"On all fours"

The dictionary defines “on all fours” as referring to the situation when a person is on both his arms and both his legs. He may be crawling and he so supports himself with his four extremities - two hands and two legs (or knees), that is why “all fours”. I saw such a person “on all fours” last Sunday. His name? Miguel Cotto.

By now, most of us must have seen the furious boxing match between our very own Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico. And, quite naturally, all of us who have viewed the fight agree, to our hearts’ delight, with the acknowledged sports analysts all over the world in hailing that the Pinoy is among the greatest boxers of all time. In our extravagant minds, he could very well be the greatest!

But, let me add a little observation to what must have already been said of the fight. It was in the fourth round of the bout that everything went awfully bad for Cotto. I would really like to call it the turning point of the match.

In the scorecards of everybody, the man from Puerto Rico lost the third canto. Round 3 saw him suffer a fall. Some commentators said it was a flash fall. So be it, but it was a fall, just the same, that merited a mandatory 10-8.That knockdown he suffered, after of a furious exchange of blows, and courtesy of a right cross by the Filipino, dented Cotto’s ego. He wanted to recover the 2-point deficiency and the impression that it left.

What Cotto failed to realize at the start of round 4 was the discrepancy of their power, both body and mind. He could dish out his best punch (and he did some of that in the third round) and yet Pacquiao would not even blink while he would tumble under Manny’s power.

In round four, we saw what some described as Manny’s folly. He did not use his vaunted foot speed. Instead, reminiscent of a Muhammad Ali type “rope-a-dope”, he allowed his foe to hit him with good shots. Behind his dangerous stance, however, I could see in Pacquiao’s eyes, not unforgivable bravado but an intense psychological warfare. While apparently testing how heavy were the bombs of Cotto, while he still could, (and not at later rounds when stamina would be waning) he, more importantly, showed to his opponent that he could take his best blows. And then, some. In very quick reversal of roles, Manny would unleash, in blinding speed, his own volley, to hurt and bewilder the Puerto Rican.

Indeed, with a left blow that was halfway between an upper cut and a hook, Manny hit Miguel’s right jaw and the latter went down. Cotto, unlike the British Hatton, did not lose consciousness then. But, did you see Cotto on all fours? He appeared like a tiger that lost all its fangs and paws. While instinctively crawling away from his tormentor, the WBO welterweight champion looked, with his eyes, registering fear, in the direction of challenger Manny.

 Yes, the Puerto Rican obligingly stood up before the count of ten and faced Mr. Kenny Bayless, the third man in the ring. To me, though, he kind of ask the referee how Manny did that rather than assert he was okay. The truth is, he was not okay anymore. Deep in his heart, Cotto knew he was a broken man and soundly beaten. He was admittedly physically bigger but that seeming advantage was not enough because obviously, in the scales of firepower, the Filipino was superior. Miguel’s time was running low. It was possible he recalled the latter rounds he endured in his clash against Mexican Margarito.

The fight was decided in four rounds, not on the twelfth round when it was eventually stopped. Miguel took the first, lost the second, was clobbered in the third and got devastated in the fourth.

The succeeding rounds saw Cotto take his bike. His will to win vanished. Only flashes of his talent remained. At times, by telegraphing some of his famous punches, he actually was only feigning to continue fighting, for, he was really seeking to avoid the fate worse than falling “on all fours”.

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