From the get-go, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., has already been criticized by legions of detractors for his choice of opponents, and also for his choice of words. More often, his critics say he is “more mouth than action.”
In fact, he provoked the MMA world with his fiery comment “MMA is for beer drinkers.” Moreover, he downplayed the combat sport as a temporary fad saying any quality boxer could easily win a UFC belt. He eventually took back his word when UFC President Dana White offered him a fight with then UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk.
Mayweather is a superb boxer with very exceptional physical gifts. No doubt about it. But the fact remains that he picked a smaller guy to fight when there are equally-sized boxers out there who are willing to dance with him on the ring.
Coming out of retirement, Mayweather took on a small guy, Juan Manuel Marquez. No disrespect to Marquez. He is one hell of a boxer. Yet still, talent and skill alone won’t win you the fight if the other boxer is as equally talented and skilled. The latter’s edge, however, is his size.
Generally, skill beats strength while technique beats size. However, this paper-rock-scissors logic does not hold water in the case of Mayweather and Marquez. Mayweather’s skill and talent is a variable that offers a different outcome when you also consider his size advantage.
For his lopsided victory over the smaller Mexican, Mayweather’s stock rose in Yahoo! Sports’ pound-for-pound rankings. Now wait a second. Let’s give it a pause and think about this: Despite his demolition job against Ricky Hatton, Manny Pacquiao got brushed off from the top spot while Mayweather gets top P4P credits for picking on a smaller guy?
Unbeaten junior middleweight prospect Shawn Porter gave Manny Pacquiao a hard workout on his first day of sparring at his Baguio training camp.
Porter engaged the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter in three intense rounds, highlighted by numerous exchanges of hard shots, according to the few people lucky enough to witness the slambang action held behind closed doors at the Shape-Up gym inside the Cooyesan Hotel Plaza.
“The three-round sparring was good, really good,” said Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz.
“Malaki tsaka malakas,” said a source, who saw the 21-year-old Porter of Akron, Ohio spar with Pacquiao for the very first time.
Porter, holder of a perfect 10-0 ring record with 8 KOs, is a first-time Pacquiao sparmate in training camp. Trainer Freddie Roach thoroughly handpicked him to precisely imitate the fighting style of Miguel Cotto, the reigning WBO welterweight titlist from Puerto Rico whom Pacquiao fights on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“He’s perfect for this training camp,” said Roach of the 2007 National Golden gloves middleweight champion.
Porter is one of two Pacquiao sparmates now in Baguio City trying to get the Filipino ring icon in perfect shape for his 12-round fight with Cotto.
Lightweight Urbano Antillon, a regular Pacquiao sparmate, is the other one, while on a standby call is another Pacman regular sparring partner David Rodela as well as Puerto Rican Raymond Tito Serrano.
Sparring for the 30-year-old boxing champ will be held thrice a week or every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
By Thursday, he will go two rounds each with Antillon and Porter in time for the arrival of Top Rank big boss Bob Arum.
The veteran boxing promoter will be immediately whisked to the City of Pines shortly upon arriving in Manila early morning of Thursday.
Arum’s visit at the Pacquiao training camp marks the scheduled media day arranged by the boxing superstars’ handlers, when training and workout by the Filipino ring idol will be made open to members of the working press.
MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao to beat Miguel Cotto by decision? Trainer Freddie Roach is having second thoughts.
Impressed by the frenetic pace by which Pacquiao is attacking his preparations for his fight against the Puerto Rican, Roach now believes that the Filipino ring icon has what it takes to knock out the reigning World Boxing Organization welterweight champion.
“I picked him to win by decision, but until I started working with him to this camp, the way he’s punching, his speed, we will knock this guy out,” Roach said of Pacquiao, who announced over national television Tuesday that he was donating P1 million to relief drives for the victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy.”
“I commiserate with the victims of the tropical storm,” Pacquiao told a news station in Filipino, adding that he will try to fly to Manila on Sunday during a break in training to distribute relief goods to victims of the flash sloods triggered by Ondoy. “We will be giving rice, noodles and other relief goods.”
Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 knockouts) will battle Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) over 12-rounds for the Puerto Rican’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Both combatants agreed to fight at a catch weight of 145 lb.
Things picked up in Team Pacquiao’s preparation for that bout with sparring sessions kicking off Tuesday.
Pacquiao’s sparring partners Shawn Porter and Urbano Untillon hit the Philippine summer capital yesterday, with Freddie Roach describing Porter as the one who can really mimic the Puerto Rican Cotto.
Porter, who is bigger than Cotto, moves like the Puerto Rican star. Porter, a middleweight, is listed as 5-foot-7 and owns a record of 10-0 record, with eight wins by knockout.
Antillon, a former Pacquiao sparring partner who owns a victory over the Filipino’s younger brother Bobby, owns an impressive record of 26-1, with 19 knockouts.
“Basically we’re going to have a fast start and we’re not going to give [Cotto] any momentum,” said Roach. “The way Manny is really fighting right now, I guess we’re going to frustrate Cotto with his speed.”
Meanwhile, Jeff Mayweather, uncle of undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr., feels that a Pacquiao loss to Cotto will not rub off the luster from a showdown between the Filipino ring icon and the undefeated American.
“Just as long as he doesn’t lose in a devastating manner it would still be the biggest fight out there,” said Mayweather.
Tourists in this summer capital looking for the equally famous mother of Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao can now pin her absence here on one reason: Superstition.
The reigning pound-for-pound champion said hometown superstition forbids women in their family to join him here as he trains for his Nov. 14 bout against Puerto Rican reigning World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.
“Mahirap silang maglayag (It’s difficult for them to travel),” Pacquiao said.
The ballroom-dancing Dionisia has transformed into a mainstream pop icon ever since she decided to watch her son fight for the first time in Las Vegas early this year, in Pacquiao’s two-round demolition of British sensation Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton.
She has since made several appearances on television shows, commercials and even on billboards. And it isn’t much of a surprise that fans who flock around Pacquiao have started looking for his mother.
Pacquiao said this superstition applies only to certain months of the year and September and October are among the taboo months for the women to join the men in the family.
This prohibition also includes Pacquiao’s wife, Jinkee.
The only other member of the family joining Pacquiao in Baguio is boxer Bobby Pacquiao, who joins his older brother in jogging and shadow boxing.
In fact, the Shape Up Boxing gym, where Pacquiao trains, is an all-male enclave, with only occasional women journalists and gym members spotted around.
Superstition has played a big part in Pacquiao’s career. In his 2006 fight against Erik Morales, Pacquiao was offered by his promoter, Top Rank chief Bob Arum, a private plane to take him to Las Vegas from his training grounds in Los Angeles.
Pacquiao declined, opting to travel by land in his SUV because doing so has become some sort of a prelude to some of his biggest wins.
Last year, during his Dec. 6 showdown against Oscar de La Hoya, Top Rank contracted a custom-decorated bus for Pacquiao, but the boxer opted to again use his SUV in the four-hour road trip to the Nevada gambling haven.
Pacquiao is expected to start sparring this week with the arrival of his foreign sparring partners handpicked by trainer Freddie Roach for their ability to mimic Cotto’s fighting style.
Among those boxers is American Shawn Porter, the 2007 National Golden Gloves middleweight champion.
“[Porter] fights just like Cotto,” said Roach.
“He weighs 154 lb and has the same height as Cotto,” he said. “More importantly, he has a great left hook.”
Cotto’s main arsenal is his left hook and Roach expects Porter to force Pacquiao to defend against it during their simulated bouts.
Another sparring partner is Mexican-American lightweight Urbano Antillon, who had sparred with Pacquiao when the latter prepared for the fight against Hatton.
Roach said there is also a Puerto Rican boxer joining Porter and Antillon when they report to Baguio on Sunday or Monday, weather permitting.
Floyd Mayweather Jr has poured scorn on a possible fight with WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley after the pair’s confrontation last week in Las Vegas following his victory over Juan Manuel Marquez.
Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), also a junior partner in Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions company, gatecrashed Mayweather’s post-fight television interview at the end of his unanimous decision win over Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, an event co-promoted by Golden Boy.
Mayweather had just returned to the ring for the first time since knocking out Ricky Hatton in December 2007 and he stretched his unbeaten professional record to 40-0 (25 KOs) with an impressive victory over his Mexican rival.
Mosley, 38, wants to face the 32-year-old Mayweather having win his welterweight world title belt from Antonio Margarito in January but the younger man, speaking on American television channel HBO on Saturday night, said he would resist such a challenge.
“I guess Bernard Hopkins (also a Golden Boy junior partner) told Shane Mosley to get in the ring and be disrespectful but like I said before, Shane Mosley is a good fighter, I wish him nothing but the best in his career and the only thing I want to do is continue to be the best I can be in my career.
“In 1999, we tried to fight Shane 10 years ago and he turned the fight down and then in 2006 when he fought Fernando Vargas, right after the fight he said he had a toothache and he wanted to go on vacation with his family.
“I guess now that he’s 38 and his career is coming to an end and everybody knows they can make huge money with Floyd Mayweather, everybody is shooting shots at me.
“But I wish Shane Mosley nothing but the best in his career.”
