Round by Round Coverage Pacquiao-Cotto

OK. Here we go. Round by round coverage of Pacquiao-Cotto. The biggest fight of the year in a year dominated by the emergence of MMA. I just got off work. I have half a bag of my new favorite snack, Ritz Toaster Chips, and I'm ready to blog this fight. I'm excited by the prospect of these two guys fighting, but I think Pacquiao will be too much for Cotto who just strikes me a lost.

At the MGM Grand: We've got Jim Lampley taking us through a montage and then pronouncing Tecate in an annoying Soanish accent. Cut to the celebs in the crowd: magic, jeter, Marky Mark and Roberto Duran who looks...well I don't want to say really fat, but he's really fat

Cut to the ring where Michael Buffer is surrounded by about 100 people in flowing robes. He looks like he's lost at the airport. Buffer announces that we are getting 3 National Anthems and the crowd audibly moans. I hit FF until I see a woman with giant breasts singing the Puerto Rican National Anthem. All is right with the world.

After the intros larry merchant screams, "I See Two men" and then takes an awkward 5 second pause to finish this thought. Emmanual Steward yells something about both fighter being fit and we cut to Referee Kenny Bayless who looks at the camera and mouths "Manny in 3" then tugs his bowtie twice.

Round 1
Larry Merchant takes us into the round with a joke about Cotto being beaten with illegal gloves. Ha Ha. That happened. Here we go. Two men come out. Solid jab from Cotto. Another Cotto jab. Crowd urges Pacman. Cotto jab. Cotto combo. Cotto dictating the pace, fighting at a distance says manny Steward. Good dual exchange. Exchange at the bell. Feel out round. Pacman didn't do much. I expected him to pounce. Cotto controlled the round, landed a few good shots. No real excitement
Cotto 1-0

Round 2
Freddie Roach is the only English speaking person in the ring. Does he even understand Spanish? Debatable. Lederman has it Cotto 1-0 as well. Manny is more active. probing and winging some shots. Cotto continues stiff jab. Manny with 2 nice combinations. Looking quick. Hard left by Cotto. Countered nicely with a barrage of shots. 2 quick rights from Manny. Larry Merchant says this is the turning point for Cotto. Will he go defensive or fight. Good exchange to end the round. Close round but I'll give it to manny. They both had moments but Pac just landed more sore shots
1-1

Round 3
Cotto working. Back and forth action. Good left from Cotto. Right hook from manny. Big right to the ear. DOWN goes Cotto. Up at 6. Here we go. Manny stalking. Good exchanges. Both men land. They trade more shots. Cotto working the body. Manny the head. Good action. Cotto uppercut at the bell. Good round with lots of action. Basically the round was even but with the knockdown its an easy 10-8 round
Paquiao 2-1 with a 10-8

Round 4
Wrestling on the ropes to start. Jabs and hooks from both guys. Paq starts landing a lot of punches. Big left from Cotto. Paq against the ropes. Cotto throwing a lot, not landing much. Emmanuel Steward thinks Paq was taking a rest. Maybe, but he ate a few punches. Cotto controlling the round. off the ropes Cotto walks into a big left uppercut. DOWN goes Cotto. shaken up. 10 seconds left. Paq doesn't pounce on him. They exchange at the bell. Same as last round easy 10-8 Paquiao
Paquiao 3-1

Round 5
After the fireworks of the past two rounds this one starts slowly. I think I saw Cotto try and sneak out with his cornermen but here he is. Not much action. Cotto looks slow. The 2nd knockdown was a vicious uppercut. Manny looks to be resting this round. In a clinch I saw him place a bet on the Saints and the over. Couple good lefts from Cotto and he gets clipped with a right to the chin at the bell for good measure. At least he didn't go down. Cotto did a little more in this one.
Paquiao 3-2

