It’s not as if anybody with any sense or free of envy and jealousy ever really believed the baseless steroids accusations the father-and-son tandem of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sr. have insinuated against boxing’s best fighter Manny Pacquiao, but Sports Illustrated’s recent article clearing the Pac Man of any tainted substance in his system further quashed the malicious rumors being spread by the Mayweathers.
In the article published by SI.com, the magazine wrote,
“Seven-time world champion Manny Pacquiao tested clean following his Nov. 14 TKO over Miguel Cotto, SI.com has learned.
Pacquiao, who became the first boxer to win seven championships in as many weight classes, underwent urine tests twice — before and after the fight — and both came back negative, said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. It’s the the 10th time the Filipino has turned in clean tests in Nevada.”
Now if anybody insists to question these tests, then why not simply say boxing is an absolute fraud of a sport and completely disassociate yourself with it. Such statements if taken seriously are a slap and spit to the sport’s face. Taken for what they’re worth however simply wreaks of character defamation and “haterade”. To a certain extent, you can even say it’s “racist”. So a Filipino can’t get big through hard work and years of conditioning and discipline? Please…. Wake up and smell the coffee. Have you seen Chinese gymnasts in the Olympics? Asians can get big too.
So what’s the next excuse? Pacquiao is a mutant? That Pacquiao got “adamantium” infused in his jaw? Last time I checked, Mayweather Sr. himself said steroids can’t give a person “skills”. Steroids or not, Pacquiao’s performance against Cotto was definitely “skillful”.
At the end of the day, quit the yapping and simply step up to the plate. “Money” said something-in a lot of words- about Pacquiao not calling him out in public. Well, before he left for the Philippines, an LA news reporter asked Pacquiao if he wanted to fight “Money” and the response- “for the record, yes.”
Looks like someone is running out of alibis and excuses. But then again, as the saying goes, someone who wants it will always find a reason, and someone who doesn’t will always find an excuse.
MANILA, Philippines – Don’t expect to hear anything from Bob Arum or Richard Schaefer in the days or weeks ahead if it’s regarding the negotiations for Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“There’s a gag order and we have to respect it. We are not allowed to talk,” said Arum over the phone yesterday after sitting down and having lunch with Schaefer in Day One of the negotiations.
Arum said he can’t give out details regarding the negotiations which of course would center on how the purse, which could reach $150 million, should be divided between the two superstars.
“I can’t. I really can’t,” said the legendary promoter from Top Rank, who said he’s not even sure how long it would take for him and Schaefer, who’s representing Mayweather in the talks, to negotiate.
“I have no idea. Thanksgiving is coming up and I won’t be back here in my office until Monday,” said Arum from his headquarters in Las Vegas. He said he’s off to a much-deserved break in Colorado.
The gag order, according to Arum, will be in effect “until our negotiations are either finalized or terminated.”
He and Schaefer met in Las Vegas over lunch Monday to see to it whether the fight that everybody wants to see could take place next year. Reports said they’re looking at May 1 as a date for the fight.
But that would depend on Pacquiao’s political schedule because the reigning pound-for-pound champion is seeking a Congressional seat in the May 10 national elections in the Philippines.
Arum had earlier penciled March 13 as the date for Pacquiao’s next fight, in fact it’s already listed at www.boxrec.com, but Freddie Roach said if it’s Mayweather, March is out of the question.
“If it’s Mayweather, we need time to get ready for that fight. We have to come out with a real different style. It’s a whole different ballgame,” he said,
And he’s not even looking at a “tuneup” match by March if that’s what you can call a possible fight with whoever’s out there – like Shane Mosley, Andre Berto or Edwin Valero.
“If we get Mayweather, why risk losing that (tuneup) fight. I’d say he rest for a while, enjoy the holidays, run for elections, and the Congressman Manny Pacquiao will kick Mayweather’s ass,” said Roach.
For the meantime, the guessing game is on as to the venue of the Pacquiao-Mayweather if ever it takes place. Arum had said that just won’t happen in New York because of its high (15 percent) tax structure.
But there’s the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, a new one that could seat more than a hundred thousand, the Super Dome in New Orleans, another one in Vancouver, Canada, and a proposed outdoor arena that can be built in Las Vegas just for the fight.
The venue, however, will only be taken up seriously once the fight is sealed. For the meantime, there’s a “gag order,” and the world will just have to wait and see.
NEW YORK (SI.COM) — Seven time world champion Manny Pacquiao tested clean following his Nov. 14 TKO win over Miguel Cotto, SI.com has learned.
Pacquiao, who became the first boxer to win seven championships in as many weight classes, underwent urine tests twice — before and after the fight — and both came back negative, said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. It’s the the 10th time the Filipino has turned in clean tests in Nevada.
Immediately following his win over Cotto, fans inside the MGM Grand Arena pleaded for a megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., who many have regarded as the top pound-for-pound fighter since his return in September. In response to the expected fanfare, Floyd Mayweather Sr. publicly accused Pacquiao of taking steroids.
Mayweather Sr., Floyd’s father and trainer, told SI’s Chris Mannix that he believed Pacquiao’s ability to take Cotto’s powerful shots and keep coming proved the champion was taking performance-enhancing substances. “I know Floyd is the best,” said Mayweather Sr. “But when [your opponent] uses something illegal, even the best can get hurt.”
Floyd Sr. offered no evidence to support his claim.
Since 2002, Nevada has required fighters to submit urine samples before every fight. Those samples test for 40 types of steroids, diuretics and masking agents. In his 10 Las Vegas fights, Pacquiao has never tested positive, and his conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, said the only substances his fighter took leading up to the fight with Cotto were whey protein and liver-support supplements, in addition to his 6,500-calorie diet.
Pacquiao has been bombarded with accusations of doping, having conquered seven weight divisions since entering the sport at 106 pounds when he was 16. And after Mayweather Sr.’s comments following the Nov. 14 bout, there has been speculation that if a megafight between Floyd Jr. and Pacquiao is agreed upon, Mayweather’s camp may place stipulations in the fight contract that would require both fighters to take separate, mandatory drug tests in addition to the required tests by state athletic commissions.
But at 10-0 with his Nevada drug tests, Pacquiao has provided plenty of proof he cleanly fought his way to seven world titles.
EITHER FREDDIE ROACH is trying to get the goat of Floyd Mayweather Jr. or he’d seen a kink in the American’s armor.
While negotiations for the Manny Pacquiao-Mayweather super clash have yet to formally begin, Roach has already predicted a knockout win for his prized ward if the two clash.
Roach’s predictions just can’t be ignored.
The Hall of Famer was right on the button when Pacquiao stopped David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in succession.
And when he said that Hatton would fall inside two rounds, Pacquiao happily proved the American trainer right.
In an interview with Elie Seckbach of ES News Channel, Roach said Mayweather is fragile and defense-minded because he is afraid to get hit.
“And Manny will hit him,” added Roach.
But Hatton offered a different view.
In an article by Billy Sloan in Britain’s Daily Record, Hatton—who was also stopped by Mayweather in the 10th round—picked the American to win over the Filipino ring icon.
“I think Mayweather would win because he’s just so good defensively and hard to hit,” said Hatton.
Though Hatton admitted he was blown away by Pacquiao’s 12th-round TKO of Cotto on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, the Briton said he would bet on Mayweather when the fight, touted to be the decade’s biggest, pushes through.
Last July 2009, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., schooled Juan Manuel Marquez in a 12-round boxing snoozefest for unanimous win coming from his short retirement. Manny Pacquiao, on the other hand, gave Miguel Cotto a nasty beatdown, leaving the Puerto Rican’s face into a deformed raw hamburger.
Apparently, Marquez and Cotto stood in the way of what may become the greatest boxing encounter of today’s generation. With the obstacles out of the way, the world’s eyes are all set for a possible encounter between two pound-for-pound kings — Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and Manny Pacquiao.
Armed with his marketing slogan, “the undefeated in 40 fights,” as well as his self-proclaimed status as boxing’s greatest, Mayweather pushes for a bigger share in the purse percentage. His camp cites that his pay-per-view number should speak for itself. As far as his distorted reality is concerned, Mayweather adds that boxing would die out if he would hang his gloves. Accordingly, he should have the lion’s share. Talk about aggressive arrogance.
Team Pacquiao, on the other hand, is content on a 50-50 split. Of course, they too would like a 60-40 share in their favor if they get their way, but that would be very unlikely given Mayweather’s stance on the matter.
Negotiations are ongoing as both camps hinted interest on the possible clash, especially Pacquiao who intimated interest in wiping that grin off Mayweather’s face. On a more personal note, I think Mayweather would play hardball on this one, and price himself out of the Pacquiao fight. By setting up the “percentage share” move, Mayweather could dodge Pacquiao and politely say “I don’t wanna fight Pacquiao.”
MANILA, Philippines – The betting lines are open for Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao even before negotiations for the richest fight in history.
Bob Arum of Top Rank, representing Pacquiao, and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy, who has helped seal Mayweather’s previous fights, are just about to begin talks for the fight the whole world wants to see.
And yet, the betting lines are now open, and it should be the first time concerning a fight that may or may not happen. If it does, it should take place no sooner than June or July next year or even a little later than that.
But at the BetUs Sportsbook, the odds are out, and it’s Mayweather, the flamboyant and undefeated American who came out as the early favorite against the hard-hitting, Filipino pound-for-pound champion.
Mayweather is undefeated in 40 fights, his latest, against a smaller Juan Manuel Marquez, coming after a 21-month retirement. Pacquiao, on the other hand, has fought and beaten everyone over the last four years and eight months.
In the early bettings, Mayweather was tagged as a -165 favorite, meaning to win a hundred bucks you must shell out $165. Pacquiao is at +125, that a bet of $100 wins $125.
Except for his fight with Oscar dela Hoya last December, Pacquiao had been favored against his previous opponents, and that include Marco Antonio Barrera, Marquez, David Diaz, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.
Pacquiao went as high as being -350 against Cotto and settled in at -280 against the Puerto Rican’s -230 on the eve of the fight that ended with a masterful 12-round TKO for the 30-year-old Filipino southpaw.
The Mayweather versus Pacquiao is a fight that could break all existing records in boxing, and one that could generate more than $150 million in pay-per-view sales and give each boxer earnings of as high as $50 million each.
But it may or may not happen, depending on the negotiations, since both sides want a bigger piece of the cake. But as experts say, there’d be so much money on the table for the two camps to call it off.
“The money will be unprecedented so they should figure it out (how to make the deal),” said Emmanuel Steward.
And while the bets are on, Hatton, six months after his devastating second-round loss to Pacquiao, is putting his money on Mayweather even if he admitted that the ex-pound-for-pound king is a bore to watch.
“I think Mayweather would win because he’s just so good defensively and hard to hit. (But) Pacquiao gets better with every fight. I didn’t fancy him against Miguel Cotto earlier this month but he smashed him to bits. I was blown away,” Hatton told the UK press.
“If I had to put money on it I’d tip Mayweather though. He has the style and shuts up shop so you can’t nail him. Mayweather is so good he doesn’t let you get any punches off. If he makes Pacquiao miss he’ll take the sting out of him.
“But I’d rather watch Pacquiao though. Mayweather will go down as one of the all time greats but I wouldn’t get up at four o’clock in the morning to watch him. He bores the s*** out of me. He should have knocked Juan Manuel Marquez out in September but didn’t, it was safety first all the time,” he added.