Mayweather is believed to be waiting to face the winner of the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight which takes place in Las Vegas on November 14 with Pacquaio the more lucrative possibility.
Mayweather added: “They’re both good fighters but it’s not about the money, it’s for the love of the sport. I love the sport of boxing but of course it’s got to make business sense.
“I just want to keep fighting. Leonard (Ellerbe) and Al (Heyman) handle my business outside the ring and when it’s time to get inside that square circle that’s when I take care of my business.”
While it remains unknown how well Floyd Mayweather‘s return to the ring did on pay-per-view and closed circuit, his easy 12-round decision against a Mexican opponent didn’t sell out despite it being Mexican Independence weekend.
Attendance at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was announced at 13,116, but Thursday the numbers from the Nevada State Athletic Commission showed that 12,009 tickets were sold at face value, 895 tickets were comps — or giveaways — and 2,645 went unsold.
The total gate: $6,811,300.
The base salary for Mayweather was $10 million while Juan Manuel Marquez cleared $2 million.
Golden Boy Promotions, co-promoter of the event, said after Saturday show that early reports indicated the bout would approach and possibly exceed one million PPV buys which would be a gross of at least $50 million. Richard Schaefer, CEO of GBP, said that the numbers would be released by week’s end.
He also said Mayweather’s next bout would be completely up to the former welterweight champion, though Schaefer is pushing for him to meet 147-pound champion Shane Mosley rather than current pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao has a Nov. 14 date with Miguel Cotto. Both are promoted by Bob Arum‘s Top Rank.
“It’s up to Floyd,” Schaefer said. “Oscar had the choice to pick who he wanted to fight. Now Floyd Mayweather is in that position. He has inherited the vacant throne of pay-per-view king.
“This fight might put his average pay-per-view performance to over a million per fight. Who has done that? Nobody? When you are the pay-per-view king you can pick the dates. The date will be there for you, just like it was for Oscar.”
In May, Pacquiao’s junior welterweight championship bout with Ricky Hatton drew 15,368 with a $8,832,950 gate.
It’s amazing how many people think size was the difference between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez in their fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas last week.
Mayweather won 33 of the 36 scored rounds on the judges’ cards in one of the most impressive victories of a Hall of Fame career.
Yet, Mayweather’s legion of critics dismissed his victory as simply a matter of picking on a smaller man.
And while it’s true that Marquez was a smaller man, size had little to do with the outcome of this fight. One would expect, particularly at the highest level of the sport, that the smaller man would be quicker and faster. Instead, however, it was the bigger man who had the quicker hands and feet, the faster reflexes and the superior boxing sense.
Mayweather expertly walked Marquez into shots. He used his blazing speed to pop off combinations that had ended before Marquez had even begun to react. And he used his phenomenal reflexes and exceptional ring savvy to hold Marquez to a ridiculously low 12 percent connect rate.
Mayweather has reclaimed his position atop the monthly Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings, one he was forced to vacate upon his announced retirement in June 2008, by virtue of the victory.
He grabbed first by the smallest of margins. He earned 266 points and gained 15 of the 28 first-place votes. Manny Pacquiao, who had been No. 1, received 13 first-place votes and gained 265 points.
To keep the top spot, though, Mayweather isn’t going to be able to avoid men like Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Paul Williams.
His first priority should be to fight Pacquiao, assuming Pacquiao defeats Cotto when they meet Nov. 14.
A fight with Mosley would be excellent, but Mosley lacked class by bumrushing Mayweather in what appeared to be a pre-planned move while Mayweather was being interviewed postfight by HBO’s Max Kellerman.
Mayweather and his team, led by manager Leonard Ellerbe, were extremely agitated by Mosley’s actions. Ellerbe said, “I haven’t forgotten being down in [Carson, Calif.,] last year and seeing barely 3,800 people in the place to watch Shane struggle to beat [Ricardo] Mayorga.”
And be sure that Mayweather remembers full well challenging Mosley in 2006 and having Mosley decline the fight and go on vacation instead.
Mayweather has phenomenal physical gifts, but where he lacks compared to recent all-time greats like Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns is the top-caliber opponents.
There has been nobody so far who can give him the kind of fight that Hearns gave Leonard or that Leonard gave Marvelous Marvin Hagler. He needs to make certain to include at least the Pacquiao-Cotto winner and either Mosley or Williams on his 2010 dance card.
Mayweather is joined as a newcomer to the top 10 by International Boxing Federation/World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who slipped to the 10th spot.
Dropping out of the top 10 were Ivan Calderon and Rafael Marquez.
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Points: 266 (15 of 28 first-place votes)
Record: 40-0 (25 KOs)
Title: No title
Last outing: W12 over No. 6 Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19
Previous ranking: Unranked
Up next: Nothing scheduled
Analysis: Was brilliant in one-sided beatdown
2. Manny Pacquiao
Points: 265 (13 of 28 first-place votes)
Record: 49-3-2 (37 KOs)
Title: Ring Magazine super lightweight champion
Last outing: TKO2 over Ricky Hatton on May 2
Previous ranking: 1
Up next: vs. No. 7 Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14
Analysis: A Pacquiao-Mayweather fight in 2010 could be the richest bout ever
3. Paul Williams
Points: 180
Record: 37-1 (27 KOs)
Title: Interim WBO junior middleweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Winky Wright on April 11
Previous ranking: 3
Up next: vs. Kelly Pavlik on Dec. 5
Analysis: Can fight and compete in three divisions simultaneously?
4. (tie) Bernard Hopkins
Points: 155
Record: 49-5-1 (32 KOs)
Title: Ring light heavyweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Kelly Pavlik on Oct. 18
Previous ranking: 4
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Trying but failing to land a significant fight
4. (tie) Shane Mosley
Points: 155
Record: 46-5 (39 KOs)
Title: WBA welterweight champion
Last outing: TKO9 over Antonio Margarito on Jan. 24
Previous ranking: 5
Up next: Welterweight unification fight with Andre Berto in January
Analysis: On outside looking in on Pacquiao, Mayweather sweepstakes
6. Juan Manuel Marquez
Points: 147
Record: 50-5-1 (37 KOs)
Title: WBA, WBO, Ring lightweight champion
Last outing: L12 to No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 19
Previous ranking: 2
Up next: Nothing scheduled
Analysis: Had nothing to offer against Mayweather
7. Miguel Cotto
Points: 129
Record: 34-1 (27 KOs)
Title: WBO welterweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Joshua Clottey on June 13
Previous ranking: 6
Up next: vs. No. 1 Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas
Analysis: Showed much moxie fighting for 10 rounds with deep gash above eye.
8. (tie) Chad Dawson
Points: 53
Record: 28-0 (17 KOs)
Title: IBF light heavyweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Antonio Tarver on May 9
Previous ranking: 7
Up next: Rematch with Glen Johnson on Nov. 7 in Hartford, Conn.
Analysis: Hopes to make statement with clear win over veteran Johnson
8. (tie) Juan Manuel Lopez
Points: 38
Record: 26-0 (24 KOs)
Title: WBO super bantamweight champion
Last outing: TKO9 Olivier Lontchi on June 27
Previous ranking: 10
Up next: Vs. Rogers Mtgawa on Oct. 10 in New York
Analysis: Fast climbing power-puncher
10. Wladimir Klitschko
Points: 35
Record: 53-3 (47 KOs)
Titles: IBF, WBO heavyweight champion
Last outing: TKO9 over Ruslan Chagaev on June 20
Previous ranking: NR
Up next: Nothing scheduled
Analysis: Recovering from surgery and won’t fight until early 2010
Voting panel: Raul Alzaga, Primera Hora; Carlos Arias, Orange County Register; Ron Borges, Boston Herald; Steve Cofield, Yahoo! Sports; Dave Cokin, ESPN Radio 1100, Las Vegas; Brian Doogan, London Sunday Times; Andrew Eisele, About.com; Scott Fyfe, Sunday Post, Scotland; Thomas Gerbasi, Boxingscene.com; Lee Groves, MaxBoxing.com; Thomas Hauser, Seconds Out.com; Keith Idec, Herald News, New Jersey; Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Michael Katz, Gaming Today; Scott Mallon, Asian Boxing News.com; Rich Marotta, KLAC-AM; David Mayo, Grand Rapids Press; Franklin McNeil, Newark Star Ledger; Gunnar Meinhardt, Die Welt; Robert Morales, Los Angeles Daily News; Kieran Mulvaney, Reuters; Santos Perez, Miami Herald; Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports; Tim Smith, New York Daily News; T.K. Stewart, Boxingscene.com; Paul Upham, Seconds Out.com; John Whisler, San Antonio Express-News; George Willis, New York Post.
BAGUIO CITY – Freddie Roach admits Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto has lots in common with Briton Ricky Hatton.
Roach said both boasts of jaw-breaking left hooks, both are big and strong, ultra-aggressive and love to go to the body to soften up their foes.
There is one huge difference, though, Roach believes and this one makes Cotto a far more dangerous rival than Hatton for the 30-year-old Filipino fireball.
