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A five star matchup in anyone’s eyes takes place tonight when Puerto Rican WBO welterweight champion defends his crown against multi-weight world champion Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
For Cotto, himself a two weight world champion, it’s the second defence of the title he won back when stopping Michael Jennings in five back in February.
The 29 year old Cotto has only one defeat in 35 fights. That loss came in controversial circumstances in July last year when he was stopped in 11 by Antonio Margarito.
Cotto, like his opponent tonight, has taken on all comers in his title reigns at 140 and 147 pounds.
His first world title sucesss came in September, 2004 when he won the vacant WBO light welterweight championship stopping Kelson Pinto in six in an exciting scrap.
Successful defences against respected names such as DeMarcus Corley and Paulie Malignaggi would follow before the inevitable move to the more lucrative welterweight division.
Cotto’s stock seemed to rise after the move up in weight. Always a big junior welter, Cotto was always going to be more comfortable at the weight and he proved this when winning the vacant WBA title in December, 2006. Big names such as Zab Judah and Shane Mosley were also dealt with in title defences before the gruelling defeat to Margarito.
In Pacquiao, Cotto meets a man who seems to have effortlessly moved up the weight divisions. His first professional fight was at 106 pounds and in the last 14 years he has won titles at flyweight, super bantamweight, the linear featherweight title, super featherweight, lightweight and the linear junior welterweight title.
Legendary names such as Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Oscar De La Hoya have all succumbed to lightning fists of Pacman. He was also at his brutal best in May this year when knocking out Ricky Hatton in two rounds.
Pacquiao is what you could call a box fighter. He combines great speed with great power. When needed he can box to a victory with sharp counters.
Many questions have been asked when Manny has moved up in weight. Every time he has answered these convincingly.
I think we could have a genuine fight of the year contender tonight and I also feel that Cotto will have his moments early on.
Cotto, for all his strengths, can be a methodical thinking fighter. Against Pacquiao though, I think this will play right into the challenger’s hands as he gets peppered with sharp fast stinging punches.
This is what swings it for me and I think the referee will have seen enough between the 8th and 10th rounds with Pacquiao’s hand being raised in victory.