Freddie Roach is one of the most well-respected and well-known trainers in the sport of boxing. He is probably most known for being the trainer for Manny Pacquiao. Many people feel that Pacquiao is pound-for-pound the best fighter on the planet right now and there really is not that much left for Manny Pacquiao to prove. He has made a ton of money, he’s made Oscar De La Hoya quit on his stool in his own corner, he left Ricky Hatton unconscious in Las Vegas and it seems like he will step up and fight anyone, no matter how big or strong they are. Two weeks ago he fought and dismantled Miguel Cotto, who went into the fight as the boxer who was thought to be bigger and stronger than Pacquiao. After winning the fight he became the first-ever seven-division world champion. However, despite all his success, Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach still feel like there is one thing left for them to accomplish in boxing. That is beat and shut the mouth of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Roach and Pacquiao have been trying to get Mayweather in the ring since he came out of retirement earlier this year and the Pacquiao camp seems more and more motivated to get “Money May” in the ring. It is a fight that boxing fans all over the world want to see. And why not? Mayweather himself has won six world boxing championships in five different weight classes, is undefeated at 40-0 in his professional career and for those that don’t see Pacquiao as the best fighter pound-for-pound, see “Money” as the best. It would be the best possible way to kick off the new decade in boxing.
Freddie Roach joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta with Morning Mayhem to talk about Pacquiao’s recent victory over Miguel Cotto, what makes Manny Pacquiao so good and whether or not he thinks a fight against Mayweather is in the future for his fighter.
On Manny Pacquiao laying against the ropes and showing his toughness against Cotto:
“That wasn’t part of the game plan, but he had it in his mind that he could beat Cotto at his own game. He said ‘I can take his punch.’ I said yeah, but keep that a secret.”
On whether he thinks Cotto’s corner did a disservice to him in the fight against Pacquiao:
“Definitely. They are a young corner. They’re asking the fighter if he wants to stop the fight. You just stop the fight. The fighter is never going to say no. He can’t, it’s against the rules. It’s against our religion to say no in boxing. The thing is, they should’ve pulled him out in the ninth round because he was in survival mode. When a world champion gets in survival mode, it’s over and its unnecessary for him to take the beating that he took.”
On what makes Pacquiao such a great fighter:
“His discipline and his work ethic are unbelievable. Some guys win world titles and become a little soft and a little cocky, but Pacquiao has not lost that drive. He has a country behind him, he knows when he wins it makes everyone in his country happy and so forth. He puts a lot of pressure on himself, but he really enjoys it. Somebody said there was a lot of drama in training camp and stuff like this, but you know what, we have drama all the time. It makes us tick.”
On whether they have talked about Pacquiao stepping away from boxing:
“Yeah, we talked about it. He wants to get into politics and stuff like that. I told him, we fight Mayweather, beat him, and it will be over.”
On whether or not he thinks Pacquiao could step away if he beats Mayweather:
“It would be the perfect scenario, but is it possible? Probably not. Boxing is a very addictive sport. Once he gets into politics and sees how tough it is and how many people he’s gonna piss off at making decisions and so forth, I think he will miss boxing and probably come back to it. I love when people go out on top and I would love to see him have the Mayweather fight and be done with it.”
On Mayweather’s comments about Pacquiao:
“Well, the thing is, (Bob) Arum called me and asked me who I wanted and I told him it was Mayweather, so he’s negotiating the deal. Manny just got over a hard fought fight and he should enjoy that a little bit and spend time with his family. He was on TV last night, he called Mayweather out. We both want Mayweather. All Floyd has to do is sign the contract. He ducked us last time, he picked (Juan Manuel) Marquez. He’s been ducking people his whole life. He ducked (Antonio) Margarito, he ducked Shane Mosley, we need the best fight and I think that’s the fight we need to make. When he asks for a 65/35 split, he’s politely saying ‘I don’t want to fight.”
On how much money is playing a factor in the fight not yet happening:
“Manny has an ego too and he feels like he should get the 60/40 split. That’s going to pose a problem, but the thing is Mayweather hired Golden Boy to negotiate the deal. So Golden Boy and Arum, I think they will get it done.”
Styles make fights. And as good as a tactical defensive fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. is, Manny Pacquiao has the recipe for his destruction.
Don’t take it from me, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach thinks so too. In an interview with ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Roach made his thoughts known about his ward’s potential next foe. “I’ve thought about Mayweather for a long time now,” Roach said, and added, “He’s the ultimate opponent. His style does pose some problems because he’s very good at what he does. But after seeing Manny with Cotto, Manny showed he takes a punch well. We’ll definitely knock Mayweather out. He’ll break down. He can’t stand up to Manny’s pressure. He won’t last as long as Cotto.”
Now before you assume I am simply being biased, allow me to remind you that I have thus been accurate with my analysis of Pacquiao and his opponents. You can believe what you want but the record speaks for itself. Even my MMA predictions are at 27-5. I am simply calling it how I see it. Before Pacquiao even went on a press tour announcing his fight against Cotto, I already felt that among the three possible opponents he had at the time which were Mosley, Cotto and Mayweather, that Cotto would be the toughest and Mayweather the easiest.
Forget what you saw against the old, slow and bloated Marquez when Mayweather didn’t even bother to make his catch-weight requirement, because at this point in their careers, Pacquiao would administer a far worse beating on Marquez than Mayweather did. Allow me to elaborate on some factors why I stake my claim without sounding too complicated.
First of all, Mayweather does not punch like Cotto. You already know how delicate Floyd’s fists are that’s why he needs 2 hours for them to be wrapped. If Pacquiao took Cotto’s hardest and cleanest punches and simply shrugged it off, Mayweather’s punches would feel like a massage. And against an opponent that Pacquiao knows that couldn’t hurt him, his relentless attacks will just double in intensity and frequency.
Second, Mayweather has a harder time with quick southpaws. Check the tapes. Floyd had a hard time against Judah and DeMarcus Corley and was almost knocked down by both men (actually Judah knocked him down but the ref didn’t see his glove touch the canvas). And just like my analysis on Judah’s performance against Cotto, Pacquiao’s left is more potent and his punches come at angles opponents can’t see. Mayweather would have to run all night- literally, and not simply backpedal, for him to avoid Pacquiao’s punches.
Third, you can’t really time Pacquiao. At least not this version of Pacquiao. Pacquiao used to be so unorthodox and relentless that it was already hard to time him but at the same time, a lot of what he did was too wild and left him open. The Pacquiao today though has learned how to control that and use his footwork to create gaps, move in and out and systematically still be aggressive. Floyd is a textbook, scientific fighter. That’s why a lot of these boxing “purists” love his style. But Pacquiao’s style can’t be learned from any textbook. The pace at which he fights in is impossible to simulate for any sparring partner. Floyd will get a rude awakening and will feel his butt on the canvas and his mind preparing excuses like “Pacquiao is on steroids” for the post-fight press conference before he even realizes what hit him.
Fourth, Pacquiao is a fighter. He is a fighter. One more time. Pacquiao is a fighter. He has fought throughout his life and I don’t know if there’s anybody in the game that possesses the kind of heart, will, drive, killer instinct and destructive nature inside the ring that he has. He enjoys being a fighter. He smiles at the hint of violence inside the boxing ring. He was born to fight. Floyd was born to be a boxer and molded through years of training in the boxing ring, but Pacquiao’s character was built in the gutter. Like he said in the post-fight press con in his rematch against Marquez “knock me out and you win”, and he further made a comment on Philippine TV saying “they will have to kill me first before I give up.” The only way Floyd wins is if he dances, runs and simply make the fight look more like “Dancing with the Stars”.
And that shoulder roll defense? Pacquiao will dislocate it with his vicious hits. Incidentally, Roach has said something about Floyd’s shoulder being dislocated before. If the slow Marquez was able to catch Floyd with clean lead shots, what do you think Manny’s KO-caliber leads and hooks would do?
I can go on forever with this like Floyd with his excuses but at the end of the day, it is what it is. Deep inside I know Floyd believes Pacquiao might very well be that one person who can lay him out. Why else is he hyper-sensitive at the first mention of Pacquiao’s name? It’s a long time coming, but it will come sooner or later. The doubters didn’t listen to me then when I said what I said about De la Hoya, Hatton and Cotto, but that’s why the fights happen in the ring. All I’m saying is, if Floyd fights Manny, that zero in his loss column will surely be gone.
FORMER ring king Ricky Hatton has tipped Floyd Mayweather to win a superfight with Manny Pacquiao if they clash in 2010.
But the Hitman, who has fought and lost against both men, claims the undefeated Pretty Boy is about as exciting to watch as paint dry.
Former world welterweight champ Ricky, 31, said: “I think Mayweather would win because he’s just so good defensively and hard to hit.
“Pacquiao gets better with every fight.
I didn’t fancy him against Miguel Cotto earlier this month but he smashed him to bits. I was blown away.
“If I had to put money on it I’d tip Mayweather though. He has the style and shuts up shop so you can’t nail him.
“Mayweather is so good he doesn’t let you get any punches off. If he makes Pacquiao miss he’ll take the sting out of him.
“But I’d rather watch Pacquiao though. Mayweather will go down as one of the all time greats but I wouldn’t get up at four o’clock in the morning to watch him. He bores the s*** out of me.
“He should have knocked Juan Manuel Marquez out in September but didn’t, it was safety first all the time.”
Hatton was in Scotland to promote his Team Hitman sports equipment at DW Sports and Fitness Club in the Glasgow Fort shopping mall.
To prepare for his future he has also opened a gym in his home town of Hyde and now looks after a stable of fighters including brother Matthew.
The Hitman has not fought since his devastating loss to Pacquiao in Las Vegas last May. He was knocked out in round two and later rushed to hospital for a precautionary brain scan.
Hatton suffered no lasting damage and is adamant his career is not over.
He said: “I’ve not quite decided if I’m going to fight again but working with Matthew and other boxers has given me the itch again.
“After New Year I’ll sit down and have a serious think about my future.”
Reports say he’s lining up a fight with Juan Manual Marquez – beaten by both Mayweather and Pacquiao – for a high profile last hurrah.
Ricky said: “I’d love to fight Marquez. For the last few years I’ve competed with the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters.
“If I am going to come back it would have to be a fight I could really get my teeth into and Marquez is a top rated boxer. It’s an obvious match-up for me.”
Some fans fear for Hatton who was badly beaten by Pacquiao and whose weight balloons between bouts.
The Hitman’s 45 wins with two losses record speaks for itself – so what has he still left to prove?
He said: “I’ve fought the biggest and the best. I don’t want the last fight of my career to be on the flat of my back.
“It’s not from a financial point of view or anything else. I just don’t want to go out like that.
“I can’t even say it’s a comeback – it’s only seven months since I last fought.”
Ricky claims problems during his training camp – where he was prepared by controversial Floyd Mayweather Sr. – cost him dearly.
He said: “My trainerdrilled me into the ground and when fight night came I was a shell of my former self.
“I can’t argue with the defeat – or the way I lost – but the camp could definitely have gone better. It’s those doubts that make you want to give it another go.
“For years I was labelled as a kid who just wanted to fight in Manchester and avoided this guy and that guy.
“But in the last few years I’ve fought champions, moved up a weight and faced the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Is that avoiding people? “Even my harshest critics can’t accuse me of that.”
Hatton reckons the British boxing scene is on a real high and was delighted to see David Haye take the WBA heavyweight title from Nicolai Valuev.
He’ll be watching when Amir Khan defends his WBA light welterweight crown against Dimitry Salita next month.
The Hitman also chalked up a career high recently – without throwing a punch. He was visited at his gym by all time hero Muhammad Ali.