“Miguel Cotto is a lot smarter than Ricky Hatton,” said Roach, the celebrated trainer who arrived in the country on Tuesday to supervise Pacquiao’s training camp in preparation for the November 14 showdown with Cotto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“Cotto’s got this great left hook and he’s smart,” noted Roach.
Hatton had been fancied as a true test for Pacquiao but the Filipino hardly broke out a sweat as he demolished the rugged Manchester native in less than two rounds, flattening him with a left to the jaw that remains a strong candidate for knockout of the year for 2009.
Roach said if Pacquiao thinks he is in for another easy stint, he could be terribly mistaken.
“It’ll be a tough fight for us,” said Roach, who will be here for a minimum of four weeks or a maximum of six depending on Pacquiao’s progress in training and promotional schedule.
During Roach’s first session with Pacquiao at the Shape Up Boxing Gym inside the Cooyeesan Hotel, the residence of Team Pacquiao for the entire duration of training camp, the 49-year-old Boston-born cornerman immediately fell in love over the amenities available at the gym as well as its overall appearance.
“Whoever built this gym did a great job,” said Roach, who owns and operates the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California, best-known as the home of boxing’s best pound-for-pound.
Meanwhile, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum is arriving on October 1 to check on the progress of Pacquiao’s preparation for Cotto, whose World Boxing Organization welterweight crown will be on the line in the bout aptly dubbed Firepower.
MANILA, Philippines – Freddie Roach is facing the same old problem in training camp: how to prevent Manny Pacquiao from overworking and overdoing things.
“I have to slow him down,” said Roach who presided yet another workout at the Shape Up Gym in Baguio City where the Filipino icon is in the thick of training for his Nov. 14 match with Miguel Cotto.
Mediamen, however, were kept away from the gym yesterday. But Mike Koncz, the boxer’s adviser, said the doors will re-open on Oct. 1 when Bob Arum of Top Rank arrives for a three-day visit.
Roach said he lives a life of “negotiations” with Pacquiao in training. When he says it’s done for the day the 30-year-old boxer would always ask for more, probably an extra round or two with the mitts or in sparring.
“I have to pull him back because I want him to stay hungry in training,” Roach would often say. But most of the time, he gives in to the boxer’s request, and this training camp is no different that the previous ones.
Pacquiao blew into town last Sunday while Roach, along with conditioning coach Alex Ariza and Rob Peters, who normally handles the security at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, came in the other day.
“Maybe he wants to impress me,” said Roach, and by the three-time Trainer of the Year’s words, the reigning pound-for-pound champion is doing a very good job.
Barely in his fifth day at the gym, Pacquiao has shown tremendous speed like he’s been training for a month now. The first two days of workout were held at the Wild Card in Parañaque last week.
“Manny is very sharp,” Roach observed.
“He showed me his speed, his footwork. As if he has been training for a month. I’ve never seen a fighter this fast,” said Roach who even said Pacquiao “can fight on Saturday.”
The inner circle of Team Pacquiao held a brain-storming Tuesday evening, mapping out the fightplan for what could be the Filipino’s toughest fight. They plan to train in Baguio for five weeks before flying to the US.
“We are not worried,” said Roach. “We will make sure that Cotto cannot use his weight to his advantage.”
Pacquiao knows the kind of fight he’s getting into, and is not leaving any stone unturned in training.
Almost everyone who loves the sport of boxing, including some MMA enthusiasts, is now focusing on the Nov. 14 Welterweight Championship fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Although the fight is eight weeks away, tickets are virtually sold out with only a few remaining at the box office. More than 10,000 closed-circuit television seats will also be made available for public sale in Las Vegas at various MGM properties. Additionally, pay-per-view distributors are anticipating record sales for the telecast of the eagerly awaited match. While the promotional drums beat louder and louder, the real heavy lifting is being done by both boxers, who are now in vigorous training for the biggest fight in each of their respectable careers.
More than a week ago, Cotto left his familiar confines in Puerto Rico and set up camp in Tampa, Fla. The Fight Factory Gym, where Miguel is training is a state-of-the-art facility located in the Tampa Bay area, on the Gulf Coast. For most of his prior fights, Miguel trained in Puerto Rico. For this, his greatest challenge, he wanted to train away from home in order to avoid distractions which he has encountered in the past in Puerto Rico.
I plan to visit Miguel at his training camp during the week of Oct. 11, and I will provide you with a candid appraisal of Miguel’s training and conditioning. I always like to see world-class fighters work out, and make my own assessments as to how they approach the job at hand.
Pacquiao generally trains in Los Angeles at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym; however, because of certain IRS tax rules he is training outside the United States for the next four weeks and will then move his camp to the Wild Card Gym.
For those of you curious about such things, IRS rules provide that Manny would have a “substantial presence” in the United States and would therefore be subject to tax on his worldwide income – not just his US-based income – under the following circumstances:
If one-sixth of his days spent in America in 2007, plus one-third of the days spent in our country in 2008, are added to 100 percent of the days he was here in 2009, and if the resulting figure equals or exceeds 183 days (roughly six months, or half a year), that would establish what IRS calls a “substantial presence” and subject his worldwide income to U.S. income taxes.
That may be a good thing for our economy and trade deficit, but not so good for Manny and his missus. By training outside our borders for the next four weeks, Manny will avoid the dreaded “substantial presence” designation.
Manny has set up training camp in Baguio, a mountainous summer resort in the Philippines, about 250 kilometers north of Manila. Pacquiao chose Baguio because of its elevation and his belief that he would be able to train in seclusion because of its remote location.
Wrong. He was mobbed by thousands of fans upon his arrival and greeted by a full Philippine media contingent. It looks like Manny will be training amid the usual chaos he is familiar with at the Wild Card Gym where LA-based Filipinos attend his workouts.
Next Tuesday, Sept. 29, I will be on a plane to the Philippines to see for myself how Manny is doing in Baguio and will report back to you. Why go halfway around the world on a 15-hour flight, when I know Manny will be back in the States in just over a month?
Simple. Because to observe Manny in training is to witness something I have never seen in my 44 years of boxing. His workout is conducted full speed for five hours, without any breaks. No athlete in any sport engages in a routine as vigorous as Manny’s, and he does it six days a week for more than seven weeks of training.
This kid plays hard and he works even harder, which more than anything accounts for his unbelievable stamina in the ring on fight night. The drills and workout sessions that Manny endures under the watchful eyes of trainers Freddie Roach, Buboy Fernandez, and Nonoy Neri are a wonder to behold.
Veteran trainers have always been wary of their boxer “leaving his fight in the gym,” which is to say that an athlete can overtrain and be flat and stale come the night of his bout. Too much work can be, well, too much for even the most well-conditioned prizefighter. After all, we’re talking about the human body and the possibility, or indeed the likelihood, of it breaking down.
But Roach and Fernandez trust the experienced Alex Ariza, Manny’s conditioning coach, who knows when to say “when.” Unlike any other fighter I have ever seen, Manny’s “when” comes hours after most boxers have showered, dressed, and left the building.
Pacquiao, who weighed only 138 pounds for his last fight and has only once gone over 140, is amazing in that he has to eat constantly to maintain a higher weight. While his trainers won’t tell us how many pounds Manny may drop in a workout session, it has to be considerable.
Now while appear to be gushing at the time and energy expended by Pacquiao once he gets to training camp. Cotto also does not mess around. He is dedicated and serious when he trains, a study in lethal concentration and fierce resolve, but Cotto’s regimen more closely resembles that of other elite fighters. Manny’s work rate is simply mind-blowing, but Cotto’s is deadly serious. Nothing interferes with Miguel’s focus on his work. There is no entourage, no crowds of howling fans, just a hard man who has won several world titles and is bearing down on his preparations.
It’s fun to watch Pacquiao train. It’s scary to observe Cotto in the gym.
This fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto will be something special. It promises to be a match between two proud warriors who have trained well for the violent war of attrition this contest promises to be. Each man knows the risks involved, and both understand that somebody is liable to get hurt.
But that’s how these guys roll. Two great champions, one great fight. I can’t wait.
Cleverly-devised riddles nag anyone’s psyche like your mother did when you were seven. And to many boxing fans, there can be no greater riddle as to who is currently the top pound-for-pound king of this generation.
Does Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao retain that mythical — and largely debatable — title?
Or does former boxing champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. has stake to that claim?
For the last 20 or so months, the world bestowed Pacquiao its acknowledgement of the best fighter in the world, as Floyd tried to fade into the limelight convinced of his undying parting legacies to boxing. Ever humble as he is, the Filipino spitfire stepped up and received that title like a holy gift from God, cloaked in the proverbial mantle.
Unfortunately for Pacquiao, that riddle resurfaced when the Michigan Pretty Boy reemerged from his semi-”retirement” cocoon to beat the man widely considered to be the second best boxer in the world, Juan Manuel Marquez.
“El Dinamita” from Mexico gave Manny the fits in their last two fights, narrowly losing to the Pacman. You could consider him as Pacquiao’s kryptonite. Yet, as we witnessed last Sept. 19 at the Las Vegas MGM Grand, the Number One toyed with the Numero Uno, exactly what a cat does with its catch of mouse. Vitaliy Shaposhnikov of Diamond Boxing overheard someone in the crowd, “Mayweather, don’t play with your food!”
