10. Pac’s Speed. Yah, it’s not secret anymore that only Manny Pacquiao can rival or even surpass the quickness of Money Mayweather. Speed kills, according to many boxing experts. Truly, you cannot hit a thing that you cannot see, ergo, the power punch of Cotto would be irrelevant.
9. Weight issue. Did you see Cotto’s face these days? In Filipino we call it humpak already. It shows really that he is agonizing in order to obtain the weight limit come the weigh in time. De La Hoya suffered the same fate when he fought Manny. From Cotto’s natural weight of 154lbs. down to 145, it’s so hard to see him fighting in full throttel. Even Manny was a victim of that when he fought 3k Battery a decade ago.
8. Motivation. Yep, Cotto is motivated by the fact that Manny is a 3-1 favorite against him. He wants to prove the odds wrong. But hey, Manny have his own motivation too. He wants his 7th division title. A feat that no boxing great has achieved. And he has a great chance no matter what. Secondly, time and again, Manny always dedicates his fight to his countrymen especially now that the Philippines wants to forget even for a round or two the devastation left by Ondoy.
7. Heart. Not all boxers fight for the love of the sport.Money that is. But not our Manny. If you want proof, surf the net and check his previous fights. He did not give up even in the face of defeat. He always give his all just not to let his countrymen down.
6. Team work. Is boxing a team game like basketball? No. He alone will climb up the ring and fight by his lone some the other fighter. However, before you enter the fight, you need to be guided outside it. And that’s when Roach come in as well as the Team Pacquiao. He has a great coach whom he calls now master. He has a good nutritionist and physical trainer in Alex Ariza. He has good cook too.
5. Power. Some are saying that Manny cannot withstand the power of Cotto. That may be true but remain to be seen. As already mentioned above, you cannot hit something you cannot see. Most of the experts doubted Manny’s power. That he cannot carry the power in heavier division. But we all know that he proved them wrong in demolishing David Diaz, Oscar And Hatton.
4. Under dog. Cotto failed to establish in the mind of the people that he is the under dog. He is bigger. He is perceived to be the stronger fighter of the two. But in fact, in his previous fights, he was the bully. It just so happened that Manny is the lead star of this fight even in reality, the latter is the under dog. Manny is accustomed already for being the smaller fighter. And he is good in making it appear that he is dominating his bigger opponents.
3. Pressure. Cotto always wear his game face. Manny is always loose. You can sense that Cotto is battling pressure more than Manny. He is the bigger fighter, a natural welter weight boxer. If he lose, he cannot say that he was drained. For he agreed from the beginning to fight in a catch weight. In Filipino, we say, Bakit nga ba?!
2. Training. Cotto trained ahead of Manny. While he was busy lifting the weights and running the road, Manny was busy, ehem, with taping for his sitcom, shooting for his movie WAPAKMAN, and attending his singing engagements. But as Roach would always say, Manny trains like no tomorrow. The quality of his six weeks training rival those who trained for a year. And we all know that for a fact.
1. Money vs. Manny. That is what the world want to see. As if they are destined to face each other next year. If Manny can overcome Cotto, then we can say Let’s Get it on!
Prediction: Manny in six by KO.
Note: I may be wrong after all it’s just my own opinion~ Makoy
