By Darmed
Pacquiao, Cotto, Mayweather and Mosley are not only worldclass boxers but they are also well disciplined in their training; they are endowed with good character and abide by the rules of sportsmanship in the ring. These four men are also considered the top dogs in the welterweight division.
The Pacman
Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines, a city in the middle of mountains with a climate similar to Hawaii very moderate with clean air, with smells coming from eucalyptus and pine trees, surrounded by colorful beautiful flowers growing in red soil. This beautiful island is where Manny Pacquiao decided to set up camp even despite the recent Typhoon.
Baguio is known for it’s good vegetation that produce good fruits and vegetables. Manny is availing himself with these fresh fruits, vegetables, good meats and freshly caught fish coming from the nearby province Ilocos region.
This could be contributing to Manny’s overall health and helping him carry his size to welterweight, thus giving him more power and strength, combined with running in the high hills of Baguio which conditions his stamina and strengthens his legs.
Floyd Mayweather Sr. stated that Manny has strength and speed as if he is taking performance enhancing drugs. Freddie Roach has said that Manny has been tested multiple times and has passed every test, Roach went on to say jokingly that the only thing they found was traces rice and malunggay.
It being the case then Manny has extraordinary strength and speed comparable to the top elite athletes of today. He is definitely a freak of nature, having started his career at 106 lbs and now fighting as high as welterweight 147 lbs is an amazing feat.
Pacquiao has evolved as a fighter since his split decision victory to Juan Manuel Marquez at super-featherweight. Pacquiao has a difficult style to figure out, now he is no longer a one dimensional fighter who relied on his left hand. An unorthodox boxing style combined with timed offensive aggression, his speed which is difficult to counter and his new usage of the right hook counter dubbed “Manila Ice” have made Pacman a terror for his past 3 opponents David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, all lost by Tko/Ko.
Miguel Cotto
Miguel Cotto hails from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico he has an impressive amateur background and fought for the island nation in the Olympics. He has deceptive speed and knows how to time and counter his opponents. His only loss is a fight between Antonio Margarito of Mexico, a fight that Cotto was winning until the late round stoppage. That loss has a giant question mark over it because of the suspension of Margarito over illegal substances in his hand wraps aka loaded gloves, many wonder if Margarito loaded his gloves in his fight with Cotto as well.
Miguel began his pro boxing career at 140lbs junior-welterweight he was able to capture the title and remain undefeated at the weight before moving up 7 pounds.
Cotto seems to be very comfortable fighting at the 147lb welterweight limit because he doesn’t have to cut much weight. It is known that he has a strong body punch and a style like Ezzard Charles. This style helped him defeat fast fighters like Zab Judah and Shane Mosley. Cotto is one of the best in the game and willing to take on all comers including his upcoming bout Nov. 14 against the pride of the Philippine islands Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao
Money Mayweather
Pretty Boy Floyd is a very good slick defensive counter fighter, he is well versed in the fundamentals of boxing, which he learned at an early age through the training of his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. Mayweather Jr. mastered these fundamentals, which later on he mixed in with his own style making him one of the best defensive boxers of all times. He has a very good disciplined method of training that conditions him for the fight, he has a boxing IQ that is up there with the likes of James Toney and Bernard Hopkins. Mayweather also claims to never study tape of his opponent which is a testament to his ring savvy and intelligence.
Mayweather Jr. can avoid most punches that are delivered by opponents who are using the basic style of boxing against him. He usually puts his left hand down to guard his body and his right hand up to protect his face which makes it very difficult for his opponents to land any clean punches. Floyd’s defensive style is highly effective against most boxers trained in the text book style of boxing because he can read them easily and adjust to their next move like a cunning chess player.
Sugar Shane Mosley The Old Dog
Sugar Shane Mosley one of the best lightweight fighters of our time has been in the game for a while and is still competing at the top level at 38 years of age. Mosley is one of those fighters who could of fought in any era, he never dodged or ducked and could of took the path of least resistance by not facing Vernon Forrest or Winky Wright but he did anyway two times each and lost each rematch.
His style is of a roughhouser, he wants to break you down, press you on the inside, tire you out and catch you off guard with power punch flurries when he sees you are open. When he defeated Antonio Margarito he was a huge underdog, many people said Mosley should retire, that he stood no chance against the Tijuana Tornado the man who took the best punches from Miguel Cotto and smiled. Boy did Mosley prove them wrong.
Mosley used his Cagey style to out hustle and rough up the durable Margarito on the inside, Mosley defeated the younger Mexican known for his iron chin by TKO stoppage in the 9th round. Mosley proved he still had what it takes to compete at the upper level. His dominating performance has possibly hindered him from getting the super fights he craves because he is seen has a high risk, low reward fight for guys like Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr.
Talk about it in the Now Boxing Forum membership is FREE
