Boxing Updates: Latest Boxing Event

It seems that the tension between the camps of the two very popular boxers, at present, is about to blow up into proportions any time soon.

Miguel Cotto said to Freddie Roach, Manny Pacquiao’s trainer, to be ready to go to battle. Cotto wants to tell Roach that he will not give Manny Pacquiao an easy fight, on the 14th of November at the M.G.M. Grand in Las Vegas. He emphasized that he does not like to be treated as if he was like Pacquiao’s most recent victims, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. He explained that he is still at his prime, unlike Oscar De La Hoya, and that he is not overrated like Ricky Hatton.

In addition to that, Cotto said that he would only agree to put his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title on the line against Manny Pacquiao, if Pacquiao is willing to make the fight at 147lbs. and not on the agreed catch-weight. Cotto said that Pacquiao would have to fight as a true welterweight if he wants the title.

“If Pacquiao wants that the fight be for the title, it will have to be in 147 pounds. I won the title at the welterweight division and that is 147 pounds,” Cotto said in the report by Manila Bulletin.

However if the WBO should insist in making the Pacquiao-Cotto super fight a title match at 145lbs., Cotto would oblige without any resistance to surrender the title. The OMB (WBO) has the authority to dismiss Cotto as the current welterweight champion.

Pacquiao is seeking to push the November 14 bout to a title match. If he wins that fight he will become a seven-division champion. Pacquiao is the former WBC flyweight champion, IBF super bantamweight champion, WBC super featherweight champion, WBC lightweight champion and is currently the IBO junior welterweight champion. But, Pacquiao is seriously considering retirement, because he wants to go into politics and probably because of his old age (wear and tear).

Just when we thought that Pacquiao-Cotto was already a done deal, here we are with the realization that there are still a lot of things to negotiate.

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Finally, Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions officially confirms, July 20, 2009, that the Manny Pacquiao versus Miguel Cotto fight is sealed. The super-fight is scheduled this November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at a catch-weight of 145 pounds. This is the result of what has been a really interesting negotiation between both camps.

The legitamcy of the match-up, the purse split, and the amount of interest it generates are just some of the issues that slowed down the development of the Pacquiao-Cotto fight. Sugar Shane Mosley and along other fighters in the ‘Pacquiao Derby’ complicated things when they called out for a fight against Manny Pacquiao. But, Cotto is the number one contender for Manny Pacquiao. Both fighters were eager to face each other, making the negotiations relatively simple after Pacquiao agreed to the 145-pound weight limit insisted upon by Cotto’s trainer.

“With Manny, you don’t tell him who to fight,” Arum said. “He tells you who he wants to fight. He’s not afraid of anything. There’s a lot of easier guys he could fight, but he doesn’t want that. He wants the best, and that’s Miguel.”

This is perhaps one of the greatest challenges that the pound-for-pound fighter will be facing. Miguel is a highly ranked and a very skilled opponent. Miguel Cotto had beaten Joshua Clottey of Ghana via a split decision, suffering a serious cut on an accidental head butt during their fight. But his performance during that fight was not that bad. He still proves to be a grave threat to Manny Pacquiao.

Everybody knows the kind of speed that Manny Pacquiao has and it might still be his advantage against Miguel Cotto, who is clearly slower compared to the former. But Miguel Cotto is very skilled, a good body puncher and has a high knockout percentage. Technically, either fighters have any advantage, as of this moment, against the other going into this fight.

However, we are still plagued with so many questions. Will Cotto be able to handle his weight drop to 145 lbs.? Will Pacquiao be able to handle the punches of the biggest and strongest man he has ever faced? Will Cotto be able to keep up with Manny Pacquiao’s speed? Who will emerge victorious?

Tickets for the Pacquiao-Cotto super-fight will go in sale this coming August.

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Manny Pacquiao being on top of the boxing world today, is in the position to chose who is going to be his opponent and impose his conditions upon them. But a lot of skeptics would ask if he really deserves to be in the driver’s seat.

Among Pacquiao’s list of contenders, Miguel Cotto is the leading candidate. Manny Pacquiao demands that Miguel Cotto should come in at a catch weight between 144lbs to 145lbs and that he gets the 65% of the purse split. Would that be a reasonable offer in Cotto’s part?

If we take a look at the credentials of both fighters, we could say that Miguel Cotto has a more stellar career compared to Pacquiao’s. Miguel Cotto had beaten Zab Judah and Shane Mosley in 2007, Alfonso Gomez and just recently Joshua Clottey. Manny Pacquiao on the other hand, skeptics would say, that he had beaten a weight drained Oscar De La Hoya and just recently a soft-chinned Ricky Hatton. And even before those fights, Manny had a hard time against the Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez.

Many people would say, that Cotto has better credentials than Pacquiao. But every fight of Pacquiao is full of excitement and drama. In his previous fights, he was always considered the underdog. Critics had predicted that he would lose against Barrera, Morales, Marquez (which was really a controversial split decision), De La Hoya and Hatton, but he was still able to pull through. He gives the fans exactly what they come to see in each of his fights.

If we would look at Pacquiao’s credentials without making any biased excuses that may underrate his performance, then we would be able to see what he really had accomplished in his career.

Pacquiao deserves to be in the driver’s seat because everyone is calling out for him. They want to fight him because of the massive earnings that he attracts. It is safe to say that the sport of boxing is not always about the credentials, but it is also about the pay day. If a fighter fights Pacquiao, a 65/35 or a 60/40 purse split is worth more than a 50/50 purse split with somebody that nobody really knows.

But if Pacquiao really wants to silence his critics and prove himself to them, then this fight should have to happen at 147lbs. If he fights Cotto at a catch weight, he would not be fighting the real Cotto and prove nothing. A fight at 147lbs with Cotto would cement his place as one of the greatest boxers of all time.

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