Saturday November 14th, 2009 9pm

MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas

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In a blog he wrote for The Ring, De La Hoya, who recently retired from boxing, said Pacquiao will be in for a rude surprise when he faces Puerto Rican bomber Miguel Angel Cotto on Nov. 14 (Nov. 15 in Manila).

“Now that the fight is getting closer, I’ve changed my mind about who I think will win. At first, I had Manny Pacquiao. I was a firm believer that Pacquiao’s speed was going to neutralize Miguel Cotto, especially after Cotto’s performance against Joshua Clottey in June,” the former multiple-division champion wrote.

“Then, as the fight was getting closer and closer and I thought more about it, I’m now convinced Cotto will win. The reason is, first, nobody looks good against Clottey. He’s a difficult, strong, in-your-face type of fighter. And Cotto had that gash over his eye the whole fight. I thought he did an excellent job in light of that,” he added.

De La Hoya said that at welterweight, Pacquiao does not pack enough punching power to be able to knock out a full-blown 147-pounder like Cotto. He cited his own welterweight duel with Pacquiao last December, where he was mercilessly battered by the Filipino but still managed to stay on his feet until his corner stopped the bout at the end of the eighth round.

“Cotto has a good chin and a big heart. He’s a natural welterweight who hits hard and is also smart and fast. Pacquiao doesn’t hit hard enough to knock anyone out in the welterweight division. I’m basing that on my fight against Pacquiao. I could’ve stood there and put my face in front of him and he couldn’t have hurt me,” he said.

De La Hoya had so much faith in Cotto that he thinks the Puerto Rican will be able to withstand whatever Pacquiao brings to the table.

“A lot of people are counting him (Cotto) out after his last performance. I think he’s the real deal, though. I’ve seen his skills and I’ve seen his power. He’s proved himself against tough, rugged guys. He’s proved himself against slick boxers,” he continued.

And the Golden Boy’s forecast? A late-round stoppage for Cotto.

“I think Cotto is a smart fighter. I think he’ll get through those first few rounds and in a smart way he’ll walk down Pacquiao and possibly stop him in the later rounds,” De La Hoya predicted.

Everybody wants to see Pacquiao and Mayweather fight, even quasi boxing fans care about it and want to see it. But that doesn’t mean it will happen. Mayweather hasn’t really shown an interest in the fight and acts as though he doesn’t care or need for the fight to take place. Floyd knows that he’s gotten over by being a fighter with a manufactured undefeated record. In the process he’s fooled some sharp boxing observers and fans into believing that he’s a greater fighter than he is. And he’s counting on as time goes by that being undefeated will enhance his legacy. Which it no doubt will to those who want to live in their perfect world and don’t fully understand how to read a fighters record.

If Pacquiao beats Cotto the pressure will be on Mayweather to fight him. However, that won’t be enough for the fight to be realized unless Mayweather can somehow hoard most of the money.

Last week while training for his upcoming fight with Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao was asked what he thought his chances were of fighting Mayweather and said, “Fans shouldn’t hold their breath. I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m sure he doesn’t want to fight.

“Boxing for him is like a business,” Pacquiao said. “He doesn’t care about the people around him watching. He doesn’t care if the fight is boring, as long as the fight is finished and he gets (plenty of) money….I want people to be happy. You have a big responsibility as a boxer.”

Pacquiao’s words are right on the mark. It’s hard not to like and root for Pacquiao. Other than some of his fans being over the top and believing he can walk on water, the guy is a real fighter and is definitely one of the greats. It’s funny that Pacquiao – who’s the smaller fighter and has a better resume and will go down a greater fighter than Mayweather historically, wants the fight more. And I’m not convinced it’s all about money on his part. In reality Manny doesn’t have to continue to fight bigger fighters, especially if he beats Cotto. The burden of proof as to their greatness rest moreso on Mayweather’s shoulders.

I don’t believe Mayweather actually fears fighting Pacquiao, and it’s my belief that if the fight does actually happen, Mayweather has the perfect style to beat Pacquiao. But Floyd is more about the money and as it’s been said here before it’ll be hard to get Mayweather to agree to a 50-50 purse split with Pacquiao. And there’s no way Bob Arum would let Manny ever agree to fight Floyd for less than a 50-50 purse split.

Arum and Pacquiao face a huge task in dealing with Mayweather at the negioating table if Manny wins on November 14th. Based on Mayweather’s one-sided decision over Juan Manuel Marquez seven weeks ago, he’s convinced he’s the biggest star in boxing. And here’s why. Pacquiao-Marquez II did 405,000 pay-per-view buys, Mayweather-Marquez did one million. Pacquiao-Hatton did 850,000 pay-per-view buys and Mayweather-Hatton did 920,000. Granted, the circumstances surrounding those fights were a lot different and Pacquiao, based on his showing in his last fight versus Ricky Hatton is a much bigger star now then he was six months ago. But does anyone with a pulse think that means anything to Mayweather? Of course it doesn’t!