He said: “It was a shame to see Ali so poorly and ill but it was an incredible moment for me.
“My gym in Hyde has only been opened a matter of months so to have Ali come to visit was a great thing not just for me but for the area.
“It was such a big deal he even knew who Ricky Hatton was.
“I spoke at Ali’s dinner and even with everything I’ve achieved in the ring it was one of the proudest days of my life.”
MANILA, Philippines – Their pay-per-view numbers are not too far apart, and a 50-50 deal should be a good one for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Freddie Roach, chief trainer of the Filipino boxing superstar, yesterday said while he doubts if the loudmouthed American really wants to fight Pacquiao, the two pound-for-pound champion can make things happen with an even share of the purse.
Then the winner of the fight, the three-time Trainer of the Year added, can get a bigger share in the pay-per-view, gate receipts and merchandise sales. Maybe a 60-40 or 55-45 deal in this side of the agreement can work for both fighters.
Pacquiao said last December that if he fights Mayweather, he expects a guaranteed purse of around $25 million or roughly P1.175 billion. That’s only for the guaranteed purse, and if he wins, as Roach wants, then he gets even more on the side.
“I honestly don’t think he wants to fight Pacquiao. I think both fighters know that if they do the fight at 50-50, it’s going to happen. My guy is definitely on board,” Roach said in an article that came out of boxingscene.com yesterday.
“We definitely want the fight. Mayweather I’m not so sure. I’d like to get 60-40 our way of course. I know that we’re the bigger draw. We’ll try to get as much as we can but at the end of the day I think 50-50 will be the only way acceptable,” said Roach.
Mayweather said he wants the bigger share if he wants Pacquiao even if he had just come out of a 21-month retirement and fought a smaller Juan Manuel Marquez last September, doing 1.05 million pay-per-view sales
Pacquiao vs Miguel Cotto last week did 1.25 million buys, and it’s the first time HBO recorded back-to-back PPV sales in the millions.
“Maybe both guys get the same guarantee and the winner gets a big bonus. You can agree to $10 million guarantee apiece and the winner gets the rest. I love it when the winner gets more,” said Roach.
Roach also said March may be too soon for a Pacquiao-Mayweather, and suggested May or June as a good date to do the fight. But that should be as difficult since Pacquiao is running in the May 2010 elections in the Philippines.
Bob Arum, according to an AP report, said he’s been in touch with Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn and talked about the possibility of building a new 30,000-seat open arena in Sin City just for the fight.
HOLLYWOOD — The crowd goes crazy for Manny Pacquiao, the best pound for pound boxer in the world. And there’s one question everyone is asking: Will Manny Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather?
Manny Pacquaio has singlehandedly brought back the passion for boxing. His popularity is so enormous that hundreds of people lined up at the Highlands in Hollywood to get a glimpse of him at his victory party Tuesday night.
Pacquaio gained notoriety after knocking out Oscar de la Hoya last May. After his win on Saturday against Miguel Cotto, a 12th round knockout, everyone is calling for a Floyd Mayweather Jr. — Manny Paquiao bout. Mayweather is calling out Pacquaio in this statement he made Monday.
“If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself,” Mayweather said.
So I asked Pacquaio to answer Mayweather, before anyone else talked to him. “Yes, I want to fight Mayweather,” he told KTLA
Fans are demanding to see the two boxers battle it out.
The fight the world wants to see between Mayweather and Pacquaio could generate more money on pay per view with estimates over $120 million alone.
Pacquaio has made history by being the only boxer to win 7 titles in 7 weight classes. Mayweather has a perfect record. This highly anticipated bout, if it were to happen, would have to take place in a super bowl sized venue like Giants or Yankees Stadium.
In the wake of Manny Pacquiao’s destruction of Miguel Cotto, the drums are beating for Pacquiao to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a meeting of the fighters all boxing observers agree are at the top of the pound-for-pound list (though the order is up for debate).
Bets are already being taken in Vegas. The inevitable “this fight must happen to save boxing” are already beginning. (A dubious view, given that boxing has enjoyed some really impressive pay-per-view numbers this year, none of which involved Oscar De La Hoya, the supposed last fighter ever with mainstream appeal.)
And finally, Mayweather Jr. is flapping his gums. Floyd said in a statement a couple days after Pacquiao-Cotto that Manny would be “easy work”.
He also demonstrated his propensity for preposterousness on a couple of fronts. First, he engaged in a long-winded criticism on how Manny has never explicitly said he wants to fight Mayweather, a useless bit of semantics. Second, he said the Pacquiao fight was a no-win proposition because the Filipino is the smaller man and has already been beaten three times.
Such is the world that Mayweather inhabits, where an unbeaten mark rules above all else, even if the path to it has only periodically involved fighting the toughest foes. By Mayweather’s logic, we should have stopped paying attention to Bernard Hopkins after 1994, as he was an exposed fighter with two losses on his ledger.
Expect more salvos in the war of words. Floyd Mayweather Sr. has said in the past that he believes Pacquiao’s great recent performances just two years after fighting 12-15 pounds south of the welterweight division are in large part the result of using performance enhancers.
There’ll be less smack talk on the other side of the equation, although Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has been increasingly boastful about his charge over the last couple of years.
Roach says he wants Pacquiao to fight Mayweather next, and well he should. If they fight in May or June, Mayweather will step into the ring having fought only once in the previous 30 months, a fight against the overmatched Juan Manuel Marquez.
It will be the most lucrative fight ever, but making it could take some work. Expect Mayweather to demand a majority of the share, citing his great numbers for Marquez despite two years away from the sport. There is also talk of huge football venues and even Yankee Stadium, but don’t expect this bout to be anywhere but Las Vegas.
I know I’m in the minority, but I won’t be too bummed if Mayweather engages in another fight first before the superfight fully marinates. I want to see the best fight the best at optimal conditions, with no excuses involving ring rust or other factors.
The positive part of all this buzz is that it shows that fans only care about great matchups, not the titles a fighter may hold. Unfortunately, that leaves Shane Mosley out in the cold.
Mosley, who fights Andre Berto on Jan. 30, is the legitimate welterweight champion at the moment. He drubbed Antonio Margarito (who beat Cotto in the wake of Mayweather’s “retirement”) for that right but has been looking for a fight for nearly a year.
I’m still of the mind that Mosley-Mayweather and Mosley-Pacquiao would end up being more exciting fights than Mosley-Pacquiao, though of course not bigger events. The other two camps no doubt think that Mosley, even at 38, is too much risk for the monetary reward as he’s never been able to approximate the kind of wide box office appeal they have.
As for Mayweather-Pacquiao, I’m not sure there’s ever been a matchup of two guys with such fast hands. It would plenty intriguing and exciting to watch unfold, but I’m still not convinced the action would be sensational, owing to Mayweather’s boxing acumen. But Manny’s proven me wrong a couple of times already!
Fighter of the Blog
Who else? Call it a balance knockdown if you want, but it was a pretty ominous sign for Cotto supporters when Pacquiao dropped him in the third with his right hand, the so-called weaker one. In the fourth, Pacquiao landed his moneymaker, the left, and the fight was all but over.
I proved less successful in prognosticating this fight than Hilary Clinton, although she made her pick from Manila. I didn’t think Cotto’s performance against Josh Clottey in June was terrible – I’m not sure Clottey in his prime will ever be authoritatively beaten – but it’s clear that Cotto is not the same fighter who stepped into the ring with Antonio Margarito.
You can decide for yourself if Margarito’s gloves contained a plaster-like substance that night (he was caught before his next bout) but the Cotto who nipped Mosley just two years ago was not the same guy who stepped into the ring on Saturday. There were a couple of occasions in the first three rounds where Cotto had Manny in a vulnerable spot on the ropes, but simply couldn’t pull the trigger.
But in the end, the beating of Pacquiao’s fists comes with no asterisk.
The Fight
A bit surprised so many thought the main event was the Fight of the Year so far. Manny’s definitely the Fighter of the Year, and it was the Performance of the Year, but I just can’t make it a triple crown.
For four rounds and change it was the type of gut-churning rollercoaster type fun that few other sports can match, if any, but once you realized in the fifth that Cotto wasn’t going to recover from that second knockdown, the outcome was inevitable. And towards the end, it was painful to watch.
What this fight needed to become Fight of the Year, in my mind, was one more shift in momentum, even slight, to show that there was still some doubt. An impressive Cotto flurry or even a nasty cut for Pacquiao might have sufficed in that regard.
Until proven otherwise in the next few weeks, I still have Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz pencilled in as Fight of the Year, an exciting fight with shifts in momentum whose outcome was in doubt until the final round.
Onward and upward (in weight)
There’s a terrific fight on tap for this Saturday, arguably the best matchup that can be made among the six fighters in the Showtime super middleweight tournament. Mikkel Kessler of Denmark has only been beaten once, and there was no shame in losing a close-ish decision to the great Joe Calzaghe. Kessler was actually winning that bout after five rounds until Calzaghe adapted.
Kessler has a huge edge in experience over Andre Ward, but he’s looked robotic from time to time, making the quick-fisted American a live underdog. Two other factors help give Ward a decent chance: Kessler is out of friendly environs, fighting in the U.S. for the first time in nine years (in Ward’s backyard) and his opposition since the Calzaghe loss two years ago has been unremarkable.
Last November 14, Manny Pacquiao handed Miguel Cotto a vicious beatdown and another loss in what most people call a demolition job. Pacman’s systematic attack broke down Cotto’s seemingly tightly packed defense. The whole world witnessed an extremely efficient and surgical annihilation by a smaller guy against a full-fledged welterweight champ; thus, clearing all misgivings and reservation with regards to the smaller Pacquiao’s prowess.
One man, however, thought Pacman’s win was nothing but ordinary: meet Floyd Mayweather, Jr., a blissfully ignorant yet overwhelmingly arrogant buffoon who thinks he is the king of the hill but conveniently ducks away from legitimate challengers to his crown. Thinking highly of himself, Mayweather said of Pacquiao, “Easy win, easy fight. He’s one-dimensional.”
On a personal note, I cannot fathom a man so deluded that he thinks he can easily thump a man who in turn easily pounded a full-fledged welterweight champion. It has come to a point that his name equates to absurdity. Yes, that name is Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
We don’t care if you think Pacquiao is one-dimensional. Based on what we have seen so far, Pacquiao has greatly exceeded your achievements, and most people’s expectations. Pacman has defeated a bigger Cotto, the same legitimate contender that you have been dodging away from.
You, Mr. Mayweather, are a coward and a clown. “Can Manny Pacquiao beat me? No, absolutely no. Easy win, easy fight.” Then, keep it real and sign up for the fight.
HOLLYWOOD — Freddie Roach’s hands shook with excitement as he talked about a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“It will be the biggest pay-per-view event of all time,” said the man who just steered Manny Pacquiao to a historic 12th round technical knockout of Miguel Cotto last Saturday at the MGM Grand.
Roach said a fight with Mayweather, which may or may not happen, will break all existing records if it does, and will be watched by more people even if it wouldn’t be as exciting as Pacquiao’s previous fights.
The three-time American trainer of the year smiled when told that Mayweather, who came out of a long retirementto beat Juan Marquez last September, said Pacquiao remains a “one-dimensional” fighter.
“One dimensional? Well let’s fight and see,” said Roach.
“If that’s the case, all he does is run. He’s one dimensional, too — run, run, run. Then we’ll attack, attack, attack and that will make it a big fight,” said Roach who just saw Pacquiao off the door of his gym.
Pacquiao dropped by at the Wild Card Gym late in the afternoon as part of a tradition. He always visits the gym on the Monday after a fight, get a few words with his chief trainer, and greet his loyal supporters.
