Pacquiao out punched Cotto from the fourth round on, and like he has done with previous opponents he used speed and power to his advantage/. Pacquiao also becomes the first seven-time division champion and up next is a potential lucrative pay day with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“The strategy of the fight was to take time and not hurry,” said Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38KO’s). “We were very careful in the early rounds,” he said as Cotto tried all he could to use his devastating left hook that had little impact on Pacquiao.  “Im trying to test his power in the early rounds that’s why I wanted to get hit in the body and the head,” he said.

Pacquiao also used good strategy against Cotto that his trainer Freddie Roach preached in their intense training camp. “I was looking for a knockdown shot, he said. “That’s why I didn’t throw a lot of punches. That’s why in the last seconds, I threw the good right hook.   I kept pressuring him and was very careful of his counter.”

But the counter never seemed to work for Cotto. After the fourth round it was all Pacquiao who knocked down Cotto with a left hook in the third round, and he knocked Cotto down again late in the fourth round as Cotto advanced to him.

The first four rounds reminded many about the Hagler-Hearns wars of the 1980’s with Cotto and Pacquiao trading and taking some punches, but Pacquiao was able to do more and took command of the fight after that. It was all Pacquiao, who led on all of the judges scorecards as it appeared Cotto took the first round and he barely won the fifth with some good counter punching.

“We were trying our best to try and knock him out because that is what my trainer said,” commented Pacquiao. But Cotto with a swollen face and blood flowing form his nose, with cuts showed his pride and determination by refusing to quit. His trainer Joe Santiago thought about stopping the fight earlier but saw that his fighter had the ability to continue,

“I thought in the 11th round they were going to stop the fight.  I was surprised,” said Pacquiao about the fight not being stopped sooner. Pacquiao also said that he would not consider moving up in weight class again. “154 is too big for me,” he said.

On a possible fight with Mayweather, a name the sold old crowd at the MGM Arena started to chant, Pacquiao said “My job is to fight in the ring and that depends on my promoter Arum (Bob) to negotiate that fight.”It was a hard fight. Cotto is a tough opponent,” he said.,

A battered and defeated Cotto (34-2 27 Ko’s) will take some time and think about his options. His last fight back in June he barley defeated Joshua Clottey at Madison Square Garden in New York City. “You don’t have to tell me anything,” he said, “Its part of my job. I’m pretty proud of what I have done in the ring.”

He added, “ I did not protect myself from the punches   I fought everybody  Miguel Cotto came to fight all the big names and Manny is one of the best of all time.”   And about his trainer stopping the fight earlier, Cotto said, “I told Joe to stop the right when the round was over,,” he commented about the 11^th,” but I think better it was my decision.   I will continue fighting.”

Now fight fans await the negotiations. Roach wants Mayweather and Arum will have a rough time at the table because Mayweather is an adversary. “I said we were going to break him down and we did,” said Roach about Cotto.” Manny put pressure down and early in the fight he was assessing Miguel’s power.”

MORE TO COME     e-mail Rich Mancuso Ring786@aol.com

Welcome to another session of Dr. Football’s class called “Viewing Pro Football 421″, a 4th year undergraduate class. Today’s topic: Will the UFL be successful in todays market?

Sure it’s been done before. Another Pro Football League, you laugh. No one can touch the NFL, you say. But what if The UFL isn’t trying to “compete” with the NFL, but rather enhance the ability of people to watch live the greatest game ever played?

So you think I’m nuts too don’t you? You must think I’m inhaling too much field chalk. But look at it this way: when was the last time you went to an NFL game? Do you remember how much you paid to get in? To buy your kid a pennant (or if you were lucky, a game program!) or a T-shirt? Don’t even think about a jersey! Or NFL licensed Baby Booties! Forget it!! (before i obtained a press credential i was paying $70 per ticket, 5 dollars for a game program and 5 dollars for a 32oz. bottle of water. I hear it’s $80-$85 now for the cheapest seat in the Meadowlands).

The UFL changes all of that. Tickets for 20 Bucks a game, in quality venues! Affordable prices (for today at least) at the concessions. No Kid, you’re not dreaming, this is the real UFL and if you Live in NY it’s coming to your house soon.

OK, so it’s in the middle of the week, but didn’t you say you were football starved? You just can’t watch another season of the local college teams. You don’t think you can put up with the team in Green and White that can’t seam to make up their minds about who the QB is. The team in Blue with the shortage of starters even though they had a great draft and did well in free agency already missing too many players in training camp. Not that I’m saying “don’t follow your favorite team anymore,”  hardly that. I’m just saying open yourself up to the possibility of another pro football league being able to entertain you this fall.