But enough of the fight. Now that you have two active, legitimate pound-for-pound title holders straddling a single peak, who gets to stand atop the summit?
It would be absurd to let the tension stay there, given the international boxing community’s adoration for the east Asian bomber, and Money’s super-bloated ego (probably as large as the Philippine population). There’s the demand for the fight too. A potential Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, as it seems to a large majority of fans and experts, would be boxing’s biggest draw since Ali and Frasier gave fans thrillas in Manila in 1975.
Forgive me if I have to give a flimsy analogy on why the riddle should be solved. In philosophy and metaphysics, the concept of an ultimate authority rests on the fact that there cannot be a higher authority than the perceived ultimate authority itself. (It’s okay, you can read that sentence again.)
With that said, it follows that there cannot be two or more ultimate authorities coexisting with one another.
These concepts are regularly and discreetly applied to arguments of governmental/organizational hierarchies, or to the concept of a Supreme Being itself. Two distinctly different entities that assert equal authority and power are contradictory and are bound to conflict each other. Think of all the national wars that have been waged just because two or more rulers thought they were ultimate authorities in a single territory.
Both fistic champions carry authority in the boxing world (not in the political sense of course, although Pacquiao would like to contest that). As improbable the circumstances are in creating that match in the first place, ardent boxing fans everywhere are acutely aware that these two opposing planets will someday collide.
The riddle cannot be solved by boxing pundits and fans alike in the forums, in websites, and in who-knows-where, by posting their own pound-for-pound lists, which is subject to a million subjective opinions and contested by hordes of biased followers.
Similarly, Shane Mosley was correct in saying that Mayweather cannot be the best just by saying “I am the best.” To be prove that beyond a doubt means he has to conclusively beat Mosley, Cotto, Pacquiao, and whoever else is trying to claim “ultimate authority” in boxing glory, so to speak.
The riddle demands to be answered, and it has to be solved in a boxing ring.
MANILA, Philippines – Freddie Roach wants Manny Pacquiao to set the pace against Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand on Nov. 14.
“We will try to set the pace and not allow Cotto to do it,” said the American trainer, who arrived in Manila from Los Angeles yesterday morning, and presided over the boxing icon’s 90-minute workout in Baguio City early in the afternoon.
Roach, who flew in with conditioning expert Alex Ariza, told scribes that they will focus on “how to parry” Cotto’s famous left hook, which the Puerto Rican welterweight champion loves to throw both to the head and body.
Roach said he expects a tough fight against the bigger, heavier and younger Cotto, and in fact had predicted the coming fight to last the distance of 12 rounds, when in their last few fights he had called for a knockout.
“Believe me when I say this is going to be his (Pacquiao) toughest fight ever,” he said.
Pacquiao worked out at the Shape Up boxing gym of the Cooyeesan Hotel of the country’ summer capital a little past 1 p.m., and Roach had the good impression that his prized ward isn’t leaving anything to chance.
It made Roach feel better, too, knowing that Pacquiao had worked out two days at the Wild Card Gym in Parañaque last week, and had gone out running in the morning even before he motored his way to Baguio last Sunday.
“He looks he can fight on Saturday,” said Roach.
He also said he liked the condition of the gym, which is located on the second floor of the hotel where Pacquiao is staying at, describing the place as “beautiful and clean” and fit for champions.
“I love it. The ring is nice,” Roach said.
Security, as the three-time Trainer of the Year wants, is tight. To get near Pacquiao, one needs to get past four checkpoints — at the main entrance of the hotel, in the second floor, the door to the gym, and another one closer to the ring.
The gym will be closed even to mediamen starting today. A media day, however, is being scheduled for Oct. 1, the day Top Rank president Bob Arum arrives to check on his boxer.
Roach said sparring should begin next week. The sparring partners, maybe three or four of them, will start coming in on Sunday, and will be given a couple of days to adjust before getting it on with Pacquiao.
For the second straight day, Pacquiao created a stir when he did his morning run at the famous Burnham Park where he checked out some grapes being sold, and joined some residents doing their Tae Bo aerobic workout in the park.
Pacquiao pulled off a stunt when he jumped into the motorcycle of his police escort on the way to a golf course being constructed near his hotel, where he now plans to do his morning runs.
Pacquiao will train in Baguio for four weeks, but plans may change, and he might even stay longer than that, and go straight to Las Vegas two weeks before what could be the biggest fight of the year.
Roach had no complaints whatsoever, none yet for the meantime, except mentioning that training in Baguio City, which is 5,000 feet above sea level, is much different than in Los Angeles or Las Vegas which is at sea level.
“There is the altitude to play with,” he said. “Maybe, he wanted to impress me.”
“I want him to fight Pacquiao,” Floyd Sr. said of his son. “He don’t have no skills — he ain’t got skills like my son.”
Floyd Sr. added, “He’s not in Floyd’s league — that’s so plain to see that Ray Charles can see it,” although it wasn’t clear whether Floyd Sr. was referring to Pacquiao or Marquez in that comment.
There’s no question that Floyd Jr. thoroughly dominated Marquez while Pacquiao fought him essentially even for 24 rounds. So in that respect, the Mayweather camp has reason to crow. On the other hand, Pacquiao thoroughly dominated both Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, beating them both far more convincingly than Mayweather did. So the debate about who’s better, Mayweather or Pacquiao, didn’t end on Saturday night.
And that’s really why boxing needs the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight to happen: Everyone agrees that these are the two best boxers in the world. We need to see it settled in the ring.
BAGUIO CITY – From the crowd that flocked around the reigning pound-for-pound king came a yell: “You can easily beat Cotto!”
Manny Pacquiao smiled, and shot back: “Oo, may shampoo naman kami. (Yes, we have shampoo, anyway).”
The response may have been an attempt at humor—reigning WBO champion Miguel Cotto’s surname sounds almost exactly like the Filipino for lice—but trainer Freddie Roach, who arrived Tuesday to begin training Pacquiao in his quest for the Puerto Rican’s welterweight crown, was impressed at how quickly his ward has whipped himself into shape.
“He was very sharp,” said Roach after watching Pacquiao for the first time since the two teamed up to successfully destroy Ricky Hatton last May 2.
“If I didn’t know better, I would think he was in the gym for a month. His combinations are fast and his power is already there. His mind-set, we’re on the same page that we know how to fight Cotto.”
The trainer arrived in Manila along with conditioning coach Alex Ariza and American bodyguard Rob Peters and headed straight to this popular vacation getaway around lunchtime.
Wearing a T-shirt with the face of national hero Jose Rizal, Roach took charge right away in Cooyeesan Hotel’s Shape-up Gym.
“Without a doubt, this is our best start,” said Roach. “He’s now in great shape and I’m fine with that.”
Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 knockouts) will battle Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) over 12-rounds for the Puerto Rican’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Both combatants agreed to fight at a catch weight of 145 lb.
Pacquiao started his workout ahead of Roach’s arrival, doing road work at this city’s hilly routes and working on crunches to firm up his abdomen.
“Mahirap gawin ito, pero kailangan (It’s difficult but we need to do it),” said the boxing superstar. “Body puncher si Cotto (This is difficult but we need to do it. Cotto is a body puncher).”
“My trainers and I have devised ways to fight him,” he added.
With Roach taking over the training yesterday, the two worked on counter shots and footwork inside the ring.
This weekend, four sparring partners led by undefeated American boxer Shawn Porter are scheduled to arrive. All are capable of simulating the style of Cotto, according to Roach.
“Porter is my main guy right now. He’s 11-0 with 10 knockouts and is a light middleweight who’s got a strong left hook,” said Roach.
Meanwhile, the declaration from Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s camp that “Pretty Boy” should be declared the No. 1 boxer in the world still doesn’t hold water despite an impressive demotion of Juan Manuel Marquez over the weekend.
At least, that’s what the sport’s acknowledged bible, Ring Magazine, says.
The highly respected magazine released its pound-for-pound rankings for September and had Pacquiao still at No. 1, with Mayweather shooting up to No. 2 after his triumph over Marquez.
Last Sunday, Pacquiao said Mayweather can have the mythical pound-for-pound title because the undefeated American earned it with his latest conquest, which came after a 21-month hiatus.
“[Mayweather] can boast about being better because he has finished his job [of beating Marquez],” Pacquiao said. “I still have to finish mine and hurdle Cotto.”
Mayweather leapfrogged past Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins, who were third and fourth on the Ring list. Marquez slipped to fifth with the defeat.
Chief trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza will arrive in the country Tuesday to whip up Manny Pacquiao into shape for his coming title bout with Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico.
The American duo will plane in at 6 a.m. from Los Angeles, California via Philippine Airlines.
Upon arrival, Roach and Ariza will be quickly brought to Baguio City to join Pacquiao in the training camp.
They are expected to take charge of the Filipino boxing sensation’s afternoon workout at the Cooyesan Hotel along Naguilan Road.
Pacquiao already began training for the Nov. 14 bout Monday, starting off with a road work around Burnham Park accompanied by assistant cornerman Buboy Fernandez, before sweating it out in the afternoon at a well-equipped gym inside the hotel, which will serve as the Pacman’s base for the next four weeks.
