Pacquiao win makes boxing history by BBC Sport

Pacquiao has now won seven titles in seven weight classes

Filipino star Manny Pacquiao became the first boxer in history to win seven titles in seven weight divisions by beating Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.

He stopped his Puerto Rican opponent in the 12th round of their WBO welterweight clash.

Pacquiao, 30, dominated throughout and had Cotto down in the third and fourth rounds with his fierce left hook doing the damage.

Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight 55 seconds into the final round.

"I tried my best to knock him out," Pacquiao said.
   
"I thought in 11th round they would stop the fight. I am surprised he continued to fight."

Cotto's face was swollen, blood was flowing from his nose and his cuts, and he simply could not stop Pacquiao from bouncing inside and throwing both hands at will.

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

"Manny Pacquiao is one of the best boxers I ever fought."

Pacquiao's victory sees him confirm his status as the world's best pound-for-pound boxer and takes his record to 50 wins, three defeats and two draws with 38 knockouts.

The win over 29-year-old Cotto also sets up the possibility of a mouth-watering clash with unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr.

And Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach admitted after the fight that he would like to see his man take on the American in a fight that would have global appeal.

Cotto began the contest strongly behind a stiff left jab as the pair traded punches in an explosive start to the fight.
Manny Pacquiao
Pacquiao could now face Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Pacquiao soon found his range and took control dropping Cotto with a right hand early in the third round. But Cotto showed he wasn't badly hurt and came back with a strong finish to the round.

But after Pacquiao put Cotto on the canvas with a big left hand as the Puerto Rican was advancing forward late in the fourth round, the 29-year-old was never the same again.

Cotto fought gamely but in the later rounds he was just trying to survive as blood flowed down his face and Pacquiao kept coming after him relentlessly.

But Cotto refused to quit even as his corner tried to throw in the towel after the 11th but after sustaining yet more punishment in the final round, the fight was called to a halt.

"I heard that he was bigger than me and stronger than me and that's why I tried to be more aggressive and fight toe to toe and try to (negate) his power," said Pacquiao.

"Our strategy for the fight was not to hurry, take our time, because we knew his strategy was that he was going to counter."
   
This is the last weight division for me. It's history for me and more importantly a Filipino did it said Manny Pacquiao

Cotto, whose record now stands at 34-2, was taken to hospital following the fight with his face swollen and bloodied.

"My health comes first. I just want to make sure I'm fine, but I feel great. I'm swollen but that's all," Cotto said.

Having now won at welterweight Pacquiao said he would not move up in weight any more.

"This is the last weight division for me," Pacquiao said.

"It's history for me and more importantly a Filipino did it."

"I thought we could break him down and if Manny put pressure on him he could get him out of there and he finally did," added Roach.

"Early in the fight he was tested with Miguel's power and laying on the ropes a little too much but once he got his rhythm on the fight it was all over."


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Filipino WBO welterweight Champion Manny Pacquiao deserves all the credit... & i guessed Manny's next opponent would have to catch weight again with Him. Because Manny he would not move up in weight any more


jerome pagalan
http://sportspayperview.blogspot.com 
PS. Still there is another fight with Manny Pacquiao before he hangs his gloves...

In Punishing Fashion, Pacquiao Wins 7th Title By GREG BISHOP

 

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

The brutal beatdown of Miguel Cotto, right, continued Manny Pacquiao’s progression, adding to a résumé that must now be weighed against the best in boxing history.

LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao was fighting for those struggling in his home country, the Philippines, who were ravaged recently by a trio of typhoons. He was fighting for his family — for his father, who made a rare appearance — and for the millions of fans who follow his every move.

But mostly, Pacquiao was fighting for his place in boxing history, one he secured Saturday with a technical knockout of Miguel Cotto that ended when the referee waved the fight over in the 12th and final round.

When it finished, Pacquiao had won his seventh title in seven weight divisions, a first in boxing history. Cotto exited the MGM Grand Garden Arena with white shorts long stained red. His wife and son had left their seats three rounds earlier, so bloody was the beating.

“He hit harder than we expected,” Joe Santiago, Cotto’s trainer, said. “He was stronger than we expected. Manny broke him down.”

Afterward, fans here chanted, “We want Floyd,” clamoring for Floyd Mayweather Jr. to be Pacquiao’s next opponent. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, seconded their wishes. When asked whom he wanted next, Roach did not hesitate. Mayweather, he answered.

Roach said the fight should have been stopped earlier, with Cotto intent on shying away from contact starting in Round 10.

Cotto maintained that it had been his decision to push forward. He said this tearfully from a corner, where his mother consoled his battered body and kissed his bloody face. He later went to a local hospital for tests, his face bruised and swollen.

“I didn’t know where the punches were coming from,” Cotto said. “And I didn’t protect myself from his punches.”

The brutal beating continued Pacquiao’s progression, adding to a résumé that must now be weighed against the best in boxing history.

By the third round, Cotto (34-2) had been knocked down, his nose bloodied, his corner quieted. Here was Pacquiao (50-3-2), the savage, speedy southpaw, deconstructing yet another formidable opponent.

