Manny Pacquiao Defeats Miguel Cotto In 12th-Round TKO

Manny Pacquiao handed Miguel Cotto an unholy twlelve-round beatdown at the sold-out MGM Grand Saturday night, before surreally capping the event by performing an eight-song set with his band. His victory earns Pacquiao his seventh title in seven weight classes, concreting him as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. 

With lightning speed and an underestimated determination on his side, PacMan knocked down Cotto twice and made Hamburger Helper out of his face before finally stopping him 55 seconds into the 12th round. Pacquiao - who gracefully dismantled Oscar De La Hoya in December 2008 before destroying Ricky Hatton in just two rounds in May - dropped Cotto with a right hand early in the third round, but it wasn't until after he put Cotto on the canvas with a big left hand late in the fourth round that it became clear Miguel wasn't going to rebound.

 

 

“That changed the game right there," said master tactician Freddie Roach, recounting the solid left hand Pacquiao landed on Cotto’s cheek that sent the Puerto Rican down to the canvas for a second time.

 

Cotto stood wobbly as referee Kenny Bayless gave him the 10-count, 12 seconds into the fourth round. From that point on Manny was entirely in charge, throwing a total of 780 punches and connecting on 336, according to compuBox, nearly twice as many punches landed as Cotto's 172.

 

"Manny's just unbelievable," Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach said. "The first couple rounds he had me worried, he wasn't following the gameplan. Toward the end of the second round he started getting into the program, and made it look easy after that."

 

Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) said he was measuring Cotto's power over the first three rounds, because all he heard before the fight was that Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs) was bigger and stronger. "I just wanted to let him know during the fight who's going to be stronger," he said. Cotto got the point; by the twelfth round, both his eyes had swollen almost entirely shut.

 

Less than two hours later, Pacquiao, who is running for Congress in his native Philippines, serenaded the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino with eight songs, wearing a fedora to help cover the bandage wrapped around his right ear — his only visible indication that he just went twelve rounds in a title bout. 

 

So what's next for Pacquiao? The only logical choice is undefeated Floyd Mayweather, and fans at the MGM were already roaring for the matchup, chanting "We want Floyd! We want Floyd!" And since they have no intention of going up another notch in weight, "unless it's the right opponent," Roach said, Mayweather would seem like the only target left to conquer.

 

"I want to see him fight Mayweather," Roach admitted.

 

While we wait for that ultimate matchup to unfold, fans can head to Manny Pacquiao’s official site, MPBoxing.com - it's the premier platform for Manny’s voice on his life as an athlete as well as insight on him as a person. The site is the home to exclusive content including video, photos and blogs from Manny as well as his renowned trainer.

 

“I wanted to create something unique and authentic for my site which we were able to do with Craveonline,” stated Manny Pacquiao. “This site provides me with the ability to interact with my fans wherever I am in the world whether I’m training, fighting, or playing.”