By mid-October, Team Pacquiao proceeds to the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles for the final phase of his preparation against the 28-year-old Cotto, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion.
A case of overstaying and a threat of paying excess taxes in the U.S forced Pacquiao to set up his initial training camp here. Under U.S tax law, an alien like the boxing star is only allowed to stay in the U.S. for 180 days for three years.
Roach initially had been opposed to training the world’s pound-for-pound king in his hometown, stressing too many distractions will hamper his concentration the way it did during past training camps he had in General Santos City and Cebu.
But Pacquiao eventually persuaded the three-time Hall of Famer to come over, stressing that everything will be fine once he enters training camp.
“Kapag ako kasi nag-train, iba kaysa sa other boxers. Gusto ko pinarurusahan ko yung katawan ko,” he said.
“At tsaka tamang-tama sa training camp itong Baguio,” added Pacquiao, stressing that the City of Pines sits at 1,500 meters above sea level.
Security will also be tightened once Roach and Co. arrive, as deputy national security adviser Chavit Singson, a close friend of Pacquiao, promised to provide security details around the camp.
Sparring partners Shawn Porter and long-time sparmate Urbano Antillon are expected to arrive in the country within the week. – GMANews.TV
There was one guy out there who was hardly moved by Floyd Mayweather’s masterful beating of Juan Manuel Marquez over the weekend at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“Mayweather beat the best lightweight in the world,” said top trainer Freddie Roach, who didn’t even bother to watch the 12-round bout on pay-per-view, insisting that he knew what was going to happen.
“That’s exactly what happened,” said Roach, referring to the lopsided victory posted by Mayweather over the relatively smaller and much slower Mexican.
A noted observer of the fight game, Pacquiao conditioning coach Alex Ariza, said there was no way Mayweather was light when he answered the bell for Marquez.
“He was 158 (or even) 160 lbs),” said Ariza, stressing that even if Mayweather was three divisions heavier, “he couldn’t knock Marquez out.”
Ariza said that while Mayweather was hardly challenged by Marquez and Pacquiao went through rough times with Marquez, it doesn’t follow that Mayweather is going to pick Pacquiao apart.
“It’s different and you can’t compare,” said Ariza.
Ariza said the Mayweather-Marquez bout was a product of “poor matchmaking.”
Meanwhile, Roach and Ariza will arrive at 5:55 a.m. on Tuesday on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Los Angeles.
From Manila, Roach and Ariza will be brought to Baguio City so they could be there in time for Pacquiao’s afternoon workout at the Cooyeesan Hotel, where a well-equipped gym will play host to the fighter’s four weeks of training in preparation for the November 14 clash with Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico.
It’s been quite a spectacle over at the Pacland forumers site, with one like-minded group trying to “boycott” (as if they could) the fistic advance between Floyd “Pretty Boy” Mayweather and Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez this September 19 at the Las Vegas MGM Grand.
The ad hoc movement isn’t confined in that raucous forum alone. It seems that the nearer “Numero Uno vs. Number One” gets, the more intensified the activity is in various news commentary. The rest of the majority seem to throw up their hands in the air and mentally assign them to the category of “nutjobs” or whatever label they can come up with.
Yes, Marquez and Mayweather will not detract from their fighting styles. Technically, counterpunching is boring. Waiting. Running. Not getting hit. The style requires mental savviness, diligence, and patience to dish out damage when the opponent least expects it.
True, it does not have the fireworks of Manny Pacquiao’s style. Even Mexicans resent Marquez’s counterpunching propensities, as they claim “Mexicans do not fight that way”.
I will give you that.
But, puh-leeez. Get real. While many indeed agree that the resulting match would be a relatively “boring fight” — due to the style similarities between all-time greats — no one would doubt that this fight will be a very significant one.
The results I mean.
One would probably expect to: 1) yawn, 2) go back to your lunch, 3) heed the call of nature in the middle of the action, when you crowd yourselves at a local PPV venue. But no doubt there will be anticipation to finally know as to who deserves to challenge Pacquiao’s pound-for-pound crown. No matter how “boring” these fighters are, at the end of that fight, one of them understandably has all the right to tug at Manny shorts begging for a shot at the P4P mantle.
Face it. You’re secretly itching to watch a replay later on while denouncing that in the forums. Heck, you may even have a PPV ticket in your pocket right now.
Trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. spoke with 8countnnews.com Thursday night and responded to rival trainer Freddie Roach’s threat of a slander lawsuit against him for comments Mayweather made about Roach trained fight Manny Pacquiao.
“If that’s what he wants to do, that’s what he wants to do”, said Mayweather Sr., “I’m just saying what I believe and what I feel.”
Previously Mayweather Sr. had been quoted in hometown newspaper The Grand Rapids Press saying:
“I believe (Pacquiao’s) on some type of supplements. I’m convinced about a lot of (boxers). That’s what they’re doing right now. Everybody should be checked a little more thoroughly. Sometimes people know what’s going on but they ain’t saying nothing.”
Roach responded in an interview with 8countnews.com’s Brad Cooney saying, “We don’t take drugs. We don’t believe in drugs. We don’t need drugs.”
He went on to say, “I talked to my lawyer and there could be a slander case right here and we will sue him. “
He added, “I spoke to Manny about it also, and we’re all on board.”
Mayweather and Roach have exchanged verbal blows before. Prior to Mayweather Sr. trained fighter Ricky Hatton taking on the Roach trained Pacquiao, Mayweather Sr. referred to Roach as “Freddie ‘The Joke Coach’ Roach” and Roach accused Mayweather of trying to steal the spotlight from the fighters.
According to Nevada State Athletic Commission Chief Officer Keith Kizer, Pacquiao has never tested positive for illegal performance enhancing drugs in any of the mandated tests required to fight there. Pacquiao’s last five fights have all taken place in Nevada.
You think maybe some of the folks associated with Floyd Mayweather’s return to the ring wish that maybe he wasn’t working quite so hard on drumming up interest in the Saturday bout with Juan Manuel Marquez?
Floyd’s rant on Wednesday, which featured slaps at our nation’s race issues, Oscar De La Hoya, US sports fans, US fight fans, HBO’s Larry Merchant and Manny Steward, has made the rounds on the web, and if Mayweather’s aim were simply to get people talking about him, and training their eyeballs on him, then he has certainly succeeded.
The most incendiary portion of his remarks were his comments on his perceived status as a black man in America. “If you’re rich, you’re a rich n—–,” he said. “If you’re poor, you’re a poor n—-. If you’re smart, you’re a smart n—–. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a n—–.”
The notable sports-snark websites The Big Easy and Deadspin both synopsized Mayweather’s rat-a-tat rant at multiple targets, and concluded that the fighter’s launch misfired.
“You know you’ve worn out your crazy card when those comments fall flat,” the Big Lead’s Ty Duddy wrote.
Over at Deadspin, Barry Petchesky riffed on Floyd’s comment that: “I wouldn’t change my life for nothing in the world. There’s nothing like being young, black and rich. But there are certain things you think about. If Floyd Mayweather was white, I’d be the biggest athlete in America. The biggest, the biggest. I know that for a fact.”
“That’s funny, because the biggest athletes in America are Tiger Woods and LeBron James,” Petchesky wrote. “And the last time a boxer was the biggest name in sports, it was Mike Tyson.”
A thoroughly unscientific sample of friends, neighbors and Facebook pals found most writing off Floyd’s chatter as pre-fight hype. Does he believe what he’s saying? Sure, most seem to think. Is he putting it out there because he knows how to make us keyboard tappers take notice? Sure thing. And it leads one to wonder, how much longer will some of these boldface names that Floyd has taken to task put up with it? You’ll recall he laced into HBO in July 2008, during his hiatus, to the Grand Rapids Press.
“Even a guy like Jim Lampley, he praises Kelly Pavlik — who has won some good fights, he beat Jermain Taylor twice, we have to give him credit for that — but they talk about Kelly Pavlik, a white fighter, like he’s the second coming,” Mayweather said. “Or they go crazy over Manny Pacquiao. But I’m a black fighter. Is it racial? Absolutely. They praise white fighters, they praise Hispanic fighters, whatever. But black fighters, they never praise. I’ve noticed it for a long time but I couldn’t say anything because I had to do business with them. I’ll still do business with them, but I’m done holding my tongue.”
He did hold his tongue for awhile during his comeback. At his Empire State Building press conference in May, I asked him about that shot at HBO, and wondered if he still felt the same way, or had he buried the hatchet and gotten over it? At the time, in deft political fashion, he refused to re-enter that charged milieu, and threw the question back at me. (I actually do believe that perhaps Floyd does get a slightly rawer deal from media members, particularly Caucasian ones who have trouble identifying with some of his behaviors and pals and such, for the record.) But now we know that the fighter does still hold a grudge against HBO, or at least the announcing team. Till now, Mayweather has been able to minimize his distaste, so he can continue doing business with them, and allow them to play their part in attempting to sell a million pay-per-view buys to his comeback tussle.
