Cotto looks to put it all together against Pacquiao

When two fighters of similar mentalities but contrasting styles collide a foundation is created upon which a violent nirvana can be built. Hagler/Hearns, Castillo/Corrales, and the Marquez/Vasquez trilogy are just a few shining examples. While it’s two early to tell just how good or bad of chemistry Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto (43-1 with 27 KOs) and the Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2 with 37 KOs) have, all the ingredients of an all out war have definitely been put in the pot to begin simmering. On the eve of this Saturday’s 145 lb welter catch weight battle at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Miguel Cotto seems as focused and intent on winning at all costs as ever.



“Manny Pacquiao has the things he has today because he earned them,” said Cotto at a recent open media workout at the Pound for Pound gym in Los Angeles, CA. “He beat Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar was a great champion but Manny chose the right time to face him in the last fight of his career. Everybody knows Hatton doesn’t have a good defense and Manny proved it in their fight. But now he is going to fight Miguel Cotto. You can’t compare me to those fighters.”






On paper, Pacquiao is the faster, harder hitting fighter; a whirling dervish of a southpaw who darts in and out looking to land heavy leather in rapid succession from all angles. It’s this exceptional speed that amplifies Pacquiao’s considerable power has made him a 2 ½ to 1 favorite and most every pundit’s pick to win. But Cotto insists quietly that he has faced speed before and defeated it.



“I don’t know a lot about betting. I just go about work to prepare for the fight,” Cotto explained. “When I fought Zab Judah and Shane Mosley everyone talked about the speed being the big advantage against me. But if you saw the fights you didn’t really see the difference being the speed, you know? We had a really equal camp and people are going to see.”



Never one to look past a fight or give a pre-fight prediction, Cotto knows one thing: that there is only one way to find out how fast Pacquiao is.



“Everyone talks about it and talks about it,” he said. “But when we get in the ring, he hasn’t fought me and I haven’t fought him. We don’t know if the speed is going to affect me.”



By contrast, Cotto is the little engine that could do many things. At 5’7” with a wide frame, he is shorter than most welterweights but matches up well with the 5’6” Pacquiao in terms of height and strength. Though slower of feet and hand, Cotto is versatile in his approach; fighting out of the southpaw or orthodox stance, countering well off the ropes or sticking and moving. When he is at his best, Cotto is boring in with pressure and a body assault that makes my ribs hurt just thinking about it. With all these tools at his disposal, Cotto insists none of them add up to much without the aid of his most valuable asset.



In his last fight, against Ghana’s Joshua Clottey, Cotto suffered a brutal cut over his left eye early in the fight. Per the rules of the Association of Boxing Commissions, since an accidental head butt opened up the cut before the fourth round, Cotto could have opted to stop the fight and would have won on points without suffering further damage. In his decision to continue fighting, Cotto displayed what he feels is his greatest strength.



“[It is] my commitment with myself in the ring,” he explained. “Everybody saw the [Joshua Clottey] fight. I could have stopped the fight in any round after the fourth. I decided to stay in the ring because I have a lot of commitment to myself and to my family.”



Cotto’s commitment was put to the ultimate test three fights ago when he faced Antonio Margarito in a welterweight slugfest. Cotto started fast, landing at will and taking an early points lead. But Margarito came on late and brutally beat Cotto up en route to a eleventh round technical knockout. It was a brutal and humbling defeat for a man who had always fought through adversity whether it was rising from a knockdown, overcoming a cut or getting beat on by the division’s best. Though many in the sport have questioned whether Cotto will ever be the same after that loss, Cotto has taken a more positive approach.



“Sometimes when you lose, you win, you know?” he said. “Since my loss to Margarito, great things have come to my career. This fight I’m grateful for. I paid with this camp, took on the responsibility not just for me but for my team, the fans, the press and all the boxing public. It made me more focused in my mind and my body. [Losing] wasn’t the best thing but it put me in the right [frame of mind].”



