Pacquiao vs. Cotto live round-by-round updates (Pacquiao wins by 12th-round TKO)

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Pacquiao wins by 12th-round technical knockout

If there was any doubt Manny Pacquiao was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, he answered that Saturday with a dominating victory over world welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, stopping the Puerto Rican at 55 seconds of the 12th round at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, the only fighter in history to win seven titles in seven weight classes, took control of the fight in the second round and never let up, knocking Cotto down twice. By the end Cotto was bleeding from cuts near both eyes as well as from his nose and his white boxing trunks with stained pink with his own blood.

Cotto, who clearly hasn’t been the same fighter since his brutal 11-round loss to Antonio Margarito in this same ring 16 months ago, spent most of the night backpedaling. In the final round referee Kenny Bayless had to step in and remind Cotto to keep his hands up. When Cotto couldn’t do that, the referee stepped in to stop things.

Round 12

This is it--although clearly the fight has been over for some time. The blood coming from the cut near Cotto’s eye is gushing now and referee Kenny Bayless has to continue to remind him to keep his gloves up. Finally Bayless steps in to stop with more than two minutea to go.

Round 11

There is a cut next to Cotto’s left eye, sending a trickle of blood down that side of his already battered face. Pacquiao has just been too quick and elusive for the bigger Cotto, who still can’t solve the Filipino. Freddie Roach’s fighters aren’t big on defense and Pacquiao isn’t backing off know. At the start of the second minute of the round, he gets Cotto in the red corner and lands several punches, none of which Cotto answerd. Thiirty seconds later they’re back in the same corner with the same result. There would be little argument if the fight was stopped now. Cotto may not be defenseless but he has no offense. As the final seconds of the round tick down, Cotto backpedals away as Pacquiao again stops, dropping his hands to his side in disgust. Pacquiao wins the round, 10-8

Round 10

This time it’s Cotto who makes the sign of the cross at the bell. His white trunks are now stained with blood and both eyes are nearly swollen closed. The only punches he’s able to connect with on a regular basis are left jabs and they aren’t doing much damage. Cotto continues to backpedal and Pacquiao continues to chase him.With 42 seconds left, Pacquiao pauses in the center of the ring, drops his hands and takes a deep sigh and if to challenge Cotto to make this a fight instead of a track meet. Pacquiao wins the round 10-9

Round 9

Cotto needs a big punch now. And while Pacquiao knows that he remains on the offensive. Cotto again keeps the right back, content to lob left-handed jabs. Pacquiao gets off a good three-punch combinaiton early in the round, the again traps Cotto against the ropes three times. The final time, with 87 seconds left, really hurts him. Cotto is ready to go down. It’s only a matter of time now. Cotto looks--and is boxing lke -- a battered fighter and Pacquiao can sense that. Cotto is now bleeding heavily from his nose into his mouth. Pacquiao wins the round 10-9

Round 8

The chant is now Let’s Go Manny. The Puerto Rican fans answer with a feeble Cotto, Cotto. But like their fighter, their hearts clearly are not in it. Pacquiao is mixing both the right and left hands now. Cotto gets off another straight to Pacquiao’s face that stuns him. Cotto may have a problem with his left hand. He doesn’t appear to be using it at all. Cotto continues to fight backward and the round ends with him backed into his corner, saved from further damage by the bell. Pacquiao wins the round, 10-9

Round 7

The fight of the year is quickly becoming a rout. Cotto hasn’t been the dominant fighter he once was since taking a beating from Antonio Margarito in this same ring in July 2008. But Pacquiao is simply taking him apart. Cotto can’t match the Filipino’s speed and when the two go toe-to-toe, Pacquiao is the harder puncher as well. Cotto really hasn’t landed more than a handful of clean shots since the opening round. Although he nails Pacquiao with the shot to the face in the opening seconds of the final minute. That startles Pacquiao, who takes a few seconds to regroup. But the round again ends with Cotto on the run. Pacquiao wins the round 10-9

Round 6

Cotto needs to get back into the fight but he’s not going to try to do it with one punch. With Pacquiao going for the head consistently, Cotto is now able to duck punches. Pacquiao may need to change a bit. With 1:32 left in the round, he gets Cotto on the ropes and gets off a combination but Cotto escapes. Pacquiao gets him again in the middle of the ring with another two shots. Cotto’s face is showing the damage, looking red and perhaps a bit swollen. Pacquiao twice gets Cotto on the ropes in the final 15 seconds and almost gets him down for a third time but he inexplicably stops for just a second, allowing Cotto to recover and the round ends with Cotto counterpunching. Pacquiao 10-9

Round 5

The Filipino half of the crowd breaks into another chant of Manny, Manny, Manny. And this time it’s Cotto who is backing away. Pacquiao is fighting forward now. But instead of going to the body of the bigger Cotto, as was expected, he’s going straight at the Puerto Rican’s head, perhaps hoping to expand the cut under Cotto’s eye. Pacquiao appears supremely confident but he makes a mistake with 30 seconds left, throwing a wild punch that leaves his wide open. Cotto can’t take advantage, through, and the round again ends with Pacquiao swarming all over the befuddled Cotto. Pacquiao, 10-9