So..how much longer will “they” put up with it? Easy answer–as long as Mayweather is a viable pay-per-view attraction, a certified personality who exhibits enough charisma to guest star on “Raw,” and land a national cell phone commercial. People he’s verbally tasered will hold their tongue, as Floyd said he’d been doing, and swallow their pride, and not blast back as some of them must want to. Because it is all, or virtually all, about MAKING MONEY. We all make choices daily, trading our time, energy, effort and yes, sometimes, our pride in exchange for a check. Some just do it in more public fashion, and for more zeroes on their checks.
I have to think Oscar De La Hoya may well be at the top of the blast-back list. You might not have heard what Floyd said about him. No, not at the Wednesday press conference, when he said anything negative Oscar does gets swept under the rug. (Er, Floyd must’ve not seen the NY tabloids having a field day with Goldie photos during that flareup. No under-rug-sweeping was going on…) I’m talking about the night before, on E’s “Chelsea Lately,” the late-night talk show featuring comedian Chelsea Lately. On Tuesday night, Floyd chatted with Handler. She wondered if he might like to put up his leg, and place his foot next to his tush, as she was doing. No thanks, he indicated with a limping of his wrist, people then might think I’m not hetero. Handler assured him that nobody thinks he’s not straight, and then she asked about his trash talking, especially before he fought Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.
“You didn’t like Oscar De La Hoya at all,” she said.
“You wouldn’t like a man who wears fishnets,” Mayweather said.
“I don’t like men who wear fishnets, unless they’re gay and out of the closet,” she said, “then I can support that.”
“Then he hide, he hide,” Floyd said, chuckling.
Just maybe Oscar is cool with Floyd using the allegation of marital infidelities to stir the pot, get us tappers talkin,’ maybe get a few hundred buys tacked on Saturday night. All’s fair in love, war, and publicizing your pay per view, perhaps.
Something else Mayweather said on Handler’s show got me thinking. Kanye West the day before had wrested the spotlight from award winner Taylor Swift in a boozy defense of his pal Beyonce, who didn’t get the award Swift was holding. “It made him bigger. The whole show’s been about Kanye West,” Mayweather noted. Truth. Kanye was on everyone’s lips. The President, even. So what if the consensus was that he acted like a jackass. At least people are talking about him. That’s a short leap to buying his merch. Same deal for Mayweather. People are talking about him. Borges wrote about him. I wrote about. We are hyping his event.
Do I accept or embrace the substance of Floyd’s Wednesday rant? No. Most glaringly, I think his theory on race affecting his popularity is significantly off kilter. A black cabbie pal of mine thinks a good number of black fans will backlash on Floyd, pissed off that he’s whining about his place, while the rate of unemployment among blacks is at 20% in many parts of the US. Most crucial to his lower-than-he-likes-level of acceptance, fight fans don’t take to his style of fighting. Fight fans pay to see compelling, dramatic combat. That’s the bottom line. They will overlook a boring persona, or a tendency towards excessive bragging, or clashes with law enforcement, if you satisfy their desire to see spirited, aggressive combat. But if your style is geared towards defense first, then you can’t expect to be universally beloved, as Floyd apparently does.
It ain’t about race, it’s about punching in the face, basically. Do it hard, and fast, and frequently, against worthy foes, and they will tell you they love you, with their wallets.
But, let’s be clear about this. Floyd doesn’t care what I think. He just cares maybe a bit that I’m spending a little time, and devoting a little space to him. He has a fight to hype, he knows how me and my type operate. He gave us red meat, we took the bait, chewed on it, shared some with TSS U. Did it work? We will know authoritatively when we see those buy rates. In the meantime, I predict his targets’ tongues will be held, because Floyd holds massive sway as the game’s first or second draw. Man’s no fool, he knows he has a free pass to talk some smack, and the HBO crew and Oscar have to grin and bear it to an extent. Or…I have a conspiracy theory brewing in my brain…Suppose Oscar is itching to fight again, and he and Floyd have discussed this, and Floyd’s reference to fishnets is round one in the road to their rematch. Yikes. There I go again, proving at least one of my points, that if Floyd’s aim on Monday and Wednesday was to get his name on peoples’ tongues, then he has succeeded.
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has belied claims that he is using illegal supplements, including the banned substance steroids, to gain an unfair advantage in fights.
The accusation was made by flamboyant trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr., who worked the corner of Ricky Hatton for the bout with Pacquiao last May. Mayweather, in an interview with the Grand Rapids Press, said he believes the Filipino is taking illegal supplements.
“I believe he’s (Pacquiao) on some type of supplements. I’m convinced about a lot of (boxers),” the brash trainer said. “That’s what they’re (Pacquiao camp) doing right now. Everybody should be checked a little bit more thoroughly. Sometimes people know what’s going on but they ain’t saying anything.
Mayweather’s claims may have stemmed from the fact that he witnessed first hand how Pacquiao demolished Hatton easily during their fight — where the current pound-for-pound king’s speed was simply too much for the British slugger to handle.
But against his son Floyd Jr., the older Mayweather said Pacquiao will lose if ever they meet in the ring — steroids or none.
“I don’t think he can beat Lil’ Floyd with steroids in him or not,” he said. “He don’t have that kind of talent. He don’t have that kind of skill, whatever he has in him.”
Pacquiao, for his part, insisted he always fights cleanly, even stressing that he doesn’t know anything about steroids.
“I don’t even know how it looks and what color it is,” Pacquiao said in a TV interview shortly after arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport this morning (Sept. 17).
The IBO junior welterweight champion added that he has already instructed his lawyer, Jeng Gacal, to study any possible legal action they can take against Mayweather.
“We’re thinking of suing him (Mayweather) for what he said,” he added.
Pacquiao is back in the Philippines after wrapping up a back-breaking press tour that took him and upcoming opponent Miguel Cotto to five cities — New York, Caguas in Puerto Rico, and San Francisco, Beverly Hills and San Diego in California.
He, along with trainer Freddie Roach, will head to Baguio City tonight to kick-off his eight-week training camp.
Pacquiao and Cotto will slug it out on Nov. 14 (Nov. 15 in Manila) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
BEVERLY HILLS, California – Despite suspicion that Antonio Margarito may have used the same illegal wraps on his hands during his fight against Miguel Cotto, which was discovered on his hands just before his loss to Shane Mosley and led to the revocation of his boxing license for at least one year by the California State Athletic Commission, the story of the Puerto Rican’s devastating defeat in the hands of the former can no longer be reconstructed.
But, forget about his first professional loss.
Cotto’s situation as to his fight against Pound-4-Pound King Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao this November 14 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, runs perilous, if not a conjunctive prospect of a much more embarrassing defeat of the Puerto Rican, according to Pacquiao’s close associate who disclosed game plans to this writer on condition of anonymity.
“Pacquiao’s hammering fists are more fatal upon impact than that of Margarito’s illegal wraps,” he added.
Conversely, “Pacquiao’s speed, power and agility are obviously far superior than WBO Welterweight titlist,” said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s celebrated trainer, when asked by this writer yesterday during the Media Press Conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
But, “It’s going to be a difficult fight.”
Asked again by this writer about his game plans if ever Cotto employs dirty tactics during the fight, Roach said: “We have prepared some counter-strategies for them and we are ready.”
“We have studied his fights and we see he has some troubles fighting a southpaw,” Pacquiao, who is a southpaw himself, said as he sat by the table surrounded by media interviewers.
Wearing a Herringbone black-tweed cap and in his fine-touched, black suite, Pacquiao seemed to be at his best composure, usual winsome spirit and remained not apprehensive about Cotto’s record, size and strength.
But, Cotto’ record of 34 wins and 1 loss shows his impressive victories over all of his three opponents in recent years who are southpaws, namely: Zab Judah in 2007 by TKO 11, Carlos Quintana in 2006 by RTD 5 and De Marcus Corley in 2005 by TKO 5.
On the other hand, Pacquiao’s tactical skills still seem unpredictable because of his powerful right hand that bolts almost equally of his tectonic left as seen in his last two fights against Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton.
But, as for Cotto, he said he is “ready to win over another great southpaw” and “ready to give a clean fight”.
“I have no excuses and I am training much harder for this fight,” said Cotto. ” I am ready to go back to Puerto Rico after the fight as a champion and bring home another belt.”
Cotto was referring to the new WBC Diamond Belt which was created as an honorary championship belt exclusively for fights between elite boxers. The belt is handcrafted by an artisan in Mexico City (Chelango) with 18 carat gold fusion and has about 800 diamonds, emeralds and rubies, as well as 150 Swarovsky semi-precious stones, of which this writer had touched, examined and had photographs of himself as well with it – holding it close to his chest, in fact.
“Manny Pacquiao, a three-time WBC world champion in three different weight divisions, and Miguel Cotto, a former WBC International champion, are unquestionably qualified as two of the best boxers of today,” said Mauricio Sulaiman of the World Boxing Council.
But, one writer asked Cotto of his tendency to get cut and bleed easily above his left eye as seen in his fight against Joshua Clotty, which can quickly change the tempo of the fighting style.
Cotto said: “Well, I have to be ready for it.”
