Trash Chronicles

Manny Pacquiao made sure his kababayans in the Philippines will have a jolly celebration of the holidays after beating Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto to a pulp in their scheduled 12-round “Firepower" slugfest at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

Manny Pacquiao, right, lands a right to the head of Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto during their WBO welterweight boxing title fight Saturday in Las Vegas. AP
Months of preparation between both fighters ended Saturday (Sunday in Manila) with Pacquiao needing 12 rounds and referee Kenny Bayless’ decision in collecting his record seventh weight division crown.

Pacquiao's win again gave the country the chance to forget the calamity brought by several typhoons that battered the country - mostly Luzon - and more reason to be more hopeful.

Now the “Pacman" can surely take his place among the great fighters, Filipino or foreign, that danced their way inside the four corners of the ring.

He has grown big, physically and in stature, from his humble beginnings around the busy streets of General Santos City where he began his career as a 106-lb strawweight.

Cotto fought gallantly, controlling the first two rounds where he kept Pacquiao out of his usual game.

But Pacquiao was apparently just taking his time to to study and size up his opponent first.

When the 30-year-old Filipino icon finally measured Cotto’s power, he started weaving his magic inside the ring, baffling his opponent with blinding speed and forcing the Puerto Rican to hit the canvass twice in the third and fourth rounds.

At times, Pacquiao unleashed several powerful combinations that rocked Cotto. But the deposed champion managed to fight back and exchange shots with the Filipino ring icon.

In the later round, Cotto started backpedaling and seemed content on just waiting for an opening to land a big shot when the tireless Pacquiao came forward.

His wife Melissa, seeing enough of the pounding his husband was receiving from Pacquiao, left the arena with their 10-year-old son at the start of the 10th round. Even Cotto’s father begged for a stoppage.

Bayless was the one who saved Cotto from Pacquiao’s beating, stopping the fight with still 55 seconds left in the 12th.

Pacquiao landed 336 punches out of the 780 he threw at Cotto for a 43 per cent accuracy rate while his opponent connected 172 times on the 336 he tossed (28 per cent). More than 270 of Pacquiao’s punches are aimed at Cotto’s head.

But based on the power punches, Pacquiao proved the stronger, one landing 276 out of the 560 he unleashed compared to the 93 out of the 300 by Cotto.

“I did not know where the punches are coming," was all a dejected Cotto could say after the match.

Had the match gone through the scorecards, judges Adalaide Byrd, Duane Ford and Dave Moretti would have still ruled in favor of Pacquiao. So dominant was Pacquiao that all three judges saw Cotto winning only two rounds of the fight. – GMANews.TV