Round 4

Cotto, looking for an opening, gets off a couple of good lefts early in the round but they apppear to have little effect. Pacquiao appears content to bide his time, dancing away from Cotto and making him chase. But he punches as he moves and the two fighters exchange a brutal flurry with less than 90 seconds left in the round. Cotto gets Pacquiao pinned against the ropes and momentairily gains the advnatage. But Pacquiao escapes and as the two fighers mvoes to the center of the ring, Cotto goes down again. This time, all the way down for a hard left to the chin. He looks hurt and he’s bleeding below one eye. Pacquiao 10-8

Round 3

Pacquiao makes the sign of the cross before coming out his corner for the third round. Cotto throws a left that Pacquiao sidesteps and, with Cotto off balance, he stumbles. Although he never falls completely to the canvas, going to one knee, referee Kenny Bayless calls it a knockdown. Pacquiao’s speed, which surprised so many other fighers, apppears to be too much for Cotto, who continues to punch at spots Pacquiao just left. Pacquiao wins the round 10-8

Round Two

Cotto continues to push the action. Pacquiao can’t seem to get close enough the bigger, stronger Cotto to get in a good shot. But about halfway through the round he finds an opening and delivers a combination. Seconds later Cotto responds, getting Pacquiao against the ropes and delivering a flurry of punches. Although the action is fast, few of the punches seems to be doing much damage. Until Pacquiao gets off a rapid-fire three-punch combination with about 15 seconds left. The crowd is on its feet. When the bell sounds, Pacquiao drops his gloves and stares at Cotto. Pacquiao wins round, 10-9

First Round
A huge roar went up for the crowd at the opening bell. Cotto startled Pacquiao with a shot to the head about halfway through the round but it didn’t seem to hurt the Filipino. In fact, abot half a minute later Pacquiao was on the offensive. The two fighters clinched to start the final minute as the Puerto Rican half of the crowd roars Cotto Cotto Cotto. Cotto misses with a wild uppercut with 14 seconds left as the action picks up. Cotto wins the round 10-9

8:49 update

Pacquiao was the first fighter into the ring. Wearing red trunks littered with logos he went staright to his corner and knelt in prayer. Cotto followed minutes later wearing a scowl and white thuunks with red stripes.

MGM’s soldout Grand Garden Arena began buzzing with anticipation for the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao showdown as soon as the final fight on the entertainining eight-bout undercard ended.

Before a punch has even been thrown, many observers have already christened it the fight of the year. And if the prebout hype is any indication, it may live up to the that billing.

Following the final preliminary bout, the ring immediately filled with entourages representing both fighters, the Pacquiao camp carrying a Philippine flag and the Cotto side unveiling a Puerto Rican banner. A trio of singers performed three anthems -- one for the Philippines, one for Puerto Rico and the final for the U.S., the start of which was drowned out by cheers from some of Cotto’s supporters.

Among the 16,000 in the arena -- but not in the ring -- were baseball’s Derek Jeter, basketball’s Magic Johnson, football’s Brandon Jacobs, entertainers Mario Lopez, Will Ferrell, Sean Combs, Mark Wahlberg, Joe Pesci, Mickey Rourke and Jeremy Piven and boxers Shane Mosley and Tommy Hearns.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Troy Rowland

Are you ready to ruuuummmble!!!!!

The preliminaries to the highly anticipated Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao welterweight title fight are finally over at the MGM Garden Garden Arena after Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., son of the legendary Mexican champion, extended his record to 41-0-1 with a unanimous decision over over Troy Rowland (25-3) of Grand Rapids, Mich., in a 10-round middleweight contest, the final bout of a compelling eight-fight undercard.

The game Rowland was fighting with a heavy heart – his brother Shane, in a Michigan hospital, was placed in a medically induced coma earlier this month following a bout with the swine flu. And Rowland took everything the power-punching Chavez could give him.

But if Chavez, who had knocked out of eight of his last 11 foes coming in, lacked a knockout punch Saturday, he more than made up for it with polish and savvy, which counted heavily on the judges’ scorecards.

Yuri Foreman vs. Daniel Santos

We’re almost there. Just one more preliminary bout left before Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao square off in the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

But first a bit of history.

In the seventh of eight undercard fights, 29-year-old rabbinical student Yuri Foreman became the first Israeli fighter to win a world boxing championship when he scored a shocking and one-sided decision over Puerto Rican Daniel Santos in a WBA super welterweight title fight.

The unbeaten Foreman (28-0, 8 KOs) knocked Santos (32-4-1, 23 KOs) down in the second round, had him pinned against the ropes in the third then appeared to hurt the champion with a flurry of punches near the end of the fourth round.

Santos responded by clinching with Foreman when the two boxers got close. At one point he tried intimidation as well, turned his back on Foreman and walking toward his corner. But Foreman kept coming -- at times, he seemed, getting too aggressive since he was repeatedly warned for head butting.

Still Foreman, who hasn’t knocked out an opponent in nearly four years, couldn’t put Santos away. And that almost cost him with Santos stung him with a couple of shots midway through the ninth round, leaving Foreman backpeddling.

Two rounds later Foreman nearly made the mistake of his career, turning and walking away from Santos with just second left in the 11th round. Santos chased him and nailed him twice before the bell.

Knowing he needed a knockout to win, Santos charged out again in the final round as Foreman tried desperately to keep his distance. But the weary Santos had little left, stumbling to the canvas for a final time with less than a minute left in this world championship reign.

You can get all the undercard results by clicking here.

Top photo: Manny Pacquiao, right, delivers a right hand at Miguel Cotto. Credit: Steve Marcus / Reuters.

Right photo: Miguel Cotto. Credit: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press