-
Manny Pacquiao dominating Miguel Cotto - Source: Reuters -
Related
Manny Pacquiao enhanced his status as the best pound-for-pound
fighter in the world with a commanding win over holder Miguel Cotto
to claim the WBO welterweight title on Sunday.
The Filipino southpaw stopped his opponent 55 seconds into the 12th
and final round to win a seventh world title in an unprecedented
seventh weight class.
Pacquiao twice knocked the Puerto Rican to the canvas in the
earlier rounds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena before referee Kenny
Bayless ended the fight after Pacquiao had pummelled his opponent
with a flurry of combinations against the ropes.
"Our plan was not to hurry and to take our time because we knew his
strategy," a beaming Pacquiao said in a ringside television
interview.
"We knew he was going to counter and that's what he did. We were
very careful in the early rounds."
Cotto, whose was cut above the right eye and had his nose bloodied
after being repeatedly battered by Pacquiao's jabs and punches,
said: "Manny is one of the best."
Watched by a sell-out crowd that included basketball great Magic
Johnson and Hollywood actors Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, Cotto
landed a couple of telling left jabs in the opening round to hold
an early advantage.
Took control
Both fighters picked up the pace in the second round, exchanging
thumping jabs and body punches before Pacquiao began to take
control.
Pacquiao, who improved to 50-3-2 with 38 knockouts, dropped Cotto
to the canvas with a searing right hook in the third round and
later pinned his opponent to the ropes with a series of
combinations.
Cotto struck Pacquiao with a left uppercut late in the round and
landed a right uppercut in the fourth before he was again knocked
to the canvas by a Pacquiao uppercut.
The frenetic pace continued in the fifth and sixth rounds, although
the Filipino maintained overall dominance by cleverly mixing left
jabs with right hooks.
In the seventh, Pacquiao landed a thudding hook and then an
uppercut to leave Cotto reeling and he kept the Puerto Rican on the
back foot in the eighth, twice pinning him to the ropes with a
flurry of jabs.
In the ninth, Pacquiao forced Cotto to back-peddle into the corner
with a furious onslaught before twice more battering his opponent
against the ropes.