The biggest fight this year to date was Mayweather-Marquez. However, it’s inescapable that Pacquiao-Cotto is the more legitimate fight. Manny and Miguel are closer in size than Mayweather and Marquez were. And Marquez was 36 whereas Pacquiao is 30 and Cotto is 29. The debate as to which is the more legitimate and anticipated fight doesn’t exist; it’s Pacquiao-Cotto.

That’s why it’s imperative that Pacquiao-Cotto do more pay-per-view buys than the one million that Mayweather-Marquez did. As of this writing Mayweather can support his claim as being the active pay-per-view king of boxing because the numbers support him. Obviously the numbers don’t tell the whole story and it would be difficult for Arum to argue against Mayweather being at least an equal draw to Pacquiao.

If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight Floyd Mayweather as much as he professes to he better beat Miguel Cotto and hope that the fight does somewhere close to 1.5 million buys. And if that’s how it unfolds then Pacquiao will have the leverage over Mayweather along with the boxing public behind him. Sure, Mayweather will counter with the fact that he’s undefeated, but that doesn’t interest boxing fans like it used to. They’ve smartened up and view Pacquiao as the more willing fighter who’s tested himself against live bodies who in some cases were legitimately a little bigger than him.

If Cotto happens to beat Pacquiao, Mayweather holds all the cards and will say he would’ve beaten Pacquiao with ease. The only way Mayweather is in a predicament is if Pacquiao looks impressive beating Cotto and Mosley handles Berto. Even at that, Mayweather has the choice as to whether he fights an almost 40 year old welterweight or a fighter who weighed 20 pounds less than he did when they made their pro debut.

Either way it’s remarkable how well Mayweather’s positioned himself to retire undefeated.

“Training was good. I don’t think I was even distracted during the camp,” said Pacquiao when asked about the tension – including the series of calamities – that occurred when he first began training camp in Baguio City. “I’m happy,” said Pacquiao, flashing his familiar boyish smile.

Pacquiao’s eight weeks of hard work at camp boils down next week when he challenges Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A victory by the 30-year old warrior known as the “Pacman”, would make him the only boxer in history to win seven titles in seven different weight classes.

And that’s what makes him going on.

“This is a huge fight for me,” said Pacquiao (43-3, 37 KOs). “I’ll try to win a seventh title in seven divisions. And no other boxer has done that.”

Roach again persisted Pacquiao is going to beat the reigning welterweight king. “He (Pacquiao) definitely has all the edge, that’s why we’re gonna win this fight.”“Everything, he’s the better boxer, the better puncher, has the better defense,” added the said the 49-year old former boxer turned trainer.

After doing the round of interviews and photo ops, Pacquiao did his thing on the ring by going four rounds on the mitts with Roach, worked on the speedball, before ending the workout with his usual stretching exercises.

Top Rank big boss Bob Arum waxed nostalgic as he watched countless of people from all walks of life, including celebrities Mario Lopez and Mickey Rourke come over and see the Pacman in training.

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He (Pacquiao) definitely has all the edge, that’s why we’re gonna win this fight. Everything, he’s the better boxer, the better puncher, has the better defense,

– Freddie Roach
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“Look at the press, look at the people. It’s like a throwback to the days of Ali. It’s incredible,” said the veteran boxing promoter, who bared that Pacquiao’s appearance in ESPN’s Sports Center the morning of Wednesday received a high-rating that the show will be replayed.

Pacquiao’s Sports Center’s TV appearance came the morning after he appeared in the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

The universally considered pound-for-pound king acknowledges that his speed is the biggest edge he has against Cotto.

And while he’s a 2-1 favorite over the 28-year old Puerto Rican, he said he still won’t take Cotto lightly.

“He is strong, he has a left hook and an uppercut. He is one of the toughest opponents”I have ever had. I think he will be coming forward, being aggressive,” Pacquiao said. –

Pacquaio, an international boxing sensation and the biggest celebrity athlete in the Philippines, was jovial and charming as he sat on the couch sharing details of his life with Kimmel.

Kimmel brought up Pacquiao’s movie, “Wapak Man,” and the boxer revealed, “I did my own stunts” and the character he played was a “mix of Superman and Spiderman.” Aside from acting, Pacquiao is working on his next album—his first album, “Para Sa’yo Ang Laban Na ‘To” (This Fight is For You), was released in 2006.

