Manny Pacquiao vs Miguel Cotto Result

I'm a bit late with this one as I'm been on holiday so apologies to my regular followers (sorry Dad and Ken from next door). I'm going to keep it brief as an in-depth analysis would be rather pointless now.

Manny Pacquiao totally dominated Miguel Cotto from start to finish and surely put to bed any notion that he cannot bring his exceptional power to welterweight. Why some boxing observers still entertained this idea after he destroyed both Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya at this weight is beyond me?

Cotto wasn't without opportunities in the fight. Pacquiao's all-action, cavalier style afforded him some openings which he did exploit and surely would have hurt a lesser fighter but nothing seemed to register with Pacman. Cotto simply could not stop the relentless onslaught, his jab proving totally ineffective in fending off the marauding Filipino, and the fight effectively ended as a contest about midway through the scheduled 12 rounds. It was simply a case of damage limitation from then on.

Cotto proved he had the heart of a lion by refusing to capitulate in the face of such extreme punishment but it was certainly disturbing to watch. In the later rounds his face was in train wreck territory. Tragedies like those suffered by Gerald McCllelan and Michael Watson sprang to mind but despite the pleas from Cotto's father at ringside, referee Kenny Bayless seemed intent on letting the fight reach the score cards. Somewhat oddly though he stopped it one minute into the 12th. Personally, I feel the fight should have been stopped two or three rounds sooner but if the ref was resolved on letting them reach the score cards then he should have done so. As it was Cotto suffered needless rounds of pain without the consolation of seeing out the whole fight.

I doubt the Puerto Rican will retire. He is still a great fighter, just not in Manny Pacquiao's league, but then who is? Floyd Mayweather Jr is the obvious answer and a contest against Pacquiao is the match-up everyone wants to see. This is the biggest fight that the sport has to offer and there is absolutely no way it cannot go ahead. I expect the negotiations to be acrimonious and protracted - both camps have displayed greed in the past - but once they agree on the split of profits, we have the biggest fight of the decade on our hands and I'm salivating at the prospect.