WOW. What a night, what a fight, and what a performance by Manny Pacquiao. The first half of the fight was as good as can be. Up until that point it was legitimate FOTY type battle. After that, it was a one-sided clinic for Pac. As far as the stoppage goes, I don't have a problem with Bayless stopping the fight. I do, however, have a problem with when he stopped the fight. Round twelve didn't look all that much more different than the previous rounds, and since it was only two minutes remaining, he could have at least gave Miguel the chance to see the final bell. Bayless stopping the fight with that little time remaining made the additional punishment Cotto took in those remaining rounds all the more pointless. Regardless...Manny does it again. Only this time, I'm convinced more than ever. This was not a fighter who I felt was weight drained, over the hill, or one who I was never sold on to begin with. This was a bigger fighter in near prime from who looked as good as can be in the early rounds. Yet Manny was able to weather an early storm, adjust, and ultimately destroy him. When this match up was first discussed, I actually thought Manny would be biting off more than he could chew with this fight. Clearly I was wrong. Manny continues to improve with every fight and is seemingly as strong as ever. I always thought Mayweather would outpoint him, clearly. But now more than ever, I think that's a competitive fight. I think Cotto fought a very good fight in the early rounds. His jab was sharp and crisp, and he was countering Pac beautifully. He also was slipping and catching a fair amount of Pac's punches on his gloves. I think the first knockdown took him out of his gameplan, and the second knockdown (which I believe would have lead to a KO had it not been at the end of the round) took a lot of starch out of him. Though he did seem to fight well in spurts soon after. Of course there were some mistakes he made. Fundamentally, there were plenty actually, which may or may have not been corrected with a more experienced trainer. But even then, I can't say the outcome wouldn't have been the same. Ultimately, speed killed. I'd like to see Miguel take a long rest, and come back against a B-level opponent sometime next summer . If he looks good there, he should aim for another major fight. If he doesn't, I'd say call it a day. He's been in a lot of tough fights these past few years and has already made a significant amount of cash. At the end of the day, health is more important than anything. On another note, I watched last nights PPV in a huge crowded sports bar, something I haven't done since Roy Jones fought Antonio Taver for the third time. I wasn't crazy about watching Boxing in that type of atmosphere around people who I didn't think would be that into it, especially while College Football and the UFC were playing simultaneously, but it was quite an experience. As one football game would end, that television would be switched to the Boxing PPV and right at the start of Santos-Foreman the audio from the PPV was being played on the big speakers, which I was sure to induce a fair bit of criticism. However, that wasn't the case. Never in a million years would I have expected people to be entertained by Daniel Santos-Yuri Foreman, and ooh and ahh at Yuri Foreman power punches. Surprisingly people were seemingly entertained by that fight and the whole card as a whole. The again, it could have been the alcohol. The atmosphere during the main event was wild. People were going nuts during the ring walks and that Boxing highlight video they aired in the arena gave me goosebumps. There was a decent crowd of Filipino's who went crazy everytime Manny threw a shot even if it landed or not. People would stand up and clap after most rounds of the fight. All in all, it was just a great environment to watch the fight. It seems like most in the media are under the impression that Boxing is fading and the general public is jaded by it. Not so much. When big fights live up to their billing, people, people enjoy them as much as any other major sporting even. The crowd last night was more in to the fight than there were into UFC 105 or College Football. Overall, just an awesome, awesome night. Only my guy lost...****.
those first 4 rounds reminded me so much of Hagler-Hearns (Hagler-Hearns was still much more action packed though) but it was awesome to watch. But yeah, after the 5th, it sort of fizzled out and the rest of the fight sort of reminded me of a slightly more competitive Pac-OLDH. Still it was an awesome night that lived up to the hype.
All around great fight. Cotto looked the best of his career early in the fight. Pacquiao toppled a serious fighter last night. While I've never given Pacquiao much credit for banging away on the skeleton of a weight drained De La Hoya or Hatton whose chin had already been cracked, last night he did a big thing. Cotto came to fight last night and was simply defeated.
That pretty much sums it up. From maybe Round 7 or so on it was a slaughter, but before that it was an exhibition of boxing at the highest level.
I don't know if you are aware. There was a Filipno boxer that fought in Vegas the night before, Z Gorres. After he won the unanimous decision in a 10 round fight, he collapsed. He was brought to the hospital and was diagnosed as having bleeding in the brain. He was induced into a coma and operated in the skull to relieve the pressure. He remains in critical condition. Bayless was right in stopping the fight, should have been sooner as Cotto only defense was to run away. Protecting the health of the fighters sould be a top priority. Cotto even wanted to quit sooner but his team begged him to go on. He even admitted when he took a knee in the Margarito match, he did it for his family's sake.
Why stop the fight with 2 minutes left, when you could have stopped it with 3 rounds remaining? It's not like anyone would have blamed him if he did. That's the point I'm trying to make, even though it's a moot one. And yes, I am aware of the unfortunate Z Gorres incident.