The pound-for-pound champion did not stay long this time as he needed to go to a nearby hospital to have x-rays on his swollen right hand. However, he said he felt better now than the day after the fight.
He heard about Mayweather’s comment that he’s a one-dimensional fighter.
“Ako? Eh, yun ang style koeh (But that’s my style). In and out, in and out,” he said.
Roach said a fight with Mayweather would be difficult to make because of all the money involved, adding that if the flamboyant American would agree to a 60/40 split, in Pacquiao’s favor, then it could happen.
“We need to negotiate for the money and the weight, but I want the fight at 145 lb. Mayweather still doesn’t have that huge audience so I would go for 60-40 for Manny,” said Roach.
Roach added that if it’s Mayweather, March 13, being penciled by Top Rank as the date for Pacquiao’s next fight, may not be a good date.
“If it’s Mayweather, we need time to get ready for that fight. We have to come out with a real different style. It’s a whole different ballgame,” he said, adding that there wouldn’t be a need for a tune-up fight if that’s the case.
“If we get Mayweather, why risk losing that (tune-up) fight. I’d say he rest for a while, enjoy the holidays, run for elections, and the Congressman Manny Pacquiao will kick Mayweather’s ass,” said Roach.
Roach said while last Saturday’s fight looked one-sided to some, it should definitely be more exciting than a Pacquiao-Mayweather.
“Cotto came to fight and Mayweather comes to run. He makes a boring fight, but a lot of people will buy tickets to see him lose. So it would be a huge fight. I agree, but it would be less exciting than other Manny Pacquiao fights.
“It could be like when Cotto started running in the end, and Manny said, “Do you want to run or do you want to fight?’”
IBO and Ring Magazine light welterweight champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao badly bludgeoned Miguel Cotto to capture the WBO welterweight championship by TKO in the 12th round Saturday night at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs) showed tremendous moxie and determination and he remained very competitive with Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) throughout the opening rounds.
Unfortunately for Cotto, Pacquiao ultimately proved to be too quick and strong for the native of Puerto Rico.
“He (Pacquiao) hit harder than we expected and he was a lot stronger than we expected,” Cotto’s trainer, Joe Santiago, said.
Cotto concurred with Santiago’s assessment and he admitted that Pacquiao’s quickness was extremely tough to overcome.
“I didn’t know from where the punches were coming,” said Cotto, 29, who refused to allow his corner to throw in the towel after the 11th round.
Pacquiao applauded Cotto’s valiant efforts and he acknowledged that he was cautious early of the former champion’s renowned power.
“Our plan was not to hurry, but to take our time,” said Pacquiao, 30, who is rated by Ring Magazine as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in the world. “It was a hard fight tonight and I needed time to test his power.”
As soon as the fight concluded, the crowd began to chant, “We want Floyd! We want Floyd!”
Obviously, the audience was clamoring for a potential matchup that would pit Pacquiao versus former WBC welterweight champion “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather, 32.
Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs), who was won six world boxing championships in five different weight classes, has been noncommittal at the notion of fighting Pacquiao.
“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Pacquiao said about a lucrative battle with the man www.espn.com ranked #48 on their “50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time” list. “I’m sure he doesn’t want the fight.”
The President of HBO Sports, Ross Greenburg, said he couldn’t fathom why either Pacquiao or Mayweather would opt out of a fight against each other.
“Boxing fans demand it and the sport needs it,” said Greenburg. “If you’re an athlete, do you say that you don’t want to play in the Super Bowl?”
Pacquiao, who became the first fighter in history to win a belt in seven weight classes this past weekend, explained why he believes that Mayweather will cower and avoid a fight against him in the future.
“Boxing for him is like a business,” Pacquiao said. “Mayweather 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.”
“Pretty Boy’s” father, Floyd Sr., attended last Saturday’s highly-anticipated bout.
Although Mayweather Sr. predicted that his son would decimate Pacquiao, he said he would advise him not to fight Pacquiao.
“I have my own personal reasons,” Mayweather Sr. said like the yellow clown pocket he has shown himself to be.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is truly a legendary pugilist and his superb defensive skills would create significant issues for Pacquiao.
Mayweather is essentially the very personification of a boxer.
On the contrary, Pacquiao is much more of a rugged brawler than he is strictly a pure boxer.
If Pacquiao doesn’t eventually scrap Mayweather, boxing will yet again be attempting suicide.
However, if they do actually matchup against one another, Mayweather against Pacquiao would be an epic battle for the ages.
As noted, Mayweather is much more artful in the ring than Pacquiao is.
Nevertheless, Pacquiao is also a gifted tactician and his heart will never be questioned.
If Mayweather has any testicular fortitude whatsoever, he will box Pacquiao and he will ultimately be defeated for the first time in his professional career by the “Fighting Pride of the Philippines.”
Other than a brief interview with a British television outlet, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been awfully quiet in the aftermath of pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao‘s impressive 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto to win a welterweight title on Saturday night.
But now Mayweather is talking, even if it is basically a lot of tired, old hot air.
The former pound-for-pound king, who returned from a 1½-year retirement in September to dominate the much smaller Juan Manuel Marquez, on Monday night issued a statement regarding a potential fight with Pacquiao.
Mayweather, of course, looms as the obvious next opponent for Pacquiao. No other fight in the sport is bigger, and a Pacquiao-Mayweather pairing figures to shatter pay-per-view records.
“Manny Pacquiao is the fighter, and every time someone asks him if he wants to fight me, he says it is up to his promoter, he’s going to take a vacation, whatever the answer is,” Mayweather said. “I have yet to hear him actually say, ‘Yes, I want to fight Mayweather.’ We are the fighters, and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it. Manny Pacquiao doesn’t say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it’s not a fight he can win.”
If you ask me, Mayweather is full of it, because he has never come out and said he wants to fight Pacquiao, either. He said after the Marquez fight he would also take a vacation, etc. — the typical stuff most fighters say after a fight.
But Mayweather, forgetting that, I guess, went on.
“He said during an interview he did leading up to his fight that he didn’t think I wanted to fight him and that boxing for me was just a business and I wasn’t interested in a good fight,” Mayweather said. “But again, he never said during that interview that he would fight me. Why is he talking about what I won’t do instead of what he wants to do? Plain and simple, it’s because he knows he can’t beat me under any circumstances.
“Less than an hour after his fight Saturday night, the talk turns back to me. Their whole promotion was just a Mayweather sweepstakes. They know it and anyone could figure that out. Why, because my name kept coming up and I didn’t even say anything? Even when he was interviewed on ESPN by Brian Kenny, he was asked about fighting me and what did he say? Not: ‘Yes, I want to fight Mayweather’ or ‘Bring it on.’ But no! He said, ‘Hum, ahh, well, talk to my promoter.’
“The world is much more intrigued by the thought of someone fighting me who can beat me. That is what everyone wants to see, and the boxing world is trying to find that guy. Manny Pacquiao’s people have done a good job of creating an image of him to be this unbelievable fighter and now the so-called guy to beat me. But like all the rest, he’s not the one. There is boxing and then there is me. The rest are just falling in line behind me or are trying to get in line to fight me. And that includes Manny Pacquiao, too.
“Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer [Freddie Roach], talk for him. I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself.”
Mayweather is hilarious. While Pacquiao tears through guys bigger than him with ferocity — remember, Pacquiao was a junior lightweight until last year and has fought only four times at heavier than 130 pounds — Mayweather has avoided the top challenges, for the most part, in recent years. That’s why he never fought Cotto or Antonio Margarito or Paul Williams or Shane Mosley.
While Pacquiao has destroyed the bigger Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton (with a single punch in the second round) and David Diaz in his last four fights, Mayweather picked on the much smaller Marquez, needed 10 rounds to get rid of the smaller Hatton and escaped with a split decision against De La Hoya.
One guy (Mayweather) talks about fighting the best, but has yet to face a prime welterweight. The other guy (Pacquiao) takes on the best guys who are bigger than him and does it in an exciting fashion.
Does anyone actually believe Mayweather’s nonsense that Pacquiao is afraid to fight him? Obviously, it’s all posturing for the business deal that I believe will eventually be made to match them.
Why not save us all some time and just make it a 50-50 deal and be done with it? There is no other opponent who can make either guy close to the kind of payday Pacquiao and Mayweather can make with each other, so why quibble over a few points here or there when you’re talking about tens of millions of dollars and maybe the most anticipated fight since the first Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns showdown?
It is seldom wise to rush to definitive judgment after any sporting contest, but no sane observer could deny that Manny Pacquiao, after his thrilling conquest of Miguel Cotto for the WBO welterweight title, is among the finest and most ferociously gifted boxers to have laced a pair of gloves.
At times on Saturday night, particularly in the middle rounds, Pacquiao’s principal weapons seemed less like fists and more like precision-guided missiles, such was his relentless accuracy in finding the point of his opponent’s jaw. As early as the eighth round, Cotto, a spirited pugilist of the old school, was utterly vanquished, his face bloodied, his marbled body sagging, his noble ambitions sapped by the ubiquity of his opponent’s knuckles. Only a will that exceeded his good sense kept Cotto upright until the merciful intervention of the referee a minute into the final round.
It would be tempting to eulogise further about Pacquiao’s genius as a boxer — about his speed, the kaleidoscopic geometry of his punches, his capacity to absorb punishment, even from heavier, bulkier opponents — but there is a more pressing issue that must be addressed, now more than ever. The sport has at present the rare good fortune of boasting two of the greatest pound-for-pound practitioners in history and it is imperative that they are brought together for what would rate among the most seismic collisions of this or any other era.
A match-up between Pacquiao and the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr next year would not only be the richest bout in history, it would also make all other recent “super-fights” seem like irrelevances. It would certainly be the most seminal contest to have taken place in a boxing ring since Marvin Hagler put his middleweight title on the line against a twinkle-toed Sugar Ray Leonard at Caesars Palace in 1987, a bout that lived up to the hype, even if the judges’ scoring caused bitter dispute.
“If Mayweather wants to fight Manny, let him call me,” Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, said in the aftermath of Saturday’s bout. To which Mayweather replied: “Manny Pacquiao doesn’t say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it’s not a fight he can win.”
It is to be hoped that these barbs represent the opening skirmishes in a verbal war that will rage until the boxers touch gloves some time next year and do not herald the dreadful possibility that the match will not be made because of clashes of ego or arguments over contractual minutiae. One thing is certain: if the power brokers fail to get this contest on, the sport of boxing will forfeit any residual claim to credibility.
For it is match-ups such as these, and the emotions they arouse, that are capable of elevating pugilism beyond other forms of sporting and artistic spectacle. Look back across the decades and it is not cricket or even football that provides the definitive iconography of the age, but the contests that brought nations to a standstill. Johnson-Jeffries, Louis-Schmeling, Robinson-La Motta, Ali-Frazier, Leonard-Hagler. Bouts that changed the world.
Sure, boxing does not command the cultural status it once did, not least because of the (entirely understandable) moral scruples of a new generation of sports fans, but by bringing together boxers of bona fide greatness the sport can hope to gain a foothold again in the mass consciousness. This, after all, is how boxing first managed to inhabit the zeitgeist and why scribes such as Hemingway and Mailer flocked to deconstruct its wider meaning.
Tthere can be little doubt that a showdown between Pacquiao and Mayweather would resonate far beyond boxing’s traditional constituencies. Pacquiao is already a national icon whose fists are capable of bringing warring factions to a standstill. His storybook odyssey from street urchin to world champion has captivated his countrymen and brought unity to a nation divided by religion and political ideology.