Let’s step away from NY for a moment. Did you ever think Las Vegas would get an NFL franchise? For years the NFL wanted no part of the Sodom and Gomorrah that is the gambling culture of Vegas, yet now they allow teams to back state run sports themed lottery tickets(that is for discussion in another article). Give the UFL head honchos credit for jumping all over the Vegas market, as well as Orlando. The Vegas team will attract fans from parts of California, Arizona, and Utah as well. As for Florida, a former co-blogging partner of mine who spent a good deal of time growing up there once told me “you can never have too much football in Florida.”

Although Orlando is only 105 minutes from the greater Tampa area, there is a huge void to be filled there and in other parts of the country with the loss of the Arena Football League as we knew it.

Let’s sum it up for today shall we: More pro football is good, not bad, as some would suggest. It doesn’t “water down” or “short change” the great game, as a few suggest. It gives the fan(and Player and Coach!) more options on more days of the week to watch the game, as well as for you young folks to learn about the game. Why would anyone argue with me about that? Class dismissed, now go watch some football!

It’s called the “Collegiate Development Football League.” Based in the little town of Hilburn, the CDFL really is the “second chance” for 18-24 year olds who feel they can still play the game at a high level. The brainchild of Father and Son football coaches George and Peter St. Lawrence, The League has held “combine-like” workouts for the last several months, and has a growing following.

“Our objective is not to get you beat up,” said the elder St. Lawrence to the assembled players at Saturday night’s workout. “It is to expose your skill or lack of it, and we mean that in a good way.” Here is a man who understands that injured players can’t do anything to help your status in getting a developmental football skills program started. Nor can they say anything good about how they are treated if the suspect they are being used as training camp fodder. Not the case here as everyone is treated fairly, and like family. Even the Reporter/Scout who shows up for the first time gets the VIP treatment.

While we will examine the Coaches in the next installment, let’s focus on some of the players. All have interesting backchannel stories that deserve telling, but here are four, plus an honorable performance mention.

Anthony Carillo is a QB who has gotten used to adversity on and off the field of play. After his High School playing days, Anthony went on to what he hoped would be four more years of football at Frostburg State. After injuring his shoulder, and his father surviving a near fatal accident, Anthony had to put both his college and football careers on hold to go home and help out. The CDFL has truly represented a “second chance” for Anthony, and that makes his Dad, now mostly recovered happy as well. Anthony also has the skills needed to succeed at the next level. He was already a polished football player coming in, and has steadily improved his game. He also admitted that the playbook looked like “Chinese” to him the first time, but he has studied hard.

La’Ron Davenport is a receiver from southern New Jersey. Even though he attended Grambling State University, things just didn’t work out for La’Ron down south. He was determined not to give up on his goal of playing football. So determined that he took two trains from South Jersey to get to the workout on Saturday. When he got off the train at the Suffern, NY station of NJ Transit, he realized he still had a distance to go. He walked the two and one half miles from the railhead to the practice field! “I’ve been doing lost of resistance training recently,” he told us “so 2-1/2 Miles walking is really nothing.” He is truly thankful for another chance to play the greatest game ever played. “I’m not trying to act like I’m all that. I just want to go out there tonight and every night and showcase what I can do.” La’Ron had a good night, catching a few slick balls in traffic during the 7-on-7 Drills.

Next we have the story of Olsen St. Louis. Olsen was a Kicker at Spring Valley High School, but then attended Hudson Community College, where there was no football program. Olsen didn’t give up either, and Saturday night during warm-ups he was hitting them with ease from 40 yards out. In a moderate rain with a slight crosswind no less. On top of that, Olsen has not kicked steadily in over four years. You couldn’t tell that by watching him prep for each kick. To say he has a cannon for a kicking leg is putting it mildly.

This last player has a bit of history that includes me as well. Jonathan Fox is a receiver from Hawley Pa. who recently graduated High School. No one thought enough of Jon to give him a look at the college level, possibly because of his size (5’10” & 160 lbs), but if they did give him a look they would know what I have known for close to a decade. You see, I met Jon when he was at the NFL Draft as a youngster many years back. At that time he was “the Youngest Expert in the History of the NFL Draft.” I know because that’s what I wrote about him in a feature piece at the time. I also predicted that an NFL team would someday hire him as a scout. While that has not become a reality yet for Jon, The CDFL is his reality. That, and a promise I made to him all those years ago to look me up when he was ready to be a football scout. I’m now happy to say that no matter what happens playing wise for Jon, I will keep my promise and help him in his scouting career.

Finally, I can’t let this piece end without an honorable mention for Willie Calhoun, a Fullback/Linebacker from Newburgh, NY. Willie showed me moves the likes of John Mackey and Howard Cross Saturday night. He broke so many tackles on his way to the end zone after the catch that I lost count at 5. A Strong Safety would have no way to match up against Willie, as he looks to be about 6’1” or 2” and about 250 or 260 pounds. I doubt anyone would want to get hit by him when he’s got a head of steam built up.

The CDFL Slogan is “Are you Ready?” well, Saturday night at the field of dreams, these players are ready.