by ALEX P. VIDAL
LOS ANGELES, California – It’s final: the much-anticipated battle between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and International Boxing Organization (IBO) light welterweight king Manny Pacquiao has been called off this year.
Instead, Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KO’s) will face World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto (34-1, 27 KO’s) for 12 rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 14.
Top Rank boss Bob Arum decided not to wait for the result of the postponed shootout between Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez after Mayweather suffered an injury in the cartilage prompting the Golden Boy Promotion to reset the 12-round fight in September in time for Mayweather’s recovery.
Had the fight pushed through on July 18 as originally scheduled, Pacquiao, 30, would have faced the winner, it was learned.
Pacquiao had earlier announced he would fight the unbeaten Mayweather on October 17.
To avoid traffic, Arum, 77, summoned the 28-year-old Cotto, a Puerto Rican who stands an inch taller than the Filipino wrecker.
Cotto is fresh from a 12-round split decision win over unheralded Joshua Clottey to retain his WBO diadem at the Madison Square Garden in New York on June 13.
Cotto dropped Clottey (35-3, 20 KO’s) with a left hook in the first round but failed to put away the 32-year-old challenger from Accra, Ghana. An accidental headbutt inflicted an ugly gash in Cotto’s left eye and referre Arthur Mercante Jr. nearly stopped the fight.
It was Cotto’s first defense of the title he secured on Feb. 21, this year by knocking out Michael Jennings in five rounds also in the same arena.
Cotto is a former World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight champion since December 2, 2006 when he captured the vacant title via 5th round TKO over Carlos Quintana at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
He defended the belt four times and lost it to Mexico’s Antonio Margarito in a violent 11th round stoppage defeat on July 26, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Cotto’s biggest wins since turning professional in 2001 were against former world champion Zab Judah (TKO 11th round) and reigning WBA super welterweight champion Shane Mosley (12-round unanimous decision), all in defense of Cotto’s WBA 147-lb crown.
If he wins against the Caguas-born Cotto, Pacquiao may next face Mayweather in 2010 before the national elections in the Philippines where he will run for a legislative post to represent his district in Mindanao set on May 11.
Cotto has a knockout average of 77.14 percent against Pacquiao’s 68.52 percent. /MP
No comments:
Post a Comment