But can a man endure that kind of loss and truly restore himself to his former glory?



“Ask Manny [Pacquiao]”, counters Cotto. “He’s lost three times.”



The loss took a new twist earlier this year when Antonio Margarito was caught with a plaster-like substance in his hand wraps as he prepared in the locker room for his fight with Shane Mosley. It is as ugly a crime as you can commit in the sport of boxing and has cast a shadow over Margarito’s entire career.



For Cotto, the possibility that he was cheated doesn’t change much if anything.



“A loss is a loss,” said Cotto. “Nobody knows [whether he loaded his gloves in their fight] just Margarito. But the fans of boxing they know a lot. They made me feel good. I felt sad after that fight. I understood that I did not do the right things in the fight but I made a good fight. When all the things came about [Margarito’s loaded wraps] I felt bad.”



Recovering physically from a fight like that can take months while the mental wounds may never heal. But Cotto remains resolute in his strength of will. It is this which allows him to find his limits and push past them.



“When you ask too much of yourself everyday,” he said, “you can come up through anything that happens.”



Much has been made of the experience differential between Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach and Joe Santiago, who was once Cotto’s strength and conditioning coach. By some accounts, Cotto is truly the one in charge in camp. While others insist Santiago has been preparing to take the reigns for some time now. In any case, what matters is that Cotto believes he has the right team in place.



“I trust very much in my team,” said Cotto. “Everyone in my team does their work every well. They trust me. I trust them. Every time I put my feet on the track, they know I am going to give 100% to my work. Every time I step in the gym they know the same. That’s the kind of trust that you have to have on your team. We have great communication. When you have good communication with your corner, you have a good relationship. It’s like a marriage. We both live up to our end.”



While many fighters will give a prediction or ponder publicly over how a fight will go, Cotto is close to vest, joking “I’ve seen weaknesses but I’m not telling you. You’ll have to see.”



When pressed further about his game plan he simply adds, “I’m going to take advantage of every kind of opportunity in the fight.”



One person who has been vocal throughout the build up to the fight is Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach. He has gone on record predicting anything from an early knockout win to a ninth round stoppage. Cotto merely shrugs this off as talk but adds with a wry smile, “That’s the problem. Freddie Roach is not the one who is going to fight with me. He can say whatever he wants but if he prepares Manny for just nine rounds, then it will go just nine rounds.”



As good a fight as Cotto vs. Pacquiao has the potential to be, there are some already dismissing this fight and looking forward to what is potentially the biggest money fight in the sport: Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr in a battle for pound for pound supremacy. One might think this is a distraction for Pacquiao that plays perfectly into the always focused on the moment. But true to form, Cotto dismisses anything that is periphery to the fight at hand.



“I don’t know what’s in [Pacquiao’s] mind,” he answered simply with the hint of a confident smile. “But once I beat him he can fight Floyd Mayweather all the times he wants.”



With his pay-per-view profile raised to the roof by his bouts with Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya added to his stated attributes as a fighter, Manny Pacquiao represents the biggest and potentially most dangerous fight of Cotto’s career. But the Puerto Rican superstar doesn’t see it that way. While he admits the fight is important in his grand scheme of things, he won’t know the answer to the second part of that possibility until late Saturday night. Having done his part by preparing diligently in the gym, the only work that remains now is the testing of his opponents’ preparation.



“I know it is the most important [fight of my career]” he said,” but I don’t know if the opponent will be the toughest I have ever faced. We’ll find out in the ring. The guy who is better prepared is going to win.”



So what will it come down to for Miguel Cotto to get a win? Will it be his power, heart or skills?



Cotto pondered this question a moment and then answered with his trademark poker face, “Put them all together and that’s what it’s going to take to win this fight.”



Commentary: I really admired the way Cotto handle himself and his defeat to Margarito. Too bad he is not Filipino because for sure Filipinos would love, respect and support maybe much more than Manny Pacquiao.


Source: Cotto looks to put it all together against Pacquiao

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