Emanuel Steward is another member of HBO’s team of boxing analyst. He is also a boxing trainer that has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Let’s welcome Manny Steward into the doghouse.
David Tyler – Hi Manny, it’s good to speak with you again, how are things going?
Manny Steward – Dave, I’m doing just fine, I bet you called to discuss the Cotto/ Pacquiao event this Saturday on HBO PPV.
DT – You’re right. What are your thoughts about the fight?
MS – Being very honest with you I think it’s going to be one of those few fights that’s going to live up to the expectations because of the style of the two fighters. They both are very good punchers which makes for a great fight. Sometimes you have a fight that’s supposed to be a very big fight but it turns out to be a typical fight. This fight features fighters with both punching power as well as boxing skills. This promises to give us some good exchanges, but both fighters know the other could land damaging punches, so I believe they will be reluctant to get into an early exchange. The odds reflect the fact that Cotto has had some recent difficulties; he fought Margarito who is an extremely big Welterweight, regardless of what may or may not have been in Margarito’s hands the fact that he took every punch that Cotto gave him he closed the deal by dishing out some punishment. He then comes back and fights a guy named Clottey, a very strong guy who also dished out a lot of punishment. So he had two extremely difficult guys who made him look say, not to impressive. Compare that to Pacquiao who has looked like 20 million dollars in his last two fights. De La Hoya was physically weak and of course the fight he had with Ricky Hatton. Pacquiao did what he was trained to do; he has such great, what we call eyes. In every one of those exchanges it always seemed like he got the first punch in, but also he can box. That’s one thing we keep forgetting about both guys, even though we think about their aggressiveness and punching power, they have also shown that they can box. Cotto has demonstrated that he can be a beautiful boxer if he wants, Pacquiao can box also and when he chooses to box his best asset is his foot speed and hand speed. The biggest thing Cotto’s got going for him is that naturally, and I don’t care what they weigh at the weigh-in, is that he is more than 10 pounds heavier than Pacquiao. By nature he is a big guy and will come into the fight at about 158 pounds. Even though he is a big welterweight he is not super big compared to guys like Tommy Hearns and those guys that are 6 feet and above. I think height wise they are both about the same height, Cotto may have about a half inch height advantage but his peek a boo style is to lean over which will negate any height advantage for Cotto. Cotto’s style leaves him open for punches up the middle and Pacquiao will take advantage by throwing the left straight down the middle. Pacquiao has terrific balance to go along with precision punching. But you can never tell, one big punch from either fighter could turn the fight in a different direction. David, that’s why I keep telling people that I can’t pick a winner and I am being very honest, there are too many variables in the picture for a clear winner to emerge in my mind. It should be a great fight and I can see the positive and negative issues for both fighters.
DT – Cotto has been in trouble before and survived.
MS – Adversity will favor Cotto because he has been there before. I have seen him wobbled by punches from Torres, Corley, Clottey, and we know what happened in the Margarito fight. Margarito hit Cotto with several heavy shots during the fight before finally putting him away and let’s not forget that Margarito is a very big Welterweight who may have had heavy hands for that fight. Cotto has proven that he does have survival ability when in trouble. I just don’t know what will happen with Pacquiao if he gets tagged, does he have the survivors ability to last through a round? Can he clinch and hang on until his head clears? These are questions that we just don’t know the answers. He has been hit with hard right hands from 130 pound fighters like Marquez but Cotto will be delivering much heavier shots and it remains to be seen how Pacquiao will hold up to the punches of a true Welterweight fighter.
DT - Manny, why is Pacquiao a two to one favorite?
Please read the rest of this Interview at DoghouseBoxing.com.
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Special thanks to Chee of DogHouse for sending this article.
Marshall N. B.
Boxing News World
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