Manny Pacquiao's Options, Part 1: The Opponent
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 23 Jul 2010
PACQUIAO-COTTO II: PARA QUE?
Suggestions of a second meeting between Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto are simply ridiculous and pointless that every boxing fan must raise a howl of protest.
What for? An eighth world title? It doesn't make sense.
Boxing, or sports compeititon for that matter, is not simply about titles. It's about proving excellence. In as far as Cotto is concerned, there is nothing more to prove. A second meeting will end up in exactly the same way as it ended the first time around or maybe even worse.
Manny Pacquiao is a very intelligent boxer who reads and remembers his opponent's style and strategy. As of now, he has memorized Cotto's movements inside the ring and he will be like a train who will run over the Puerto Rican champion in their second meeting.
I am not the only boxing journalist and observer who already has an idea of what is going to happen in the sequel. Even the ordinary boxing fan knows what to expect from a Pacquiao-Cotto rematch.
Besides, it is an unwritten rule in boxing that a rematch would only be in order if the first fight was very competitive and that the loss by the other fighter was only a result of a lucky punch or a wrong strategy.
That is not the case in the first meeting between Pacquiao and Cotto. It was clear as daylight that it was a one-sided fight, a rout and serving that fight on the table again would only be an insult to the boxing fans and the height of gross commercialism in sports.
A golfer-friend in Davao City, Vic Garcia, who has been dreaming of a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather classic, gave me the classic line that now serves as the title of this column: Para Que?
So, if a Pacquiao-Cotto II leaves a bad taste in the mouth, who then would be the better options?
Well, I have two names that would certainly interest boxing fans: Shane Mosley or Antonio Margarito.
Why Shane? Well, first they have not fought. Second, he gave Mayweather the scare of his life. If Shane can do that to Mayweather, can he do it to Manny?
Why Margarito? Many reasons. If it is another world title that Manny Pacquiao would really like to win to rack up his collections to an unreachable 8th world championship, then he can fight Margarito for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) light middleweight title at 154 lbs.
Now, should Manny win that, then it could really be said that he will stand up as the greatest fighter ever in world boxing. Growing from a 112 pound fighter to a 154-lb. king would be something which I believe would never be equalled in the history of mankind.
That to me is what sports is all about: achieving what is seemingly impossible, something that has never been done.
You don't climb Mt. Everest twice, you don't knock out Cotto again in a rematch.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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