny (basically smother him constantly) and make him a more stationary target.If he is able to do that which will not be easy because Manny will be all over the place he will then be able to start landing his heavy shots. Just my opinions, what are some of your opinions on what each fighter must do to win.....:rasta
Good points there. I agree with that. I'll add a little more. Manny Pacquiao: He has to stay on the move, using quick in and out tactics similar to what he used against Oscar De La Hoya. He needs to use a lot of angles, combining his hand speed with his foot speed to hit Cotto without getting hit too much himself. He must also resist his warrior instinct to exchange and stick to a tactical game plan as trying to go toe to toe and blow for blow with the hard punching Cotto could spell disaster for Pacquiao. Cotto: He must begin using his jab right away to off set Manny's speed and rhythm. He must also use his straight right hand to surprise Manny at times and possibly set up a left hook. Manny is available to be hit by straight right hands and counter left hooks and Cotto needs to exploit this. He must keeps his hands up and cut off the ring effectively, eventually getting Manny to the ropes where Miguel should immediately throw shots to Manny's body. Miguel should also switch to southpaw and back regularly to try to confuse Manny.
That sounds like what RIcky Hatton was supposed to do and looked at what happened. Cotto needs to outbox Pac, counter, and use the piston jab to get Manny out of his rythim.
I think the size difference isn't going to be as much of a factor as originally thought. For Pac to win he's got to show he can handle Cotto's jab, body work and just do his thing. He's a whirling dervish who's speed is going to be the single biggest factor in the fight. For Cotto, he's got to keep Pac honest with the jab and not allow him such free range moving in and out. He also needs to punish Pac's body, slow him down, and a KO could be there later on. I think Pac man has the upper hand, with the game changing speed, meaning if he can stick to what he does best, he will win. Cotto has to take away some of that speed and he could turn the fight his way.
Cotto can't make the same mistake that Hatton and DLh both made. Both guys thought that they were so much bigger and stronger than manny that nothing else mattered. DLH made the the mistake of draining down to a weight where he was pretty much useless and Hatton just charged in like he thought that would be able to just out muscle manny. I disagree that Cotto should try to impose himself immidiatly. Instead he should outbox Manny (which he can do) and save his big shots for when he's countering. Manny can be hurt with just one shot (see the Larios fight where larios landed that big right hand and the Marquez fights where marquez was crippling him with shots to the body). Basically he shouldn't come in balls blazing and give manny a chance to land a big one. If he's patient and picks his shots wisley he can wear manny down and take him out late.
