Revisiting Hatton-Pacquiao: What can Cotto do?

It's been nearly four months now since Manny Pacquiao ended what was then going to be the biggest fight of 2009 in less than six minutes of action. And no matter how many times I watch the video of the fight, I never cease to be amazed by how easy Manny made it look.

That night, the Filipino living legend not only outquicked and outboxed Manchester's favorite son, but he did so in a brutal fashion that left no questions whatsoever. Five months earlier, Pacquiao had stunned the boxing world by beating Oscar de la Hoya so thoroughly that "The Golden Boy" quit on his stool after eight rounds of action, so hopelessly out of the contest that there was no need to go on.

Oscar couldn't touch Pacquiao that night. Hatton never really got a chance to even try.

Oscar de la Hoya retired after what Manny Pacquiao did to him. It remains to be seen whether or not Ricky Hatton will fight again.

What we do know, though, is that both were fights that Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, quickly agreed to. In fact, the win over Oscar was barely in the books before talk of Pacquiao and Hatton on May 2, 2009 began. After some rough patches in the negotiation process, that fight came off, and now it's history.

Freddie took the Oscar fight when people said it was crazy because he saw that Oscar de la Hoya couldn't pull the trigger anymore, and I think he also knew from training Oscar that there was no way that de la Hoya was going to comfortably make 147 pounds.

Freddie took the fight with Hatton because he saw a vulnerable, limited fighter -- a very good fighter, good at what he does, yes, but so tailor made for Pacquiao that Roach knew Hatton had no chance to beat his guy.

But what about Miguel Cotto? Roach has backed off from the idea of fighting a pre-disgraced Antonio Margarito, because he plainly said, "Margarito is too big." He wanted Shane Mosley to boil down to 143 pounds. And he's made Cotto come down to 145.

Why is that?

Source: Badlefthook.com