As the biggest boxing event of the year approaches, a lot of people are hoping that at the end of it, we’ll be left with a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather blockbuster early next year.

Before we get to that, the Pac Man will have to take care of business against Miguel Cotto in November or we won’t even get to that point.

Sportsbook odds makers haven’t made Pacquiao such a huge favorite for this fight, which is interesting.

He is jumping up in weight to fight Cotto, which means that it could affect his speed. Pacquiao is known for being one of the fastest around and if he’s not faster than Cotto, that could be a real problem.

Cotto is the naturally bigger fighter, which means that it may not take him so much to get the knockout. One or two big punches to a fighter who is smaller could be enough if Pacquiao isn’t ready.

But a lot of boxing pundits believe that Pacquiao is just growing to his natural weight. If that’s the case and he keeps his speed, Cotto should have plenty of problems.

Either way, this fight should be a major event and this should be closer than the Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight. The odds indicate that and we should see a difference in the ring.