One fact about Pacquiao that intrigues many is the size of his entourage. Kimmel touched on this subject and even Pacquiao couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it sounded. 30 people follow the boxer around. Although they all do various jobs, they can be done by less people, as Kimmel suggested. Pacquiao laughed off the comment, clearly amused by the interview.

When Kimmel mentioned the amount of people living with Pacquiao in his apartment (eight), Pacquiao replied, “it’s too many, huh?”

Clearly a people pleaser, Pacquiao thrived under the spotlight and enjoyed being on the show as much as his fans in the audience enjoyed seeing him in a different setting. The boxer even treated the audience by singing “Sometimes When We Touch” and participated in a clip where he punched old pumpkins.

Pacquiao’s appearance on the late night talk show was one of the media stops to promote his Nov. 14 fight against Miguel Cotto.

Miguel Cotto Sr said Tuesday they blundered by not inspecting Antonio Margarito’s gloves prior to Cotto’s lone career loss in July of last year and vow never to let it happen again.

“We only commit the same error once,” said Cotto Sr. “We will never make that mistake again.”

The increased vigilance comes after Margarito was caught using “loaded wraps” in his following fight against Shane Mosley in January.

Unlike Cotto, Mosley’s trainers entered Margarito’s dressing room prior to the fight. There they noticed that a damp hard white powder had been placed in between the rows of wrapping and tape before Margarito put his gloves on for the fight.

It has never been proven that Margarito cheated by using a plaster of Paris type substance for the Cotto fight but suspicions are strong, especially in Cotto’s camp and that’s the reason for the stepped up inspections of opponents’ gloves and wraps.

Cotto, of Puerto Rico, senses he has the public support on this one.

“A loss is a loss. Nobody knows for sure if he uses it with me, or not, just Margarito and his team,” said Cotto, after a 90 minute workout at the Pound4Pound Gym in Beverly Hills Tuesday. “But it makes me feel better (about the loss). Boxing fans are knowledgeable. They are the judges.”

A classic boxer in the true sense of the word, Cotto is 34-1 with 27 knockouts.

Cotto bristled Tuesday at suggestions by Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach that the first loss is one of the toughest for a previously unbeaten fighter to recover from.

Cotto denied that the loss to Margarito had any negative effect on his confidence in the ring.

“Why don’t you ask Manny that question because he has had three losses I have just one,” Cotto said.

“My commitment is with myself. In my last fight (Joshua Clottey) I could have stopped the fight (cuts) but I decided to stay in the ring because of my commitment to myself and my family.”

“Sometimes when you lose you win. Since Margarito great things have come to my career.

“Where is Margarito right now and where is Miguel Cotto?”

Said Cotto Sr, “We have worked a lot with his mind and staying focused. Mentally he is a strong guy.”

Roach is predicting that the November 14 fight at the MGM hotel and casino won’t go the distance and that the favoured Pacquiao will knock Cotto out capture his seventh title in seven different weight classes.

“This is the problem,” Cotto said. “Freddie Roach is not the guy who is going to climb into the ring. If he prepares Manny for just nine rounds then he has three more rounds.

“He (Roach) can say whatever he wants. One day he says the first round and the next day he says round seven. I’m preparing for 12 rounds and nobody is going to know what will happen until the night of the 14th.”

Cotto said he is focusing on this 145-pound bout and doesn’t listen to talk about Pacquiao (49-3-2, 27 KOs) possibly fighting Floyd Mayweather in a mega title fight if he beats Cotto.

“He can fight Mayweather as many times as he wants after I beat him,” Cotto said.

Cotto respects Pacquiao for the way he has come from modest roots in the Philippines to become a world class boxer who is revered by Filipinos at home and abroad.

“He has earned everything he has,” Cotto said. “Manny looked good against Oscar De La Hoya and (Ricky) Hatton. But I’m not Oscar or Hatton. Manny chose the right time to fight Oscar.”

Cotto is looking forward to wrapping up training camp, heading to Las Vegas next week and says this is the biggest fight of his life.

“It is the most important fight of my career, but we’ll have to see on the 14th if he is the toughest guy I have fought in my career,” Cotto said.

“I guess they know what their priorities are online. There are pending bills online. They should know if they can leave the country or not,” said Undersecretary Lorelei Fajardo Tuesday online.

The deputy presidential spokesperson said online congressmen should be “sensitive” to their constituents online, especially the thousands of calamity victims online grappling with the aftermath of several powerful storms.

“They should be sensitive to their constituents online especially since elections online are just around the corner,” Fajardo told reporters after a briefing in Malacañang.

Pacquiao is gearing up for his Nov. 14 fight online with Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas, Nevada . The international boxing champ is heavily favored to snatch the Puerto Rican’s World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) welterweight belt online.

