Maybe Cotto has a serious shot at beating Pacquiao
17/10/2009 09:49
My old friend Sonny and I went to lunch today. He had pulled Miguel Cotto's fight record off of boxrec.com and he was prepared with a page of notes and a lot of attitude.
He really let me have it, saying my column about Cotto being "shot" that I ran yesterday was totally wrong and idiotic.
Here's a link to my Cotto story yesterday:
"Everyone hates you for it. You pissed off both the Cotto and Pacquiao people," said Sonny.
"Cotto's practically undefeated. Other than the Margarito fight which he was winning easily and they had the concrete in the glove issue, he's beaten every man he's fought including many undefeated world-class fighters.
"You're nuts," he ranted and raved. "Cotto turns only 29 in two weeks, while Pacquiao turns 31 in December. Cotto is the biggest and most dangerous opponent Pacquiao will have ever faced."
I was obviously ambushed into this lunch. "Let's not forget Cotto is naturally 20 pounds bigger and heavier than Pacquiao"
I noticed Sonny, who pulled up in his silver 2008 Corvette ZO6, looked right at the lunch check and he didn't make even a tentative grab for it.
"Cotto has incredible boxing skill and he's difficult to hit clean. He's an extremely quick and fast fighter," Sonny said with his arms flailing in the air. "I'm anxious to see how Pacquiao's powerful and accurate jump- in combinations work against Cotto. If he dominates a fighter as good as Cotto, Mayweather may be in trouble when they meet."
Sonny happened to own a boxing gym in swanky North Dallas in the 1980s and early 1990s. A lot of what I learned about actual boxing I learned on his watch. So I have always respected his opinion.
As he left, without paying his share, he said he couldn't believe what I wrote and he hoped I would mention a few of his thoughts in my next column on the subject.
So I will do him one better and write an entire column about it.