“Manny is a unifying force in the Philippines, the epitome of the American dream,” Jeng Gacal, a Filipino lawyer, has said. “He has totally entered the consciousness of every Filipino. The entire country looks at him, wants him to do something, change something. He has genuine kindness and caring for other human beings, and he wishes to use that in his political career.”
Pacquiao, who is also a pretty decent singer, intends to stand for Congress next May.
Then there is Mayweather, a gun-toting, trash-talking diva born into a boxing dynasty in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but whose intuitive understanding of the complex geometry of prizefighting has elevated him into the uplands of sporting immortality. His critics argue that he lacks courage and class, but no man who has fought his way through 40 bouts and six world titles — and come out with his dignity as well as his undefeated record intact — should justly be accused of anything other than devastating brilliance.
His past two bouts, in particular, were masterpieces of defensive comprehension. One hesitates to compare any boxer to Willie Pep — the Will-o’-the-wisp featherweight of the 1940s who was once said to have won a round without throwing a punch — but in the case of Mayweather the comparison is obligatory. In his most recent bout, so effortlessly did Mayweather elude the fists of Juan Manuel Márquez that his opponent seemed part of the act. That is what happens when there is a gaping chasm in ability between athletes: sport becomes choreography.
So, who will win, assuming they get it on? Anyone who watched Pacquiao in his past two bouts will find it difficult to accept that any mortal could withstand his scalpel-sharp fists and the exquisite accuracy of his counter-punching. But those who have watched Mayweather in recent times will be drawn to the conclusion that he has the capacity to overwhelm any opponent with his artistry and defensive intricacies. Therein, of course, lies the delicious contradiction essential to any great bout.
As the saying goes, unstoppable force against immovable object.
Mayweather has long hankered after an acknowledgement from the boxing intelligentsia that he rates among the first rank of pound-for-pound boxers, but thus far there has been a reluctance to bestow that accolade given the American’s perceived tendency to duck tricky opponents. Regardless of the validity of this viewpoint, there can be little doubt that Mayweather now has a priceless, if perilous, opportunity to demonstrate to his critics the authenticity of his courage.
If he is willing to test his skills against the formidable Filipino, andcan subdue Pacquiao, nobody will be able to deny him his due. This is, therefore, a test of nerve as well as of status. One thing is certain: the world will not forgive any man who stands in the way of a contest that may one day be remembered as the last of boxing’s mega-bouts.
Pacquiao joined boxing’s folklore following his victory over Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on Saturday night. But Mayweather said of the Filipino: “Easy win, easy fight. He’s one-dimensional.”
There will be smokescreens and smoke signals about a possible showdown between the duo from rival promoters Bob Arum, of Top Rank, and Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, until the end of the year, and then they will get to the fine print.
Schaefer revealed that he had received a message from Mayweather straight after the contest and that he “had the green light” to go ahead and negotiate with Top Rank to stage the contest. It would almost certainly take place in Las Vegas.
The arguments will centre around the weight at which the fighters meet – Pacquiao will favour 145 lb and Mayweather 147 lb – and the split in the super-fight earnings, which could be more than £59 million.
If Mayweather, 32, does not meet Pacquiao, he will be accused of dodging him.
“Manny Pacquiao did what he had to do,”said Mayweather. “All I can say is he’s a fighter like I’m a fighter. I don’t see no versatility in Manny Pacquiao, I just see a good fighter, a good puncher, but one-dimensional.”
Arum begs to differ. “Pacquiao is the greatest boxer I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen them all, including Ali, Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard,” said the veteran promoter.
Mayweather said: “If I beat Manny Pacquiao they’ll say, ‘You’re supposed to beat him, you’re the bigger man. You supposed to knock him out’.
“When I beat him, people won’t be surprised because he’s been beaten before. He’s been knocked out twice before.
“The world will go wild if Floyd Mayweather gets beat, that’s what the world is looking to see. They’re trying to make a fighter to beat me. I’m a fighter that’s never been beaten. I don’t get any respect in the sport of boxing.
Manny Pacquiao is expecting yet another cash windfall after successfully making history following his 12th round technical knockout of Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand’s Garden Arena that looked more like a demolition job.
Pacquiao earned close to $13 million from his lion’s share of the purse and is expected to make much more from his fat slice of the pay-per-view (PPV) pie.
Experts are saying that the Pacquiao-Cotto bout could generate at least 1.5 million PPV buys, leading to a gross of $82,425,000, after taxes.
Pacquiao is again expected to get a huge share of that pie through his own promotional outfit, MP Promotions.
“The signs are good. We really won’t know until we get the preliminary results on pay-per-view sales on Wednesday,” said Top Rank chief Bob Arum, who promoted the fight dubbed “Firepower”.
Initial reports, however, indicated that the PPV hits for the Pacquiao-Cotto bout could exceed the 1 million buys reeled in by the fight that saw Floyd Mayweather Jr. outclass Juan Manuel Marquez in September.
“From every sign that we see, we know our goal of garnering more than one million pay-per-view buys is well within sight,” Mark Taffet, a vice president for HBO Sports, which beamed the fight on PPV, said earlier.
That could mean that Firepower will profit more since it was sold to homes on a higher price.
Mayweather-Marquez PPVs were sold at $49.95 each, while the Pacquiao-Cotto PPVs were sold for $54.95 each.
Huge demand
And despite the higher price, there was a big demand for an uninterrupted showing of the Pacquiao-Cotto bout.
“We’ve never had this experience with so many people ordering a fight,” a local New Jersey cable operator was quoted by Fighthype.com as saying hours before the clash. “This must be a big, big fight.”
Several cable operators were forced to turn away customers because they could not keep up with the demand, the report added. And these customers even filed complaints.
“We’re sorry,” the New Jersey provider told customers. “We are just so overwhelmed with people trying to order this fight. So many people are trying to order it from their remote controls that it locked up the computer. It was processing so many orders, the computer was overwhelmed.”
Huge fan base
Aside from the profit it generates for the pound-for-pound champion, the PPV hits will play a crucial part in negotiations for next year’s highly anticipated superfight: Pacquiao vs Mayweather.
Richard Schaefer, whose Golden Boy Promotions partnered with Mayweather’s outfit for the Marquez bout, said Pacquiao-Cotto would have to exceed the PPV hits of Maywather-Marquez to prove that the Filipino could get at least half of the share of the purse.
Mayweather’s camp is asking for a 65-35 share in profits, something that Team Pacquiao is not amenable to, especially since the new welterweight champion is on a meteoric rise to stardom and commands a huge PPV-buying fan base.
Biggest pay day
Aside from the 16,200 fans that bought tickets to the Garden Arena for the Cotto fight, close to 18,000 also purchased closed-circuit TV seats to watch Pacquiao as he demolished the Puerto Rican after a slow start.
Cotto earned over $6 million for the fight, his biggest payday by far, and is expected to also get his own share of the PPV income.
LAS VEGAS — Let’s get right to the point, shall we? When are we going to see Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight Manny Pacquiao?
As dominating as Pacquiao was in his 12th-round technical-knockout victory over Miguel Cotto on Saturday, the sweat hadn’t dried from the champion’s face by the time he got his first question about Floyd Mayweather. It was predictable, really. From the moment the final bell rang in Mayweather’s one-sided fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in September, fans and media alike were clamoring for a showdown between the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today.
Will it happen? It says here absolutely. There was some rumblings in the post-fight press conference last Saturday that Mayweather is more inclined to take another tune-up fight before facing Pacquiao (Mayweather’s manager, Leonard Ellerbe did not respond to phone calls and a text message from SI.com). To me, that seems unlikely. Who would he fight? Luis Collazo? Delvin Rodriguez? Alfonso Gomez?
“Mayweather can do what he wants,” said an industry source. “But the public outrage if he doesn’t fight Pacquiao would be enormous.”
Certainly, there are issues standing in the way. The boxing landscape is littered with acrimonious relationships but few are as bitter as Mayweather and Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum. Arum, if you recall, promoted Mayweather early in his career only to have the relationship severed shortly before Mayweather fought Oscar De La Hoya — a fight that turned out to be the most lucrative in boxing history.
At the Pacquiao-Cotto press conference, though, Arum sang an aria about putting aside their differences and making a deal.
“No, I hate him and he hates me,” said Arum. “If [Mayweather] wants to fight Manny Pacquiao, he can call me.”
Arum will undoubtedly be getting a call, but it won’t be from Mayweather. It will be from Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer. In a phone interview after the fight, Schaefer told SI.com that he would not negotiate the terms of the fight through the media but that he was confident a deal could be struck.
Said Schaefer, “Bob and I have made big deals in the past.”
The sticking point in the negotiations is going to be the split. Mayweather has long stated his belief that he is the top draw in boxing — his fight with De La Hoya broke the pay-per-view record (2.4 million buys) and his last fight with Marquez generated more than a million. As such, he believes he deserves the bigger share. Pacquiao feels the same way, though his camp is willing to settle for a 50-50 split.
Pacquiao, in fact, may have a better argument that he should be getting the larger piece of the pie. Take nothing away from Mayweather, but his defensive, counterpunching style is not as appealing to fans as Pacquiao’s bull-rushing approach. And while Mayweather has knockout power, Pacquiao has electrifying power shots that keep fans on the edge of their seats. The numbers for Pacquiao-Cotto won’t be released until later this week, but sources inside both HBO and Top Rank expect it to exceed one million buys and possibly reach as high as 1.5 million.
There will be a lot of posturing over the next few months. There will be publicized outbursts and the parties will likely storm away from the bargaining table more than once.
But it will get done, as early as May or as late as September, because, as several industry insiders told me, it has to get done. “It’s like two great football players saying they don’t want to play in the Super Bowl,” says HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg. “Who would ever say that?”
As of Saturday night, can anyone think of a single reason why Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao shouldn’t fight?
It kind of seems silly at first. Of course, there has to be some minor, highly insignificant, but ultimately negative thing about the two fighting one another.
But then really think about it. Is there?
Floyd Mayweather Sr. says there is. But he’s not telling anybody.
“Lil Floyd would whoop (him), but to tell you the truth, I don’t think he should fight him,” Mayweather Sr. said. “That would be my advice to him.”
If he’d have no problem beating him though, then why not take the fight?
“I have my own reasons,” he said. “I’ll let you think about it for a second.”
Whatever Mayweather Sr.’s reasons are, chances are they’d have a hard time stacking up against the reasons for why the two should meet in the ring in early 2010.
As Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, described it, it’s a fight the world wants to see. Moments after Pacquiao’s historic win over Miguel Cotto for his world title in a seventh weight class, fans from inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena started chanting, “We want Floyd.”
Roach says that he’ll take whatever fight is the best deal for Pacquiao, but his pick if Mayweather.
“We’ll fight whoever we negotiate with the best. If Floyd wants a 65/35 split, he’s not going to get that,” Roach said. “We’ll take the best deal that Bob negotiates for, but personally, I want Mayweather.”
Back in September, following Mayweather’s unanimous decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez, his manager and close friend Leonard Ellerbe said that Pacquiao was the next obvious choice from a marketing standpoint.
That much is especially obvious, as the Mayweather and Pacquiao fights — although Saturday’s numbers aren’t official, it’s certainly a reasonable assumption — marked the first time since 1999 that a single calendar year sold two pay-per-view fights that reached more than 1 million viewers each.
As Vice President of HBO Sports Operations Mark Taffet will enthusiastically attest, they are obviously the two most marketable fighters in the world.
