There are those wingnuts out there who believe that Miguel Cotto against Manny Pacquiao is a donkey against a thoroughbred racehorse. Mark them down: uneducated fools from uneducated schools, I guess. No less an authority than Kronk Gym Goldfather Manny Steward told me Tuesday too much is made out of Megamannys last two bouts, against opponents who offered too little. At the same time, Steward said (and I concur) that too much is made out of the Boricua Bombers crunching TKO loss to Antonio Margarito and his troubles while surviving a nasty cut to outpoint Joshua Clottey. In fact, Steward said, if he had been calling the shots in the Cotto camp, the popular Puerto Rican fighter would still be unbeaten and would have dodged the difficult Clottey. If I was Miguels manager, I would have steered clear of Margarito like everyone else was. And I would have never put him in with Clottey. Id have never had Miguel fight either of those two guys. The HBO color commentator makes it plain that he is no way belittling Pacmans accomplishments nor the Herculean training efforts of Coach Freddie Roach. At the same time, attention must be paid to what Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton brought to the ring which wasnt much. In Mannys favor, you must say he did what he had to do with both guys. Manny and his trainer handled everything right as far as what they could control. But dont get carried away and make Manny a god or a Superman who can never be beat. I pointed out to the Hall Of Fame trainer and developer of the great Thomas Hitman Hearns that Pacquiao effectively brought down the curtain on the ring careers of both Oscar and the fun loving British boxer. Oh, yes, that is quite an achievement when you look at what those guys had done before, Steward said. And Manny just crushed them both but I think this is why the Cotto fight is misleading for some people. Give Manny all the credit but you cant say hes become some invincible guy now. I mean, look Oscar came into the ring a physical wreck. Ricky Hatton ran up into the ring with no plan at all. Those are just facts of life. As far as Steward possibly becoming Cottos trainer, he said he has not been campaigning for the gig. Its just people and fans who keep calling me from Puerto Rico. Ive had no direct contact with Cotto on this. Between my fighters, working with a new amateur series in Detroit and my HBO work, I am more than busy. I said, Oh, my, when I heard Cotto was fighting Margarito to begin with. Same with Clottey but for different reasons. That guy keeps a tight defense and youve got to throw 10 punches to get one in with him. Those two guys brought a lot more into the ring against Miguel than Oscar and Ricky did against Manny.
so pretty much if he were Cotto's manager he would have cherrypicked opponents for him, I'm glad he wasn't Cotto's manager.
in other words he would have ducked clottey and margo. glad he was not ans still is not in his corner!
I don't trust what he says. He's been looking to train Cotto; he's bound to be kissing his ass and making him believe he has the secret to winning tactics against Pacquiao. Nonetheless, I agree that Cotto's win over Clottey was under-rated and too much has been made of "scars" resulting from the Margo loss.
fair assesment but by him saying that that means he woulda cherry picked for cotto.clottey n margarito n mosley all were in da mix for welterweight supremecy and cotto fought allll of them hes a real champion...but i stilll think manny would b good for him
So according to Manny, Cotto is a victim of good matchmaking? -He should have ducked Margarito and Clottey?atsch WTF?
i believe nobody on pacman's side ever claimed they are invincible, not even the fans claimed pacman is invincible like this commentator is talking about.
I see too many people eating Steward alive here. All he's trying to say is that Cotto has trouble dealing against pressure fighters and it's the truth. It might be lame to openly say he should duck fighters with that style but that's how it goes. Arum never wanted Margarito to fight Williams either and openly ducked a rematch, I don't see people bashing on Arum for that.
Makes sense but you dont say that to the public. Cotto does need a real trainer but not Manny Steward.
Manny might do a good job teaching him how to hold when hurt. Standing there taking punishment he could avoid to prove his self as a gladiator to fans only to see fans call him chinless is stupid. Cotto needs to improve his self at least A BIT, he can't make a complete make over but some minor improvements could prove to be very helpful. Someone like Pacquiao will constantly throw and land punches in insane speed and power will be too much for Cotto to handle. He won't see nearly all of those punches coming and punches you don't see coming hurt the most and are responsible for most KOs, imagine punches he won't see coming from none other than major puncher Pac.
