Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto: Round By Round

The undercard is over and the big fight is about to get underway. Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto will go head to head for Cotto's WBO welterweight belt.

Magic Johnson, Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Derek Jeter, Roberto Duran and Sean "Diddy" Combs are among the big names on hand. There are three national anthems to get through before we start. La Diva handles the Filipino anthem, Ednita Nazario sings the anthem for Puerto Rico and Ramiele sings "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The tale of the tape shows Cotto with an inch and a half advantage in height and a slight reach advantage as well. Pac Man weighed in at 144 pounds, Cotto at 145.

Cotto is 34-1 with 27 KOs. He's won twice since his lone defeat at the hands of Antonio Margarito in July of 2008. Pacquiao is 49-3-2 with 37 KOs. A win tonight would be his 11th in a row.

There's an awfully long wait for the fighters to head for the ring. Pacquiao walks in first to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck," which then changes over to "Eye of the Tiger." He smiles and bounces on his feet as he acknowledges the crowd.

Cotto has the hood on his robe up as he comes out to Kanye West's "Stronger." His face is a sharp contrast to his opponent's; very businesslike.

Michael Buffer does the introductions and we're ready to go!

Round 1

Cotto flicks out the first jab. Now a double jab that lands. Manny gets smacked by another jab. Pac Man is reaching a bit. Cotto is really on with the jab. Manny tries his own jabs and gets caught jumping in. Nice counter left by Miguel. Pacquiao has to scramble to avoid getting cornered. Good feinting both ways. Manny is giving Miguel plenty of respect. One-two by Pacquiao and a nice counter after Cotto tries to answer. Cotto lands one right at the bell.

Franchise: 10-9 Cotto
Spartan117: 10-9 Cotto

Round 2

Manny tries to counter off Miguel's jab. Pacquiao tries to settle down behind the jab. Two-punch combo is blocked by Cotto. Manny gets in a few straight rights, but Cotto answers with a right of his own. Hard jab by Cotto again. Two nice lefts score for Pac Man. Big left hook by Cotto gets a crowd reaction. The ref tells Miguel to keep his punches up. Short left hands by Pacquiao as he dances around. Body shot by Manny as Cotto digs in. Miguel goes body and head but eats two lefts. Great action in the corner at the end of the round.

Franchise: 10-9 Cotto
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 3

Manny waves Miguel in and he obliges with jabs. Pacquiao gets caught a bit coming in but Manny answers with a right hook that sends Cotto down. He's up quickly and doesn't look too hurt. Cotto turns southpaw and backs Pac Man up. Left to the body by Cotto; right hook to the head by Pacquiao. Manny holds and hits a bit in close. Cotto lets the jab flow but Pacquiao forces him to cover up. Nice left hook by Cotto that connects. Left uppercut connects and snaps Manny's head back. They wrestle to kill off the final five seconds.

Franchise: 10-8 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 9-9

Round 4

Cotto opens up with the jabs again. Manny misses a wild right hook. Miguel peppers Manny with lefts along the ropes. Counter left to the body by Pac Man. Both men score with short shots from their off hands. Combo punching by Pacquiao that Cotto tries to answer. Manny fires off lefts as he circles. Cotto ties up to catch a breather. Pacquiao gets backed up against the ropes and eats a right hand. He ducks away to get space. With 20 seconds to go, Pac Man lands a left that scores another knockdown. Cotto beats the count but looks a little more dazed this time.

Franchise: 10-8 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-8 Pacquiao

Round 5

We'll see where they stand pretty early here. Cotto is still coming forward. Manny fires short lefts and dodges to his right. Pacquiao's speed is bothering Cotto a bit right now. Right hook by Manny and he darts away. Cotto tries the body as he shoves Pac Man back. Manny continues to look fluid as he mixes up his punches. Cotto lunges to throw a three-punch combo, then uses an uppercut along the ropes. Left hook by Cotto. He has to scramble to avoid a final Pacquiao flurry.

