"I'm sure all of you guys have seen that I'm predicting Pacquiao to go down in the 6th round. Here is my round-by-round breakdown of the fight as I see it happening," stated Ecko MMA Brand Manager Eric Samson as he replied to recent comments made by fans regarding his 6th round KO prediction in favor of Miguel Cotto. When asked to give more details about why he thinks Cotto will win, Samson took it one step further by giving a complete round-by-round account of how he thinks the fight will play out. Check it out!
ROUND 1
I think the first round is going to look bad for Cotto. Pacquiao will be moving in and out and finding his range. Cotto will be frustrated in trying to corner him to get his shots in. It's going to be tough to track Pacquiao down.
Pacquiao 10 Cotto 9
ROUND 2
It's going to be much of the same. I think Pacquiao will be fairly dominant. Cotto will stalk more, but still won't be able to find Pacman. However, at the end of round 2, Cotto will connect a couple of times and give Pacquiao something to think about. Still not enough to win Cotto the round, but at least it puts doubt in Pacquiao's head
Pacquiao 20 Cotto 18
ROUND 3
Round 3 will be a tough round to call, but I think it's going to go to Cotto strictly off of aggressiveness. He will finally find his range and rhythm in this round, capitalizing on Pacquiao's movement and getting his own timing down. I think this will also be the round where Cotto really starts to connect and starts doing some damage.
Pacquiao 29 Cotto 28
ROUND 4
In the 4th round, Pacquiao will really start feeling Cotto's power as he starts to land more regularly. The body shots will start taking a toll in this round as Cotto opens up Pacquiao's rib cage a little. Pacquiao will really be hit hard in this round.
Pacquiao 38 Cotto 38
ROUND 5
By this time, Pacquiao will be sucking wind from the body damage and his movement will have slowed down. Little guys generally get by with their speed, but Cotto is one of the few welterweights that is a power hitter. He hits like a heavyweight and that will hurt Pacquiao. Nothing against Pacquiao as he's in great shape and is training hard for this fight. I've only heard good things on the inside track for this fight about Pacquiao's training camp. I'm not saying Pacquiao will come in unprepared because he's already ready, but Cotto's body shots are damaging.
Pacquiao 47 Cotto 48
ROUND 6
Pacquiao's movement will be so sluggish by this round that he will miss that quick step that he typically has. Cotto will find his range and take him out. Cotto is going to attack him and Pacquiao will not be able to move as well as he was early on in the fight. He will be in trouble late in the 5th round and Cotto will take him out in the 6th. Pacquiao is a tough dude and that's one of the things I like about this fight; these 2 guys don't back down from anyone. They are very similar like that. It's very rare to find boxers that will fight anyone and these 2 are just that. One or 2 things is going to happen, he is either going to get beat up so bad that the ref will have to wave it off or it's going to be a KO; at least 3 knockdowns. If Pacquiao can get up, he will definitely get up. This guy doesn't have any quit in him, but it won't be enough to get him the win on Saturday.
Cotto TKO6