Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao and his supporters for another dominant win last night. As predicted, within a few rounds we learned whether or not Miguel Cotto could counter Pacquiao’s vaunted speed advantage. Unfortunately, I didn’t predict the correct answer. That advantage would prove key, and eventually lead to a 12th round T/KO stoppage.

So I was wrong, but I’m not interested in finding a Filipino preparation for crow right now (crow adobo?). Call it damage control if you want, but in attempting to handicap the bout, I maintained that no outcome would surprise me much — as it was a pairing of two guys who had never seen anything like the other. It won’t surprise anyone that I still feel that way. But here’s something Total-MMA readers may find surprising:

Right now, I couldn’t be prouder of Miguel Cotto.

(Well, other than the use of Kanye West for his ringwalk…)

Why? I’ll try to put it in words. I go back to what MMA legend Enson Inoue had to say in an interview I conducted last year:

“For me winning and losing isn’t about (recording) the W or the L. You can win a fight and not learn anything and get nothing from the fight. Like when I fought Igor, I lost the battle but I won because I learned so much about myself in that fight. If I had opened his cut and I hit him again and I won the fight, I would have won as far as record wise, but as far as for me as a person, I wouldn’t have won what I won that night. As far as the experience as seeing what was inside me.”

What Miguel Cotto sees inside himself following this, his only loss to a man who didn’t load his gloves with plaster (!), is something only he knows.

I know what I saw as he fought valiantly against the best Manny Pacquiao the world has seen — not the underprepared or distracted version I predicted. I’ll promise not to question Pacquiao’s distractions, even if I still think his singing sucks. But only if no one should ever question Miguel Cotto’s stoic professionalism ever again.

It’s not just the now-forgotten predictions that Cotto would likely weigh over the limit to try and gain an edge, that he would resort to low blows to gain an advantage, or that he would simply wilt early in the bout to Pacquaio’s power. Those have all been proven wrong, and are forgotten now.

It’s more. In one of the HBO 24/7 specials leading up to the fight, the massive underdog Cotto responded to the uncharitable, at almost 3 to 1, betting line thusly:

“I don’t need no one to trust in me, you know, to believe in me. I have people close to me who are there, in good times and bad. You wake up every day, to pray to bring the best you can bring every day in your life, and you don’t have to prove anything to anybody.”

In his post-fight interview, Cotto admitted that he and his corner, including his father who he kissed on the cheek between rounds in one memorable moment, discussed stopping the bout after the 11th round. He would thank his corner for encouraging him to continue and end the fight on his terms. He also praised Pacquiao as one of the all time greats of the sport.

Long after the brusies from this beating are healed, it’s this quiet dignity that Miguel Cotto shows at every turn that will remain etched in memory. With or without a belt, Miguel Angel Cotto is a true champion.