Round 6
Good left from Cotto.Paq moving well landing at will. Nothing major but lots of punches. Big right from Paq. Combo finished off with a big right from Paq. Larry Merchant says Paq will finish him here, so Paquiao prompty stops punching for 20 seconds. Good left from Cotto. Cotto takes some shots against the ropes. Paq stalking. Bombs a left to Cotto's chin that wobbles his legs. Another big right at the bell. Paquaio wins the round but Cotto still looks game.
Paquaio 4-2

Round 7
Lederman and I have the fight scored exactly the same. He's a genius. Manny starts moving well and connecting with jabs and hooks seemingly at will now. Cotto has a few good lefts but Manny is outclassing him. Speed is really showing. Looks like the writing is on the wall for this one. The only question left is whether it will go the distance.
Paquaio 5-2

Round 8
Lampley says Paquaio has proved he can take a punch from a big welterweight. I'm not so sure that's true. He's taken some nice shots and he's beating a world class guy, but this isn't exactly a war. Paquaio backs up Cotto all round. Briefly staggering him against the ropes near the end of the round. Not much offense from Cotto in that round. With no real chance to win, if Cotto isn't going to let his hands go, this becomes a waiting game. Will he KO Cotto? Will his corner stop the fight (As Lampley seems to be imploring). Start the car, this one is winding down.
Paquaio 6-2

Round 9
Paquaio beats Cotto from one end of the ring to the other in this round. Cotto almost went down several times most notably in the face of a combination against the ropes. Jim Lampley is 1 round away from giving Cotto a benefit concert after the fight. He has mentioned stopping it at least 5 times. I don't disagree. Cotto is getting overwhelmed, but he is fighting back. He seems to want to fight. It's not a massacre. Cotto is taking a lot of punishment but Manny isn't pressing him this round. Manny is landing at will, but his work rate is pretty low right now. Exchange at the bell. All manny
Paquaio 7-2

Round 10
Rounds starts slow. Manny scores at will. Cotto still lands with some good lefts. Cotto looks to be trying to make it through to the end. Cotto's not really willing to engage Manny. Manny seems OK to let him make it through. The crowd boos Cotto. Cotto pretends not to care. Freddy Roach is scanning the crowd for high end pro's.
Paquaio 8-2

Round 11
Cotto takes more shots from Manny. He doesn't look like he wants to be out there. Very tired and beaten up Cotto is basically jabbing and running. Manny chases for a little catches him and peppers him with punches. This continues for about 3 minutes. Emmanuel Steward is looking up recipes on his iPhone
Paquaio 9-2

Round 12
A Superfight has turned into Cotto running away. The crowd chants Paquaio. Lampley tells us that Cotto's Dad wanted to stop the fight, but was talked out of it by his other cornermen. Father of the Year. Manny catches Cotto in the corner and the ref (Who I haven't seen in about 3 rounds) wipes wing sauce off his shirt and decides to finally stop this beating.

Paquaio 12th Round TKO - dominating performance

The crowd starts the "we want Floyd" chants after the decision is read. Careful what you wish for boys. Larry Merchant is about to interview Manny Paquaio, alert the Smithsonian so they can get some space ready. Larry meanders through questions and run-on sentences in a language that is not Manny's native tongue. Can't be easy. When asked about Mayweather, Manny inexplicably dodges the question. When asked who he wants to fight next, you can feel the crowd wanting to explode when Manny says "Mayweather" but again he refuses to bite and says he needs a vacation. Ah boxing. How did they lose their audience again?

Larry then interviews Clint Howard in the role of a lifetime, as trainer Freddie Roach. Freddie, who apparently has a base knowledge of marketing, says he wants Mayweather. Cha-ching!

Next up is Miguel Cotto who is less entertaining than the poop he just took for 54 bucks on my TV screen.

Herky Jerky interviews finally come to a close when Lampley realizes he hasn't been on camera in an hour and strangles Merchant with a microphone cord. The Rat Pack finishes up with lucid commentary from Manny Steward, a rambling Free verse poem/commentary from Larry Merchant and inspirational words from Lampley right before pimping commercials as we fade out.