Pacquiao Dominates Cotto, Wins Record Seventh Belt

Sports News - November 15th, 2009 - Written by John

Manny Pacquiao threw punches that Miguel Cotto said he didn't know from where they were coming, and turned their title fight into a mauling. Pacquiao rifled punch after punch at dizzying speed, dominating Cotto until the referee mercifully stopped the fight in the 12th round on Saturday.

The Filipino lefty won his seventh belt in seven different weight classes, becoming the first fighter ever to accomplish such a feat. Cotto's face was smeared with blood, and took one of his worst beatings that prompted his corner to try and throw in the towel in the 11th round.

"I didn't know from where the punches were coming," Cotto later said.

The bout was actually terrifically competitive through the early rounds, both delivering solid blows in front of a sold out MGM Grand arena. Cotto was actually awarded the first round, and two of the three judges gave him two rounds total. Pacquiao delivered the first big shot in the third round when he rattled his opponent with a right hand, and then dropped him again in the fourth round, a sting that left Cotto stumbling the rest of the fight.

"He hit harder than we expected and he was a lot stronger than we expected," Cotto's trainer, Joe Santiago, said.

By then, Cotto's offensive approach lost all of it's luster, and it became a race to survive the fight and avoid the inevitable KO. He bounced around trying to counter blows, but that's when Pacquiao was at his best. He delivered a spray of punches multiple times, taking the fight to Cotto when he became dizzied. Pacquiao landed 336 punches to Cotto's 172. He was awarded a minimum $13 million for the win, while Cotto took home $7 million.

"Our plan was not to hurry, but to take our time," Pacquiao said. "It was a hard fight tonight and I needed time to test his power."

Pacquiao is now in the conversation of greatest pound-for-pound fighter, routinely pummeling his title opponents into submission. He most recently beat Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, and his fans began making a strong push to fight the elusive Floyd Mayweather Jr., who is really the only fighter in his way of becoming best fighter of the generation. ESPN analysts, gushed about his swagger and skills, saying he is easily in the top-20 fighters of all-time.

"We want Floyd! We want Floyd!" yelled spectators after the fight.

"I want to see him fight Mayweather," trainer Freddie Roach said.

For those of you who did some betting on boxing, Pacquiao was favored and now that the fight is over it's obvious why.

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