Cotto's corner could've pulled plug earlier

HOLLYWOOD – It could have been or should have been over by the ninth round. Or even a little earlier perhaps.

Miguel Cotto, after winning the opening round, had already gone down twice, the fight had become one-sided, and at the end of the ninth round the Puerto Rican corner had started thinking of whether they should stop the fight.

“Is that enough? Or should I give you one more round?” Cotto’s young, inexperienced corner was saying something to that effect as cutman Joe Chavez was busy working on the cuts on both eyebrows and under the right eye.

Cotto had just taken a flurry right in front of Manny Pacquiao’s corner, and the wife of the Puerto Rican slugger, who had their son on her lap, was seen covering her face with her hands. During the break, she got up her seat and left.

Right then, right there, Cotto’s corner could have ended the onslaught.

One round after, it was the father, Miguel Sr., who wanted the fight stopped. But he was “talked out of it” by the corner, led by chief trainer, Jose Santiago. It was the boxer himsef who admitted later on that he wanted to go on.

As early as the sixth round, Pacquiao knew it was just a matter of time. He rocked Cotto with a few good shots, and smiled as he walked back to his corner. Cotto’s wife, Melissa, was up on her feet, shouting, wearing a worried look.

Pacquiao said it was during the ninth round where he felt the fight should have been stopped.

“In the ninth or 10th round I felt they should have stopped the fight. He started running, and slowly I was getting frustrated, asking myself, ‘Is this boxing?’” said Pacquiao right after watching a replay of the fight that ended 55 seconds into the final round.

Pacquiao said as Cotto danced around the ring, avoiding to get knocked out, he still couldn’t go out there and chase him trying to finish him off.

“It’s not that easy because he was still looking for the lucky punch. He still had his left hook with him even in the late rounds. In boxing, there’s a chance as long as there’s time. But he was just running away from me,” said Pacquiao.

Referee Kenny Bayless was out there just waiting for the chance to put a halt to the fight.

“He was looking for a chance to stop the fight but he couldn’t find one,” said Top Rank chief Bob Arum during the post-fight press conference. “The doctor said the next time Miguel gets into trouble the fight should be stopped. And the referee did a great job stopping it.”   – Abac Cordero