Former world heavyweight champion George Foreman has tipped Miguel Cotto "to pull out a decision" in his title bout with Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Foreman is backing the Puerto Rican to retain his WBO welterweight crown against the boxer labeled by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Cotto -- who has 34 wins, 27 by knockouts -- was stopped by Antonio Margarito for his first loss in July 2008. In June this year he defended his title in a brutal points decision victory over Joshua Clottey.
Foreman believes the lessons learned from these two experiences will have prepared him for the challenge of Pacquiao, who is seeking to win a world title at a record-breaking seventh weight division.
"I think there would have been a good opportunity for Pacquiao to win if he faced Cotto before he fought Clottey, but now Cotto is thinking defense," Foreman told Web site Sporting Life.
"I think Cotto is going to pull out a decision, and now because of the terrible beating he took against Margarito, he knows he can't get into a knockdown drag-out brawl.
"He's going to be smarter, and I think Cotto wins in a 12-round decision."
Pacquiao goes into the bout on the back of his two-round destruction of Ricky Hatton in May which followed a similarly dominant defeat of Oscar De La Hoya.
Foreman suggested that Pacquiao's resulting increase in fame may leave the Filipino complacent, citing his own experiences as a precedent.
"Pacquiao has been riding high and has beaten some of the best in the world. And it leaves you kind of complacent when you're winning," he said.
"Even if you don't want it to, sometimes you can't get up for a big fight.
"When I faced Ali, Frazier and Norton both had beaten Ali, and I had knocked them out pretty easily. So when I faced Ali, I had that confidence, and you think I surely can beat this guy.
"So I know the feeling, and I think that will happen to Pacquiao."
Foreman became the oldest man to win a world heavyweight title in 1994 when, at age 45, he knocked out Michael Moorer to reclaim the belt he held 20 years earlier.