Cotto kept smacking Pacquiao in the thighs, trying to slow him down. It proved futile. In the fourth round, Pacquiao landed a powerful left hand — half uppercut, half hook — and Cotto’s face went backward, twisted in a grimace, as he fell to the canvas once again.

In the sixth round, Pacquiao busted Cotto’s bottom lip open, then took a shot from Cotto as the round ended. But Pacquiao sauntered back to his corner, a smile stretched wide across his face. He dominated from that point on.

Roach said that they had fought Cotto’s fight too often in the early going, that they had stayed on the ropes too long. Even then, Pacquiao’s speed proved overwhelming.

“The key to this victory was staying disciplined,” Roach said. “We didn’t panic in the ring.”

As the fight wore on, Cotto’s left eye kept swelling, until it looked as if a golf ball was attached. Pacquiao landed punches with both hands: jabs, hooks, upper cuts, a punishing variety.

Cotto never quit, but he made a habit of dancing backward. In the ninth round, Pacquiao backed his opponent into the ropes, again and again, until he had rendered Cotto’s face a bloody mess.

Pacquiao has continued to move up in weight, still beating formidable fighters, winning as easily at 112 pounds as at 145. Before Saturday, he had earned six titles in six weight divisions, forcing Oscar De La Hoya into retirement and knocking out Ricky Hatton with a savage blow rarely delivered by a man his size.

Pacquiao collected belts, from lightweight to now welterweight and every belt in between. He entered Henry Armstrong territory, earning comparisons to the boxer who won three titles in 10 months in 1937, when there were only eight divisions.

Along the way, Pacquiao became an international superstar, a singer with albums that twice went platinum, an actor with so much money he made his own movies.

As this fight, the toughest of his career, crept closer, celebrities picked Pacquiao to win. Everyone from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Sylvester Stallone — Rocky himself — predicted victory.

Proof of Pacquiao’s own confidence came from the concert he scheduled at Mandalay Bay, a full eight songs to be sung less than two hours after the fight concluded.

But Cotto was no ordinary opponent. His only loss in 35 fights came against Antonio Margarito, an opponent later caught with doctored gloves.

After that fight, Cotto covered his body in tattoos and claimed he had moved on. But the question lingered: Had Margarito permanently softened Cotto?

Roach, who counts Pacquiao as the 24th world champion he has trained, sure thought so. When Roach prepares Pacquiao to fight, he looks for the habits of opponents, not their weaknesses. Weaknesses can be fixed, Roach reasoned, but habits remain.

He knew Pacquiao would be giving away at least 10 pounds by fight time, giving away an inch and a half in height and two inches in length. But when Roach watched Cotto, who had the inexperienced trainer Joe Santiago in his corner, he saw bad habits, and he devised a plan for Pacquiao to pound Cotto’s body.

Santiago worked only his second fight as Cotto’s lead trainer Saturday, but all week he had pointed to his 18 years spent learning inside boxing gyms in Puerto Rico as reason to believe. On Friday, at a weigh-in hosted by the actor Jeremy Piven, Santiago marched right up to Roach, noted that Cotto had made the 145-pound weight stipulated in his contract, then called Roach a word that essentially means jerk.

Roach, the only man awarded trainer of the year three times, kept talking. He said that if Pacquiao hurt Cotto early, he would knock the Puerto Rican out. He said that Pacquiao would not lose a single round.

Pacquiao did not lose many rounds, even going on the defensive in the fourth and fifth, just as he had recently in training. Before the final round, Cotto asked his corner, as if he were no longer there, “One more left?”

With Pacquiao’s place in history cemented, Mayweather seems like the logical, blockbuster opponent. Pacquiao said he would not move up again in weight.

But on Saturday, that could wait. When the fight ended, Pacquiao headed to the concert, then eventually back home, to the Philippines and more than 90 million adoring fans.

This was more than just another knockout. This one was historic.

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I am honored to witness the heroic & history made by Manny "PACMAN" Pacquiao.. It is a rare opportunity to live with a genuine athlete like Manny.He is now in the book of records as only boxer who made Seven titles in different seven weight divisions..

jerome pagalan
http://sportspayperview.blogspot.com 

PS. Congratulations Manny Pacquiao.. You made them believe the unbelievable.
PS2. Who's next?

PACQUIAO - 144 LBS, COTTO - 145 LBS by PhilBoxing.com

 
Six time world champion, pound-for-pound king and challenger Manny Pacquiao (L) of the Philippines came in at 144 lbs while reigning and defending WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (R) of Puerto stepped in at exactly 145 lbs, the stipulated weight he was supposed to came in, during the official weighin moments ago at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Pacquiao and Cotto will bring 'Firepower' tomorrow night (Sunday morning in Manila) for the most anticipated fight of the year WBO world championship welterweight showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.


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It should noted that this weigh-in will already prove both are fighters are there to pick up fight & determined to win their pride..

jerome pagalan
http://sportspayperview.blogspot.com