Franchise: 10-9 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 6

Harold Lederman gave that last round to Cotto. The HBO team doesn't think he got any tactical advice in-between rounds. Sharp left lands for Manny in tight. Left-right by Pacquiao gets the crowd to react; Cotto scores with a left hook. A left catches Cotto square in the face. Another left gets Cotto to wince. They stand and trade in the center of the ring. Cotto does a lot of ducking and has to grab Pac Man to avoid going down after a left hand late.

Franchise: 10-9 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 7

CompuBox really liked that last round for Pacquiao. Mean right hook after an exchange and Cotto is stunned again. Left-right by Manny before they tie up. Cotto backs Manny up but mostly fires jabs. Miguel ducks and covers and tries some body shots. Cotto still has a bit of bounce but Manny is picking off a lot of shots with his gloves held high. Pacquiao is answering jabs with power shots and that has him looking good.

Franchise: 10-9 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 8

Pac Man lands a left to the body and Cotto is doing a lot of retreating. Jabs are still Cotto's main weapon. Manny's timing is giving Cotto fits. Miguel does some dodging but can't escape a series of left hands. Cotto looks like he's trying to time Pac Man for one big shot. Pacquiao gets Cotto backed into the ropes and both men swing away.

Franchise: 10-9 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 9

Emanuel Steward thinks Cotto's corner should think about stopping things. He's still out there fighting, but unless he scores a KO he has basically no chance. He lands part of a combo and still has jump in his legs. Manny rips a three-punch combo and turns up the heat. Left hand shots smash Cotto and he looks to be in trouble. Manny walks through a left and Miguel is bleeding from somewhere on his face.

Franchise: 10-9 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 10

Cotto's corner says they will give him one more round. His family left after that last frame. Cotto goes for his last stand. Lederman thinks they should stop the fight, but Larry Merchant disagrees. Miguel is actually having a decent round, but Pac Man seems to have eased up on the gas a bit too. Now Manny fires some shots and makes his foe cover his right eye. Left by Cotto and more jabs. Two hard lefts by Pacquiao as they juke along the ropes.

Franchise: 10-9 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 11

Cotto is doing everything he can to see this through to the end. Body-head combo by Pac Man in the corner, and the ref takes a hard look. Cotto fires jabs back between the gloves. No questioning his heart today. Pacquiao just misses a huge left. Pac Man momentarily stops chasing Cotto and the crowd boos.

Franchise: 10-9 Pacquiao
Spartan117: 10-9 Pacquiao

Round 12

They touch gloves to start the 12th. Kenny Bayless is up close to make sure he shouldn't stop this. A "Manny" chant goes up from the fans. A big left scores for Pacquiao, and Bayless waves it off. It's all over.

The winner by TKO at :55 of Round 12... and new WBO welterweight titleholder... Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao.

Merchant asks Pacquiao if the fight turned on the two knockdowns. Pac Man says the strategy was to be patient.

He was wary of Cotto's power, but he was trying to time Miguel looking for knockout shots in the early rounds. Pacquiao also talks about the dangers of Cotto looking for a one-punch KO once he got behind on the cards.

Manny laughs a bit and admits he expected the fight to be stopped in the 11th round. Here comes the Floyd Mayweather question... and he deflects it as best he can.

Pacquiao doesn't think he can go up past welterwight, saying 154 is too heavy. In a severe understatement Manny thinks Filipinos will be happy.

Merchant turns to Freddie Roach, who says he always thought Pacquiao would be able to break Cotto down eventually. Roach isn't shy about saying he wants Mayweather next.

Merchant thanks Cotto for staying around to talk. Miguel's pride really comes through as he answers the tough questions.

Cotto says he thinks Pacquiao is an all-time great. He does say he originally asked for the fight to be stopped after the 11th but changed his mind. Miguel has no plans to retire.

Lampley and Steward discuss Manny's future, and Emanuel believes it needs to be Mayweather next even though it will be tough to get the details nailed down. Merchant gets the last word in as always, stating that Pac Man deserves to be thought of very highly in terms of boxing history.

Posted by The Franchise