“The two fighters’ persona and performance in the ring separates them from the pack,” Taffet said. “From a media aspect, they compliment each other. Pacquiao receives a tremendous following from the West and Southwest markets, whereas in Mayweather we see a lot of Midwest and East Coast activity.
“They are two megastars but to very different target audiences, which is what makes it almost a perfect storm from a marketing perspective.”
Even their styles are tailor-made for one another.
Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KO) is the aggressor, who has shown a willingness to take a punch to give one, as well as a constant desire to finish fights even when he’s well ahead on a scorecard.
Mayweather (40-0, 25 KO) is the tactical defender, whose elusive ability is often referred to as poetry in motion; always the type of fighter that looks to score points and attend a post-fight press conference free of damage.
The trainer in Roach says he has the blueprint to defeat Mayweather — something the undefeated boxer is constantly asserting doesn’t exist.
“We’d break him down and beat him up,” Roach said. “Floyd can’t break an egg; he’s fragile. He hurts his hands all the time. He has speed, but if he lays on the ropes and rolls his shoulders, we’ll take everything he gives us.
“I have a great game plan for Mayweather, and I know how to beat the guy.”
Mayweather Sr., on the other hand, remains unimpressed by the Filipino and the wins he has over opponents that aren’t on the same level as his son.
“We ain’t worried about that fight. Tell me where you see a 5-foot-5 (expletive) hitting someone who’s just standing right in front of him,” said Mayweather Sr., referring to the Cotto fight. “That’s what we saw tonight.
“He hasn’t fought the greatest fighter yet. That might be his next task, but I don’t know.”
One person who doesn’t care about Mayweather Sr.’s withheld reasons for the two not to fight is HBO President of Sports Ross Greenburg, who was already in the media center arguing with Mayweather Sr. on the subject immediately following Saturday’s fight.
Before any of the fighters had arrived for questioning, Greenburg was heard saying to Mayweather Sr. that he knew the fight should happen and that it was time to make it happen.
“I don’t want to say it’s just a question of money,” Grennburg said. “When you have a situation where you’ve created two big events in the last three months, basically to set up a semifinals in the 147-pound weight class, and the American public demands to see the fight it has to happen.
“And the way it happens is to induce all sides by getting everyone to check their egos at the door, sit down at a table and hash out the terms. Each side has to look at the big picture, which is there is a boat-load of money and a fight too important for this sport not to happen.”
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who promoted Mayweather until the fighter bought out his contract in 2006 because of a falling out, confessed that even he was more than willing to put their differences aside to make the fight.
“I’m not going to put up with any kind of nonsense — no trash talk, I’m not going to negotiate a fight in newspapers,” Arum said. “If Floyd Mayweather wants to fight Manny Pacquiao, he knows who to call. Period.
“There will be none of this, ‘I hate him, he hates me,’ — that doesn’t matter. If he wants to fight, let him call me.”
According to Greenburg, that was news Mayweather didn’t need to hear.
Right before Pacquiao emerged from his final medical checks in his locker room, Greenburg walked to the microphone to deliver news.
“I just got off the phone with (Golden Boys Promotions CEO) Richard Schaeffer,” Greenburg said. “He told me point-blank that Bob Arum would be getting that call on Monday and plans to come in and meet with Bob next to week to make the Mayweather fight.
“I think we can all hope and pray that a fight of that magnitude and importance to the sport of boxing can truly be made, because it is time to capitalize on all the hard work that was done over the last three months. We can look forward to one of the biggest events in boxing history. Let’s see what happens, stay tuned.”
Manny Pacquiao was in extraordinary form last night, both inside the ring, where he dismantled Miguel Cotto to win a world title in a seventh different weight division (a record), and outside the ring, where he interrupted his jovial post-fight press conference to sing a love song. “I’m just ordinary,” the always humble Manny had said earlier in the proceedings. As a singer, perhaps. As a boxer, not a chance.
It is always hard to separate the reality from the fantasy in the world of professional boxing, especially when ageless circus barkers like Bob Arum are involved, but one of the many beauties about having Pacquiao around is that he makes everyone’s life easier.
He is hyperbole made flesh, the man for whom no claim is too outlandish. So it is that when Arum, who promotes the Filipino’s fights, steps up the microphone and says Pacquiao is the “Tiger Woods of boxing” those who are listening are inclined to give the suggestion a fair hearing. Likewise when Arum stood up and said, as he did in the aftermath of last night’s display, that Pacquiao is the greatest boxer he had ever seen “and I’ve seen them all, including Ali, Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard”, no one laughed, they simply started debating.
Is the Filipino that good? Well, the truth of it is we will never know. Cross-generational comparisons in sport are the every definition of futility– like trying to catch a deluge in a paper cup, as a wise songwriter once decreed.
Is he better than Ali? You might as well ask if Arkle was better than Sea The Stars. Same animal, different sport altogether.
Still, there are some things we can say about Pacquiao that are surely beyond debate, the first being that as a boxer he has exceeded all expectations, perhaps even his own. He certainly made fools of those, like Ricky Hatton, who suggested prior to last night’s contest at the GM Grand in Las Vegas that he would have neither the stamina to go the distance with Cotto, far less beat him.
Not only did he beat the Puerto Rican, he humbled him, just as he had humbled the aforementioned Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya in his two previous appearances in the same arena. Those victories illustrated Pacquiao’s ring mobility and hand-speed, securing his reputation as the most naturally gifted boxer of his generation. Last night’s fight proved he is also one of the toughest and strongest. As for the unofficial title best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? Well, the jury has all but made its decision, although wise counsel suggests that one more piece of evidence in required.
The mercurial Floyd Mayweather Jr was nowhere to be seen around the MGM Grand last night, but his presence was felt everywhere and it will be demanded when the world of boxing gathers assembles once again for one of these occasions. Pending the usual behind-the-scenes horse-trading and front-of-house finger-pointing, it is unimaginable that the American and the Filipino will not meet in the ring sometime within the next year. The appetite is too great for it not to happen, and so are the financial rewards for the two protagonists.
Who would win? Both will have their supporters, but if Pacquiao emerges victorious yet again Arum could step up to the microphone and describe his man as the Second Coming and no one will argue.
Those in Miguel Cotto’s corner on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena made the executive, majority decision to send their fighter in for a 12th and final round with Manny Pacquiao.
The fight was called 55 seconds into the frame and awarded to Pacquiao by TKO. But, in reality, the fight ended much earlier, as Cotto was gradually worn down after two solid rounds to start the fight.
Speaking in bigger picture terms, Cotto told his fans afterward that the fight goes on in regards to his career.
Despite having both eyes nearly swollen shut and blood coming out from both his nose and a nasty cut above his left eye, Cotto remained in the ring for several minutes following the bout.
“I will continue,” he said defiantly in concluding an interview with HBO’s Larry Merchant. “I will continue fighting.”
Though Pacquiao stole the spotlight — as expected — Cotto certainly lived up to his billing throughout the main event. He proudly displayed the iron chin and the incredibly strong will which he’d long been known for in the welterweight division.
“He has always been a courageous fighter,” Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said. “A great fighter, a courageous fighter.
“It wasn’t one-sided until about the seventh round. That was the round where Miguel hurt Manny.”
It was earlier than that, however, when it became apparent to all in attendance that Pacquiao had taken control of the fight.
Cotto was given a 10-9 decision across the board from the judges following a first round in which he engaged at will with Pacquiao and displayed quickness which was far better than advertised.
But Cotto was stung once significantly in the third round, going down to his hands, and then went to the canvas officially in the fourth.
From that point on, he became visibly worn and couldn’t defend nearly as efficiently as he had at the onset.
“I didn’t know from where the punch was coming,” Cotto said of his trouble seeking out where Pacquiao’s attacks were coming from. “I didn’t protect myself from the punches.
“That really made the difference.”
It appeared as if pride was keeping Cotto going in the later rounds, as he tried to avoid Pacquiao’s flurries by simply moving away.
After the 11th round Miguel Cotto Sr. tried to stop the fight in his son’s corner. Cotto even sounded a bit unsure of going any further.
Referee Kenny Bayless looked for the first sign of trouble in the 12th to call the action, with Cotto showing no resistance to the decision when it came.
“I’ve fought everybody,” Cotto said immediately afterward. “Manny is one of the best boxer’s we’ve had of all time.”
His words over the arena’s public address system were the last any members of the media heard from Cotto, as he was taken to University Medical Center afterward for body scans. His representatives said Cotto generally felt fine and was able to walk under his own power from the dressing room to his team bus after visiting with his family.
There’s every reason to believe that Cotto will continue to fight, even though regaining his previous stature in the welterweight division might be impossible.
When all was said and done, he fared better against Pacquiao than both Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, plus his power can still be a draw, even though it didn’t get him very far on Saturday night.
His warrior-like ability to stand toe-to-toe with Pacquiao for so long, too, may have quelled a bit of the controversy surrounding his split decision victory over Joshua Clottey back in June.
He also caused more damage to Pacquiao’s face than most challengers have in recent memory, as he was quick to point at the puffiness surrounding his eyes and the wrap around his freshly-drained right ear during the post-fight press conference.
Pacquiao said that, despite trainer Freddie Roach’s disapproval, he laid against the ropes a bit during the middle rounds just to test Cotto’s power. He obviously paid a small price for it, though the outcome was never in serious danger.
Will the 29-year-old Cotto — now with a still-impressive record of 34-2 — fight again? It certainly appears that way.
It just might be a little while before that happens.
“Cotto, I think, against a normal, great welterweight, would do OK still,” Arum said. “But he obviously has to take off a considerable amount of time because he did take a beating tonight, and he has to rest his body.”
LAS VEGAS—Floyd Mayweather’s victory over Juan Manuel Marquez in September was totally one-sided but left us with little to remember.
So I think it’s fair to say that, in handing full-fledged WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto a wicked beatdown from start to finish over 33 minutes and 55 seconds Saturday night at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, Manny Pacquiao also made this remarkably clear: that he has an extremely good chance to beat the unbeaten Mayweather.
I would not have added the “extremely” part until I witnessed this completely surgical takedown of the redoubtable Boricua Banger.
Now the only fight that public truly demands is Money May versus Money Pacquaio.
No ifs, no buts, no candy and no nuts.
The world wants this miniature edition of Ali vs. Frazier and it wants it soon.
I mean, is there any possible way Mayweather or his minions can criticize this classic Pacman performance?
I don’t see how especially when this bout was 100 times more enteraining the Floyd-Juan Ma boreathon. I enjoy a boxing clinic but, let’s face it, most fans don’t care for same.
The Pound for Pound king is Megamanny.
The world’s best welterweight is Manny.
The most exciting fighter on the planet is Pacquiao.
Memo to Mayweather: Make a deal, sign the contract.
Because if you don’t, your secret will be out.
Then we’ll all know that you fear Pacquiao, that you also believe he can hand you your first loss, take away that precious “O” on your record.
It’s time to put up or shut up, Mayweather.
Man up and sign to fight Manny.
If not, you can only bow down and kneel in Pacman’s direction and say, “I am not worthy.”
If this super bout isn’t made in short order, your secret will be exposed.
Then Mayweather’s Mannyphobia will be out of the closet
Pound-for-Pound King Manny Pacquiao delivered a masterful performance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas as he demolished former WBO Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto en route to collecting an unprecedented seventh title in as many weight divisions.
So what would be the excuse this time? Oscar De La Hoya was shot and drained that any regular Joe who knows a little about boxing could have beaten the living daylights out of him while Ricky Hatton’s camp problems and overtraining did him in leading to that second round snoozefest, and so on and so forth.