Meanwhile, there is still one chance of escape.
“Cotto has to wear a black eye-patch alternatively during his training.”
At least, that’s the tactical input of Tony Vasquez, a Puerto Rican bearing 6’1″ and a veteran boxing strategist in his own right, who worked his way up as a fighter and retired from the United States Marine Corps.
Vasquez, a boxing tactician who claimed he is not associated with the team of Cotto, shared some concerns about Cotto fighting against Pacquiao.
On the other hand, Vasquez, who happened to engage in a conversation with this writer right after the media conference, would love to share his wisdom to Cotto or to any boxer on how to become an effective fighter against Pacquiao.
“To be effective”, he said, ” Cotto must prepare for the worst scenario wherein he will have to fight with one eye open unless the fight is stopped by the referee or ring doctor, or by his team.”
“Pacquiao’s almost equally powerful bilateral fists, his speed and the complexity of his footwork must be the major problem of Cotto.” He added.
“Using a black eye-patch to one eye during his sparing sessions will help him widen his peripheral vision, explore new dimensions and gain better control of his range if it happens that one of his eye is swollen-shut,” Vasquez further explained intimating that his techniques may have not been used yet by boxing trainers, as of this writing.
“Despite what will happen when that time comes that he would only have to rely on one eye, the skills that Cotto has learned will become his contingent tools for victory , and that he must not give up, ” added the 68 year old son of Puerto Rico who claimed to have lived by the beautiful mountain ranges, notably the Cordillera Central, which rises to 4,389 ft (1,388 m) in the Cerro de Punta.
Six-Time World Champion Floyd Mayweather (R) and Five-Time World Champion Juan Manuel Marquez (L) each poses at the famed Lion Statue of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas upon their arrival on September 15, 2009 for their September 19, 2009 fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
Six-Time World Champion Floyd Mayweather is greeted by fans and media on September 15, 2009 upon his arrival at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for his September 19, 2009 fight against Five-Time World Champion Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
Five-Time World Champion Juan Manuel Marquez is greeted by fans and media on September 15, 2009 upon his arrival at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for his September 19, 2009 fight against Six-Time World Champion Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand Garden Arena which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
Floyd Mayweather Jnr has sensationally claimed he is a more complete boxer than Muhammad Ali, the man universally known as The Greatest.
Mayweather, 32, returns to the ring against Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas next weekend for the first time since he defeated Ricky Hatton in December 2007.
The Pretty Boy, unbeaten after 39 fights, sniped: “They say Ali was the greatest, right? “Well, to be the greatest you have to be a complete fighter. Ali was a fighter who never threw one body shot, not one, and he lost to Leon Spinks, but people seem to forget about that.
“I’m not saying he wasn’t a hell of a fighter and I’m not saying I’m the greatest of all time. They say Ali is the greatest of all-time.
”They called him TBE – The Best Ever – and I don’t want to take anyone else’s title. But I’m one of a kind, I’m just totally different to Ali.”
Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao’s promoter, said he was never worried about trainer Freddie Roach’s inability to reach the fighter in the Philippines.
Roach, who wanted to discuss the location of their training camp for the Nov. 14 fight against Miguel Cotto, apparently had his calls intercepted by Pacquiao’s advisors. Camp will be set up in Baguio, in the northern part of the Philippines.
“This always happens with a big, superstar fighter,” Arum said. “People around him want to protect their territory. Manny loves Freddie but he’s also loyal to these guys as well. When Manny is in training camp, Freddie’s the boss. These guys don’t want Freddie to be the boss when he’s not in training. They think that usurps their territory.
“I just sit back, watch it all and try to keep peace. I try not to get too excited.”
Arum also defended Mike Koncz, Pacquiao’s Canadian advisor, with whom Roach has been at odds. Roach said Koncz kept him from speaking to Pacquiao and quoted him as saying to the fighter, “You don’t have to talk to Freddie Roach. He’s just the trainer.”
“(Koncz) is a good guy in a thankless position,” Arum said. “When Manny says something, he has to jump, to make it happen.”
Pacquiao must train all but three weeks outside the United States for the bulk of camp to save on taxes here. He will begin training camp in Baguio, move to Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif., for two weeks and then go to Las Vegas for the final week of preparation.
The fight will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and will be televised on pay-per-view.
Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao shielded his Canadian adviser Michael Koncz from criticisms from various sectors of the fight game over the weekend, telling an assembled media in a luxurious hotel that he (Koncz) doesn’t act without his go signal. “Mike doesn’t act alone. Whenever he does something for me, you can be rest assured that it is with my permission,” said Pacquiao. “I like him because he does what I tell him to do. He has my confidence.”
Koncz was embroiled in a controversy recently after engaging top trainer Freddie Roach in a heated exchange of words over the still-unresolved matter of where Pacquiao will be setting up his training camp.
During that same forum with the members of the press, Pacquiao said he will begin training in Baguio upon his arrival from a five-city press/publicity tour beginning Sept. 10 in New York. From New York, Pacquiao and his team will travel to Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Roach had wanted that Pacquiao and him train in the mountains of Toluca in Mexico where there’ll be no distractions, fearing that Pacquiao’s decision to remain in the Philippines could mess up their preparations for the Nov. 14 fight with Miguel Cotto.
But long-time Pacquiao friend Buboy Fernandez, who is also one of Roach’s assistants, told Fightnews and Manila Bulletin that Roach need not worry about getting distracted once they begin training in Baguio.
Fernandez said he just inspected the facilities in a boxing gym inside a local hotel and found it up to the task.
“Coach Freddie will like the gym and the location,” said Fernandez, stressing that Pacquiao fans will not be allowed to get inside while they are in training.
Despite his dislike for Baguio, Roach said he has no choice but to travel to the Philippines, saying that he will do his best to make sure Pacquiao will be more than ready for Cotto.
Reporting from Baguio City, trainer Buboy Fernandez said the City of Pines and the facilities available up there is suited for Manny Pacquiao’s training camp for the Nov. 14 fight with Miguel Cotto.
“I have inspected the gym and discovered a perfect running area that Manny will use once he begins training here soon,” said Fernandez, who was sent there by Pacquiao last Friday to see if Baguio is ideal to host his training camp.
Fernandez said Freddie Roach will have nothing to worry about the security inside the gym because he’ll instruct the hotel staff to stop onlookers to barge inside without his permission.
“I think coach Freddie will like it once he sees what Baguio has to offer.
Coach Freddie need not worry about distractions and I can assure him that we’ll be focused during training.”
Fernandez added that a three bedroom suite could be Pacquiao’s temporary dwelling during the five to six week training camp in Baguio.
Fernandez, widely regarded as Roach’s disciple, said the gym has “everything installed.”
Roach has been vehemently protesting that Pacquiao should instead agree to go with him to Toluca, Mexico, to avoid distractions brought about by frequent visits from Pacquiao’s pals, politicians and showbiz buddies.
Pacquiao is expected to report for training camp as soon as he gets back from a five-city six-day press tour that kicks off on Sept. 10 at Yankee Stadium in New York. Puerto Rico, San Francisco,
Los Angeles and San Diego will also host the traveling circus.
Cotto will no longer be in San Diego since he will go straight to his training camp in Tampa. Florida.
Cotto has already been training in Puerto Rico the past four weeks.
By Ed de la Vega, DDS PhilBoxing.com Mon, 07 Sep 2009
Reports indicate that Juan Manuel Marquez practices “urotherapy”. He drinks his own urine.
Nothing wrong with that. After all it’s a free world and one can drink his own urine if he elects to do for whatever reason.
In certain parts of the world, this practice is known as “Amaroli”. It is related to the practice of yoga.
Reports quoted Marquez as saying “urine has plenty of vitamins and why not drink them again instead of wasting them”?
Well, I wish Marquez has better reason than that for his unusual practice.
From my classes in physiology many years ago, I learned that some vitamins we take in as part of our diet, either from the food itself or from the vitamin tablet supplement we might have taken are excreted through the urine because the body can only take so much.
Therefore, drinking urine “so the excreted vitamins will not go to waste” really does not cut it. They will be excreted again because the body has enough already.
So, where then is the beneficial effect of those vitamins?
Purely psychological, perhaps?
Unwittingly, Marquez’ practice of urotherapy may have some practical beneficial effects for him.
Urine contains melatonin, a hormone that is produced by a small gland in the brain. Melatonin helps regulate our sleep and wake cycle. Therefore, for Marquez who spent most of the day in hard physical training, the melatonin, at the end of the day, may help him get a good night’s sleep.
Urine also contains other hormones like estrogen which stimulates ovulation in women and sperm production in men.
But sperm production at the moment should be far from the mind of Marquez. He is in deep training for one of the biggest, if not the biggest fight of his life. Sex can wait for some other occasion.
Urine also contains urea a well-known anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral agent. Therefore, it may be keeping Marquez from getting sick. Perhaps a preventive health maintenance of some sort against such things as a simple sore throat.
Urine also contains glutamine a by product of the liver breakdown of urea. It is known for its ability to strengthen the immune system
As revolting as it may be to certain people, drinking urine may not be all that bad. Urine is a blood by-product that contains 95% water. Although it contains some waste products, it is not toxic and therefore can be consumed.