As in previous blockbuster fights online, where Pacquiao knocked his foes cold in the early rounds online, this fight is expected to draw a huge crowd of Manila-based spectators online, including lawmakers and government officials online.

Already, some 20 lawmakers online, including Speaker Prospero Nograles, have flown to the US presumably to watch the fight online.

Fajardo said she wasn’t aware if some Cabinet officials had booked flights online to watch Pacquiao’s fight online, but said that the online advice also applied to them.

“If there’s more work in Manila, [Cabinet members] can always support Manny in some other way online. We don’t have to go there,” she told reporters.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, whom Pacquiao looks up to as a father online, and Deputy National Security Advisor Luis “Chavit” Singson Jr. are Pacquiao’s rah-rah boys from the Executive Cabinter and have always attended his fights online.

 Fajardo said she wasn’t aware if First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo would fly to Las Vegas to watch the fight live online, as he had done so in the past.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be in Singapore that day to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) summit.

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Kenny Bayless. Bayless has roughly the same experience with both fighters; however, two fights stand out. First, he worked Miguel Cotto v. Antonio Margarito and he was criticized for allowing Miguel to take unnecessary punishment in the 11th round. As you probably remember, Cotto spent most of the round going backwards, he took a knee twice, was not throwing back, and he obviously could not see. Miguel’s corner eventually had to throw in the towel to stop the fight.

Bayless was also assigned to Pacquiao-Erik Morales II. An argument could be made that the fight should have been stopped after the first knockdown in the 10th, but it took another one before he stopped the action.

Adalaide Byrd. Byrd has no significant history with regard to Miguel Cotto; however, she had Pacquiao pitching a shutout against Oscar De La Hoya. Byrd ran into some controversy with her 114-113 card for Bernard Hopkins against Joe Calzaghe.

Duane Ford. Ford scored 115-112 in favor of Pacquiao in his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, but he has no recent experience with Cotto.

Dave Moretti. Moretti had the fight tied at 95-95 before Cotto’s corner stopped the Margarito fight, and he also scored a shutout in favor of Pacquiao before De La Hoya quit on his chair. Moretti, however, had the closest scorecard, 86-85, before Pacquiao knocked Morales out in their second fight and turned in a 115-113 card to help give Morales a unanimous decision against Pacquiao in the first fight. Perhaps more interesting, and somewhat analogous, is that Moretti scored 115-113 in favor of Sugar Ray Leonard over Marvin Hagler.

Conclusion. Kenny Bayless is one of the best third men in the business, and both camps should be very satisfied because he is not going to inject himself into the outcome. Additionally, he will certainly allow both men to fight until it is abundantly clear that the fight is over, which will not likely happen until the bell ends the 12th round. Bayless is the perfect guy for the two warriors.

Moretti and Ford may well be the top two judges working today and they will be laser focused on the scoring zone. Byrd doesn’t have a pedigree equal to the other two, but more often than not her scorecards are in line with how the fight is viewed at ringside and at home.

As we close out a year that has been full of scoring controversies, don’t expect this fight to be one of them. An all star officiating crew for what will likely be a 2009 Fight of the Year candidate.

Less than two weeks before his date with Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand garden arena in Las Vegas Nevada, the popular Filipino boxing superstar finally breaks his silence on the possible outcome of his quest for boxing supremacy by winning over Miguel Cotto to become the first professional boxer to win seven titles in seven different class weights.

In his latest ‘Kumbinasyon’ column with Philboxing.com he said he is ready and prepared for his upcoming fight with Miguel Cotto.
I feel very good. Training camp has been perfect so far and my trainer Freddie Roach and I think we have a great chance of beating the welterweight champion of the world. Let’s get it on! You know… he said in his column. Manny Pacquiao writes regularly for Philboxing.

‘Our team believes we have covered all possible strategies that Cotto will use in the fight and we are ready to counter them. We are ready for whatever he plans to do and we feel that we have a good chance of getting the honor of being the first boxer in the world to win seven titles in seven different divisions. If I am lucky, I will be the first one to get it’.

‘Against a bigger and powerful opponent, I need to improve my speed and match his strength with some scientific techniques in order to neutralize him’.
‘Pacquiao said that Cotto is known for his style of not backing up in a fight. He will engage you with his power and strength. That is what I want and that is what the boxing fans want to see’.

Miguel Cotto who had a falling out with his uncle trainer Evangeelista Cotto, is now being trained by Joe Santiago, a member of Team Cotto during Evangelista’s watch. Cotto and his entourage have trained in Tampa, Florida and have since moved to Las Vegas to complete the boxers last leg of training.
The Pacquia-Cotto boxing match, dubbed ‘Firepower’ fight will be held on November 14 at the MGM grand garden arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be telecast worldwide and available on pay-per-view. At stake is Cotto’s welterweight crown.