Certainly, non-believers stressed, those things won’t be happening to Miguel Cotto as he will be the only true and young welterweight that Manny Pacquiao has faced thus far, whose size and power will prove to be too much for the naturally smaller man who by their accounts have finally bitten off more than he could chew this time around.
Well, the Boricua bomber appeared to be the true welterweight indeed as proven by his more massive frame, but his size and power wasn’t enough to deter the Filipino boxing superstar from using his own speed and power as he conducted a systematic demolition job en route to making boxing history by picking up his seventh title in as many weight divisions courtesy of the WBO Welterweight title.
Freddie Roach once lamented during a conference call earlier this month that some members of the media are not giving credit where it’s due. Excuses always crop up each time Pacquiao dominates his bigger opponents well as these concerns were never mentioned prior to the aforementioned fights. He asked the assembled press during the conference call that why isn’t it mentioned enough that the Pacman had a great night and was in fact the one responsible for making his opponents look mediocre and not because they had a bad night or whatever excuses there are.
Naysayers will find it difficult to find an excuse this time as Pacquiao has beaten a legitimate welterweight who was both younger and bigger than the division-hopping Filipino. The Puerto Rican former champion was baffled all night long by the Filipino’s speed, power, and punches that seem to come out of nowhere through all sorts of weird angles, that he was virtually dominated in the score cards save for perhaps a round or two depending on the judges’ perspective. The fight never went to the cards however as referee Kenny Bayless mercifully called a stop to the bout at the 0:55 mark of the 12th and final round.
So what will the excuse be this time? The 145-pound catchweight? Even Cotto himself said that the 2-pound diffrerence is perfectly fine with them which is why they agreed to take on this fight in the first place.
Pacquiao’s left straight kept on ramming through the middle and finding Cotto’s mug all night long. A left upper cut also landed flush on the Puerto Rican’s jaw in the fourth round which sent him wobbling into his second knockdown of the night. Cotto went to his corner after that round looking completely baffled and for the first time in the fight there was a palpable look of resignation on his face. Apparently, they made the fatal mistake that others before them have also paid for dearly and the realization only sunk in after they tasted the canvass twice in the first four rounds. They underestimated Manny Pacquiao and his ability to bring his speed and power despite moving up in weight.
“He hit harder than we expected,” Cotto’s trainer Joe Santiago said in an article by the New York Times. “He was stronger than we expected. Manny broke him down.”
A change of strategy by the Puerto Rican in the fifth and sixth rounds did not help as the vaunted ‘Manila Ice’ right hook of the Pacman repeatedly found its mark when Cotto overly-emphasized on defending against Pacquiao’s dreaded left which has already tagged him several times earlier.
The seventh round onwards progressively turned into a bicyclechase for Pacquiao as Cotto backpedaled from round to round. The Pacman was visibly exasperated
as he stopped chasing the former champion several times and egged him on to stop dancing and engage him in a fight. At this point it was apparent that the proud Puerto Rican was just trying to survive and it was just pride keeping him on his feet. Freddie Roach’s mind games may have affected Cotto’s corner so much that they never bothered to try and call for a halt to the punishment that their ward was getting at the expense of his long-term safety and stability, lest they fulfill Roach’s prediction that Pacquiao will make Cotto quit before the fight is over.
By the end of the fight Miguel Cotto’s face was a swollen mask of pain and punishment that we were reminded of the horrendous beating that he received from the supposedly loaded hands of Antonio Margarito last year. We wonder if that played with Cotto’s thoughts throughout the fight as he apparently was on survival mode in the last few rounds when he went to his bicycle in order to avoid the relentless pursuit of the Filipino.
Props to Miguel Cotto however as he sucked it up and tried to finish the fight on his feet despite the fact that he was well behind on the cards and was taking a terrible beating. Any lesser fighter may have already quit on his stool or something when faced with such a winless prospect.
The classy fighter went up to Pacquiao’s corner after the stoppage and embraced the new champion in a show of profound respect which the two gentlemanly warriors have always accorded each other since day one.
“I didn’t know from where the punches were coming,” Cotto was quoted in an article by the BBC. “Manny Pacquiao is one of the best boxers I ever fought.”
Will Mayweather Step Up?
With his demolition job of the well-respected former WBO Welterweight champion, Manny Pacquiao once again proved that he is the best boxer of this era and certainly would be in serious consideration in the all-time great discussions. His remaining fights in the ring however may already be numbered as he is seriously contemplating on fighting in a different arena, this time the political kind, starting next year.
His record would already speak for itself and he certainly doesn’t need the money anymore but it would really be a treat if the fight that everybody has been asking for would materialize before he’s done – the much-fantasized superfight with former pound-for-pound holder Floyd Mayweather Jr.
After the fight, when the Pacman was interviewed by legendary boxing commentator Larry Merchant, the fans chanted “We want Floyd” in reference to Mayweather as Pacquiao’s next opponent. The ever-cordial Pacquiao said that he would leave the matter with Top Rank. Trainer Freddie Roach however made no bones about it and said without hesitation that they want Mayweather next as it is the fight that obviously everybody wants to see.
So how about it? Will Mayweather finally step up? And please, no excuses.
Freddie Roach insists the only fight for left for Manny Pacquiao is Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach made it clear his sights are set firmly on Floyd Mayweather Jr as the next opponent for his superstar charge.
Pacquiao took his record to 50-3-2 (38 KOs) and cemented his claim as the pound-for-pound champion when he stopped WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto in the 12th round in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
With Pacquiao having already taken the scalps of big-name fighters including Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton the stage has been set for mega fight against undefeated Mayweather, 40-0 (25 KOs).
The big-mouth American returned to the ring to out-point Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez after a short retirement following his tenth round knockout of Hatton in December 2007.
However, Mayweather’s inactivity has led him to fall from the rankings which can only be settled with a super-fight with the Filipino. Mayweather stated publicly that he would only fight Pac Man if he secured the lion’s share of the purse, but Pacquiao was reluctant to discuss such matters after his hard fought victory over Puerto Rican Cotto.
“My job is to fight in the ring and I think that depends on [Top Rank's Bob] Arum my promoter to negotiate that fight,” Pacquiao said.
“I’m just going to take a vacation first and spend time with my family and have fun.”
Pacquiao’s trainer Roach was more outspoken on the subject knowing that it was the subject on everyone’s lips following the victory.
“The whole world wants to see him fight Mayweather and I want Mayweather,” Roach said.
Hall of fame trainer Emanuel Steward was at ringside for Pacquiao-Cotto as a pundit for US broadcaster HBO and like Roach, there was only one logical next step for the 30-year-old Filipino.
“There’s no doubt you have to go with Mayweather,” Steward said on air. “When you have a fight that’s been made by the public more than the fighters, that’s what happened with Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. The public said we want that fight to happen and that’s why it happened.
“I think they’ll come together on the money but it’s going to be a very intriguing fight because Floyd’s a technical fighter. He knows how to wait back and box a little bit and it’s going to be a lot different than it was against a guy who comes forward and is not that great on his defence.
“But I think it will happen, it’s just a case of when and who gets what in terms of money. I think it should be a 50-50. Manny has earned his position as an attraction and to me not just as pound-for-pound but as one of the all-time greats. I’d put him up there with the Ray Robinsons and Alis.”
Having gone down to a second defeat in 16 months, 29-year-old Cotto (34-2, 27 KOs) insisted he still had a future in the ring: “I will continue fighting”.
It’s interesting to notice that Pacquiao’s pre-fight nights have become like Christmas Eve for me. Man, you’ve got to hand it to Manny. It seems almost everybody I meet on the street is talking up some Pacquiao strategy, or Pacquiao past fights, opinions, predictions, or Pacquiao this, Pacquiao that, or whatnot.
Lately, I’ve heard some news that extremist rebels in the south just released a captive priest simply so they could watch Firepower. If that’s not indicative of what Manny can do to the morale-boosted Filipino psyche, I don’t know what else does.
History beckons as fiery Filipino Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao dukes it out tomorrow with Puerto Rico’s pride Miguel Angel Cotto.
At stake, more than that ludicrous diamond belt prize WBO is dangling in front of the two fighters, is the pride of two warring countries (in the boxing arena of course), the distinction of being the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and, for Pacquiao, a shot at immortality if he wins this extravagant fistic exchange over Cotto.
If victorious, Manny Pacquiao will hold the distinction of blazing through several weight divisions and claiming seven world titles in the process, a feat that no other boxer in the modern times has achieved. It’s just so surreal that, a while ago, we looked up to Henry Armstrong as the barometer of such a feat, having won three world titles in the 1930′s simultaneously.
Yet lately, an Asian from a third-world country wanted to defy the odds and outdo Homicide Hank’s achievements.
And defy them he did. Well, almost.
While Pacquiao approaches the crossroads of boxing history, Cotto is right in the middle of it. History will be determined in the nitty-gritty details of leather-exchange inside the ring.
Yes, Manny has undeniably heavenly assets in boxing skills and pure athleticism, but no one in his right mind should ever try to discredit what Cotto brings to the table. Despite that however, I think the major factors favor Pacquiao — and ever so slightly — to covet the Boricua’s welterweight belt.
Size
It does not matter. Yes, I am one of those (in the minority, perhaps) who doesn’t think Pacquiao is bothered by the breadth of Cotto’s midsections. Those who think that it does may have forgotten that Manny’s main sparring partner was Shawn Porter, who is a legitimate middleweight. The “Showtime” from Ohio may have decked Manny clean early in his training, but if you have been following Pacquiao’s relatively chaotic training camp, you would have known that it was Pacquiao who gave Porter the fits that made Roach smile for most of the training days.
Of course, others do point out the weight increase Cotto will bring on fight night. What’s up with the idea of Cotto weighing in more than 15 pounds than Manny? A fighter can only add so much bulk within a 24-hour period; experts believe that it’s unhealthy to gain more than 10% of a boxer’s contracted weight during fight night. Even if Miguel can handle the spike in poundage, will he be able to handle the sluggishness that comes with more weight?
Power
I may have to give this one to Cotto, for obvious reasons. Miguel mostly fights flat-footed, with torso-twisting strength and superior frame lending power to two bombs. Cotto is known to pummel his opponents with sledgehammer hooks to the body until the other boxer could handle it no more.
On the other side of the equation, Pacquiao has carried that same devastating power of his through the weight classes. He was a one-punch, one-knockout wonder before; now, his lethality consists of a barrage of power punches at unorthodox angles designed to weaken the opponent. Sparring partners have said he has the power of a middleweight.
Will Pacquiao KO Cotto? Maybe. Still I wouldn’t place my bet on that one, ‘coz it might be the other way around.
Speed
Much has been said of Pacquiao’s speed and outstanding footwork. I’m afraid Miguel might have to find a way to neutralize his speed, probably hammering away to Pacquiao’s body to take away his breath, or go like Marquez and counterpunch whatever Manny brings. At any rate, Cotto will have a heck of a time executing whatever counter-method he’ll dish out, as virtually no one in Pacquiao’s last several fights, save Marquez, has been able to get past his blazing speed effectively.
Heart
Is Cotto really damaged goods? Will he be able to fight Pacquiao with a “pre-Margarito” mindset? I’ll let that question linger up to the fight, where his mind/heart condition will be crystal-clear. The picture of guts he displayed during that Clottey fight wasn’t entirely convincing. Pacquiao’s heart on the other hand, has been clearly unquestioned ever since… he plunged himself into dirt-paying amateur fights in Manila. Notwithstanding the uncertainties, both fighters have undoubtedly the biggest hearts in today’s boxing, giving us the Firepower match the boxing world really needs right now.