When consumed, urine goes through the digestive system were it is sorted out . The good useful ingredients are recycled and toxins eliminated.
It is in fact the elimination of the toxins that may be beneficial to Marquez.
It is said that when the toxins reach a certain level, they stimulate the intestines resulting in bowel movement and elimination of these toxins as well as other waste products like feces.
Therefore, Marquez’ urotherapy may induce bowel regularity helping him keep a healthy body.
Urine also contains an enzyme called urokinase which is a vasodilator. It is like nitroglycerine in its ability to strengthen the bloodstream from the arteries to the heart muscle itself. It is no secret that a strong heart is needed to take the physical stress of boxing.
Since Marquez is into “urotherapy”, I suggest that he might as well maximize it.
Perhaps, he can also use his urine as a face wash. Urine has chemicals that can help smooth and moisturize the skin.
Really now!
Well, for the skeptical readers, I suggest that you check-out the labels of some of the facial beauty products your girl friends, wives or significant others use on a daily basis.
Particularly those from Europe. They contain urea ingredients from human, cows or pigs.
Finally, urine may have some valuable components that may be useful. But does that mean that “urotherapy” could be routine valuable component of boxers’ training regimen?
Personally, I do not believe so because there are no authentic medical information validated and collaborated by independent research to justify it. The most supporters of the procedure can offer are “anecdotal”. But how credible are those claims when researches to authenticate them are at best difficult. After all, who would like to participate in urine drinking spree?
The much-anticipated slugfest between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto is going to be held on November 15, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Tickets are selling like hot cakes compared to the dismal sales of the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs Juan Manuel Marquez fight.
As of this writing, Cotto has been already on his third week of training. As for the Filipino boxer, that is a different story.
As a Pacquiao fan, I can’t help but lose my objectivity due to concerns that pound-for pound king has not yet started his training. In fact, Freddie Roach expressed alarm over the 10 weeks remaining before the fight. Roach described the Puerto Rican boxer as his ward’s toughest opponent to date.
“Anyone who thinks this fight is easy is a fool. [Cotto’s] going to be at his best,” said Roach. “I’ve been studying this guy, watching his fights, I have a good strategy in mind and we just have to implement it now.”
Moreover, Team Pacquiao has not yet even decided where to hold training. For the most part, Roach has been very vocal about his choice, which is Mexico. For him, Baguio presents a lot of distractions. For one, fans would disrupt the Filipino boxer’s training. Logistics is also Roach’s concern. Bringing Pacman’s sparring partners from the US to Baguio will not be as easy if training is held in Mexico.
For his part, Pacquiao expressed apprehensions over Mexico due to concerns on the kidnapping incidents of wealthy personalities and the rampant drug dealing in the area. In addition, the Filipino champ also said that an eight-week training regimen has been proven perfect to get him in top shape.
(Note: I have known Roach for 30 years. I remember when his mother was a boxing judge in Massachusetts. I saw he and his brother Pepper both fight. I remember how Freddie was trained by the great Mr. Eddie Futch and became his training disciple later on. Roach’s father was a tree surgeon who loved boxing and was New England featherweight champion. When Freddie came to Vegas in 1976, I was the boxing writer at The Las Vegas Sun. You may not like what Freddie says on occasion but I do know that my fellow Bostonian always gives it you straight and unvarnished.–M.M.)
28.12.06 – By Michael Marley, BoxingConfidential.com: Manny Pacquiao may be committing professional suicide by spurning a better promotional deal from Oscar de la Hoya and Golden Boy but trainer Freddie Roach intends to remain in Pacman’s corner. Roach told me, in a wide-ranging exclusive interview that the popular fighter is being deceived by “a human leech and degenerate” named Michael Koncz who is on the payroll of promoter Bob Arum.
Roach threatened to quit the Pacquiao team once before, in 2004 when Roach refused to work with promoter Murad Muhammad any longer. So the question that naturally arises now is whether the Boston native would remain as Pacman’s boxing tutor if the world champ rejects GBP and remains in the promotional clutches of Arum’s Top Rank..
Roach, who said that Pacquiao has been led astray by a bankrupt Canadian, is greatly disappointed that Pacquiao has decided to opt for the Top Rank package over the GBP deal. Roach blames Michael Koncz, a mystery man who popped up in boxing first in an ill-fated attempt to get heavyweight contender Ike Ibeabuchi out of prison and back into the ring, for influencing Pacquiao to take the less attractive financial contract.
“I will probably stay in Manny’s corner,” Roach said late Wednesday night. “Arum said to me, “I know what you did, Freddie, but we will work with you.’ I said, ‘Hey, Bob, if you were offered two deals and one was much better would you take the bad one?’ Bob didn’t answer that.
“When I was over there three weeks ago,” Roach said, “I told Manny he never should have signed the second deal (Top Rank). Manny told me, ‘That was a mistake, I know.’ I told him you’ve got to fix that mistake.
“I am going back over there in two weeks. Manny. Erik Morales and I are doing a commercial for San Miguel Beer so I can sit down with Manny then.”
Roach describes Koncz (“I don’t even know if that is his real name”) as a Svengali without portfolio who has completely entrenched himself in Pacman’s daily life even going so far as to sleep on the floor in the champion’s own bedroom at his new seven bedroom mansion in General Santos City.
“This guy is a real degenerate,” Roach said. “He is a leech in every sense of the word. He claims he played pro hockey. He claims he is a lawyer. Then he says he was a law clerk. He went bankrupt with the Ibeabuchi thing, or so he claims, and he is in bankruptcy now. He lost his house in Orange County and I hear his wife and kids had to go back to Canada.
“But the guy definitely weaseled his way into Manny’s life. He speaks as much Tagalog as me, meaning not a word. The guy is sleeping on the floor in Manny’s bedroom. Manny now sleeps in a bed but this guy is right there when he goes to sleep and right there when he wakes up,” Roach said. “He stays with Manny 24/7. I know this character and he is only looking out for himself.”
So how does a bankrupt Canadian move to General Santos City in the Philippines and become Pacman’s personal shadow? Roach has no doubts how.
“He is Bob Arum’s guy. He is there on Bob Arum’s dime and he promised Bob that he would deliver Manny to Top Rank. Arum got him an apartment in Vegas and he paid for it. I asked Bob and he said, ‘No, I only co-signed his lease.’ This guy knows absolutely nothing about boxing.
“Make no mistake, this is a bad guy,” Roach said. “Somehow in Vegas, he got involved or friendly with powerful guys like (political strategist and Ronald Reagan adviser) Sig Rogich and (criminal defense lawyer) David Chesnoff. Those guys seem to know him well. He got Sig involved in the Ibeabuchi thing but when Ike went before the parole board, he showed no remorse (for a rape conviction) and they threw him back in. He met Manny and he started buying him gifts all the time. I said, ‘You don’t buy someone’s friendship like that.’”
So why is the Golden Boy deal so much better than Arum’s? Roach does not hesitate to explain.
“Manny got a good deal from Golden Boy,” Roach said. “He got a good deal in their offer and Manny himself negotiated to make it even better. In Arum’s deal,. the split on the money from promotions is 50-50. In Golden Boy’s deal, the split is 90-10 in favor of Manny. With Golden Boy, they gave him the Filipino TV rights exclusively for all their shows, not just for Manny’s fights. It is for every show Golden Boy does.”
Roach also wanted to clear the air about reports that De La Hoya promised that he would hire him as his trainer. In exchange, Roach had to deliver Pacman to the GBP fold.
“That is 100 percent not true,” Roach said. “I’ve had talks with Oscar at different times in his career about me training him. But they were only talks and the timing was never right. So those might be rumors but I am telling you they are false.”
MANILA — Amid concerns that Manny Pacquiao may have been “relaxing too much” away from boxing, the pound-for-pound king assured his fans that he still has enough time left for training.
Pacquiao said his title showdown with WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto would require him to train for eight weeks, not more, not less.
“Kasi ‘pag lumampas ng eight weeks iyong training ko, medyo ma-over train ako, hindi maganda kondisyon ko sa fight. ‘Pag bumababa ng sa eight weeks masama naman ang kondisyon ko,” said the country’s most beloved boxing hero from General Santos City.
Pacquiao said he still has a lot of time to return to his usual fighting form as he is likely to start working on his condition this week.
Cotto has started working out for the fight as early as August.
“Oo nga si Cotto mag-iisang buwan na. Ako mag ii-start pa lang this week, may time pa naman,” he said.
Pacquiao said he will fly to the US on September 9 to participate in the fight’s four-city press tour set to kick off in New York.
He said he is likely to return to the Philippines after the tour to begin his “high altitude” training in Baguio.
Pacquiao said he will still have to settle with coach Freddie Roach their final training site before eventually heading to Las Vegas for the November 14 fight.
Roach said the Filipino’s fight against Cotto should not be taken lightly as they expect the Puerto Rican to be in his best condition.
“Anyone who thinks this fight is easy is a fool. He’s going to be at his best,” said Roach.
“I’ve been studying this guy, watching his fights, I have a good strategy in mind and we just have to implement it now,” he added.