I have Pacquiao giving Cotto a KO anywhere in the first six rounds of the fight. Other than that, I’d be more than happy to let anything go.
Manny Pacquiao once lived rough and scraped together money for his family selling doughnuts on street corners. Now he stops a nation when he boxes, has the ear of presidents, stars in movies and has a grand piano in his living room.
Pacquiao’s rise has been phenomenal. Tomorrow he challenges Miguel Cotto for the WBO welterweight title at the MGM Grand Garden here, aiming to cement his place in the sport’s history books.
Victory would give Pacquiao a world title in a sixth weight division, an incredible run up the divisions for a boxer who started as a light-flyweight.
But his story outside the ring is equally astonishing. Today he lives in a presidential-style mansion in General Santos City in the Philippines, only miles from the streets where he grew up in poverty.
The dire financial situation in the country means that his home is surrounded by armed guards, but the multimillionaire inside has not forgotten his roots. He has given millions to charity and wants to run for Congress to improve the lot of his people. Pacquiao says he wants to help the people; Bob Arum, his promoter, calls him the Filipino welfare system.
“Here’s a guy who has come from an essentially Third World country, but he has become a world figure,” Arum said. “He can deal with statespeople and people say how well he handled himself when he met President Clinton.
“I have never seen anything like the adulation that he is treated by Filipinos and all over the world. That is something that even [Muhammad] Ali never even really had — that type of frenzy, with 90 million people in the Philippines and 11 million Filipino people around the world.”
In politics, Pacquiao is likely to be a uniting force. When he faces Cotto, life will stop in his homeland, even the skirmishes between government forces and Islamic insurgents.
Pacquiao, 30, often needs police escorts to move around. Everywhere he goes, Filipinos throng to catch a glimpse of the small man with the ever-present smile. He and his wife, Jinkee, have four children, the youngest born last year, a daughter they named Queen Elizabeth. But his life is not confined to boxing or politics. In his homeland he sings on television — and breeds fighting cocks.
While cockfighting is repellent to many and illegal in some countries, in the Philippines it remains a popular pastime. Large crowds gather to watch and bet on the fights and Pacquiao’s presence, whether he is sponsoring a fight or owns one of the contestants, ensures a capacity crowd.
Although described by a friend as “a terrible actor”, he has appeared in several films and spent last summer filming one called Wapakman, in which he played a masked superhero. It is due out in the Philippines this month.
Suddenly, Manila’s fashionable gay men were asking each other: ‘Would you do Manny?’ The answer: ‘Yes’
WHEN ERIC PINEDA first sat down with Manny Pacquiao in 2004, just when the boxer was about to make it big, he did not find it easy to spot the diamond in the GenSan boy’s rough coating.
“He was just wearing jogging pants, a jacket and a beanie cap,” recalls Pineda, a veteran publicist, political and marketing consultant, who is white-haired and speaks with the husky, imposing voice of a longtime sports commentator.
He is now the business manager of Pacquiao, after the boxer and Rod Nazario, the man who hired Pineda to sell Manny as a product endorser, had a falling out a few years back. He told Manny in those early days, “You win your fight with Morales and your whole world will change, 360 degrees.”
And that was what happened. After Pacquiao won his second bout with Morales with a TKO in Las Vegas in 2006, there was no stopping the fast and furious pace of the Pacquiao phenomenon. He was fighting in the biggest boxing venues in the world, knocking out Oscar dela Hoya in 2008, declared the number one “pound-for-pound” boxer in the world by boxing bible Ring Magazine, stopping for photo ops with the likes of Mark Wahlberg, and being followed by TMZ.
New and improved
Clearly, the “’siyano hip-hop” look Manny sported in ’94 is now but a blurry memory tucked in the farthest nook of his walk-in closet. These days he is making the rounds of parties and press appearances either in a bold colored argyle sweater and a matching painter’s cap ala Pharell Williams, or speaking to fans in England in a windowpane-patterned gray Giorgio Armani suit paired with spanking new leather shoes in tan.
Observers say people began seeing a new and improved Manny when he moved the parting of his hair from the Palito-style middle to the more proper and gentlemanly left.
Suddenly, Manila’s fashionable gay men were asking each other: “Would you do Manny?” The answer: “Yes.”
After all, while he obviously doesn’t look like a fashion model, one could say he embodies the modern GQ archetype: A successful man in a well-made suit, an athletic body underneath, supple skin thanks to years of training and discipline, and for that bit of edge, a neatly trimmed mustache and goatee perfectly framing a smile that is pleasant, naughty and aware of where he is in the world order.
Pacquiao was recently named by Time Magazine as one of the world’s most influential people of 2009. He also joins the likes of Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant in this year’s Celebrity 100 List in Forbes Magazine, which reports that he earned $40 million from the second half of 2008 to the first half of 2009 alone, making him the sixth highest paid athlete in the world.
Just recently, he appeared in the latest Nike TVC where he shared screen time with Bryant, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. You can’t get any bigger than that.
On Philippine shores, his name these days is only associated with the top brands: McDonalds, San Miguel Beer, Ginebra and Smart. Other major endorsements run the gamut from flavored energy drinks to pain relief tablets.
Snazzy style
He is our very own Million-Dollar Man, and he is playing it to the hilt. But the snazzy personal style didn’t happen overnight, or because a stylist was made to join his entourage.
Eric and his wife Macy, a publicist in Manila, began by giving Manny clothes as gifts, stuff he could wear to appearances and functions.
“We tried to convince him that if you look at your contemporaries in his category, all of them wear suits. So dahan-dahan nasanay naman, simula sa jeans muna, then long sleeves; slowly the suit came into the picture.”
The suit has another layer of attraction for Manny: He had recently seen “The Godfather 2” and thought Al Pacino’s wardrobe was something he could adopt. Hence, the grey windowpane prints, the occasional vests over a crisp white shirt, finished off with a derby hat. He sometimes shops with his entourage or with family, going to stores like Banana Republic for casuals and relaxed suits, Salvatore Ferragamo and Armani for the more formal outfits.
Shopping haunts
He likes going to the Metro Park Mall in LA and scouring the Ed Hardy stores there, also True Religion, Rock and Republic and Seven for All Mankind. For shoes, he prefers the ones with narrow square tips, from Louis Vuitton or Ferragamo.
But the Pacman’s accessory-of-the-moment are clearly the hats. He recently bought $2,000 worth of hats in LA, from the fedoras made popular by Justin Timberlake to painter’s caps and the raffia styles that reminds Manny of home.
“Buri ’yan,” he would say. “Gumagawa kami niyan sa GenSan.”
If there is anything left from what the Pinedas call Manny’s “hip-hopper” days, it’s his fascination for bling.
“As most Asians and Filipinos, you associate your success with the watch you wear, so when he won the Barrera fight, he bought his first Rolex watch, a Daytona with a mother-of-pearl face,” says Pineda.
This was followed by another Rolex after the last Morales match, a bezel diamond-studded piece. Recently, Pineda reports, Manny has taken to wearing a Patek Philippe for more formal occasions. Manny also has an 18k gold necklace with a pendant shaped like two boxing gloves, also diamond-studded, a gift from one of his sponsors.
These days, when in the Philippines, Manny shuttles between his palatial home in General Santos and the family home in Brentville in Santa Rosa, Laguna, a property the Pacquiaos acquired because of its proximity to the Brent International School where Manny’s two sons are enrolled.
When work demands that he be mostly in Manila, for tapings of his show “Pinoy Records,” for example, and the Robin Padilla-headlined teleserye “Totoy Bato,” he mostly stays at the Renaissance Hotel where he and his entourage of 10 to 15 people (which includes his lawyer, bodyguards, personal masseur) occupy top-money suites.
Bullet-proof cars
Team Pacquiao drives around the city in a couple of bullet-proof vehicles: A Hummer 2 and an Escalade. Pineda says his ward is really not a diehard car fan, anyway.
“For him it’s just a way to get him from point A to point B,” he says.
Still, the right car is part of the star package. “When we started working, I asked him to buy a new car. ‘Manny Pacquiao ka eh.’ He bought a brand new Pajero which he uses when he’s in Manila. And then he bought a big trailer, a Porsche Cayenne na binili sa US tapos inuwi dito, a Mercedes SL 500 sportscar. He wanted to buy a Lamborghini but I advised him not to. ’Di mo kailangan yan, baka maaksidente ka pa.’”
Clearly, he is more keen on acquiring real estate property. Apart from the Gensan and Brentville homes, the Pacquiaos, says the Pinedas, have several other properties: A townhouse near Medical City in Ortigas, a house in BF Homes Parañaque and another in Davao, all bought within the past four years.
The house in LA is already in its finishing touches, with wife Jinkee being very hands-on when it comes to the choice in furniture, in consultation with an American interior designer. The house, a 4,500-sq m property located in an upscale neighborhood dotted with celebrity homes, is reported to have cost $2.17 million and was bought in March this year.
While the Pacquiaos are clearly learning the ropes of living big, Pineda insists his ward’s character hasn’t changed much. His idea of a party is still a big celebration with all of his friends where everything is happening all at once: Drinking, darts, billiards, singing, dancing, card games.
“He is still as grounded as when I first met him,” says Pineda.
Giving back
And the guy knows how to give back. He has consistently partnered with the PCSO and Pagcor for charity projects. He is building a village called Pacquiao Heights in General Santos which will have factories that will give jobs and benefit the people of Saranggani.
Indeed, the poor boy from Gensan who dropped out of school at a very young age to help his mother sell bread has done very well for himself. He hangs out with Hollywood stars, shakes hands with state leaders and tycoons, shops in the best stores, and dines in the best restaurants.
How does Manny Pacquiao order in a place like, say, the upscale Nuvo at Manila’s Greenbelt restaurant row?
“I would usually order for him,” says Pineda. “Alam ko naman ang gusto niya eh, basta may beef, chicken, fish. No pork.”
Pacquiao may not be the best person to peruse a fine dining menu, but the guy certainly knows how to reward excellent service. The last time Team Pacquiao checked out of the Renaissance Hotel in Makati, the staff bid their very important guest goodbye with bigger smiles than usual.
The tip Manny left them: P100,000. In style parlance, that’s what you call a flourish.
Reprinted from Filipino Style, California-based magazine for Fil-Americans.
After watching the arrival of both Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, I noticed that Cotto’s eyes were sunken, he looked surprised and wide eyed like he saw a ghost, that look is the look of a man who hasn’t eaten in days with no fluids in him. The same look was on previous Pacman victims, Oscar De La Hoya and Erik Morales. That is a key sign of dehydration.
For those of you who say 1 pound doesn’t make a difference in a fight, it sure does make a difference when a fighter is coming down from 175 + pounds. Pacman on the other hand was still fresh looking, no sign of dehydration at all, like he had a big glass of water right before his arrival. He had a big smile, probably from knowing that Cotto is killing himself to make weight. I don’t blame Manny, I would be smiling too if I had such an advantage over my opponent as well.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said if Cotto goes above the 145 lb limit he will cancel the fight and call it off, basically denying fans of a fight they wanted to see. If I were Pacman and Cotto missed weight by a few pounds and weighed in at 147 lbs, I would give that to Cotto, so I could prove myself against a fresh guy and as Manny says “make the people happy”.
Another reason why Manny should still go through with the fight if Cotto doesn’t make weight is for legacy. If he lets Cotto come in at the 147 lb welterweight limit, he could finally claim that he won a title in legitimate fashion with no catch weight or stipulations.
