by ALEX P. Vidal
SAN DIEGO, California – This time, no alphabet world champion-ship would be at stake.
The oddity didn’t stop there: Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto will trade mitts in the "new" category – "catch weight."
The non-official weight, coined by astute promoters as compromise to pair highly rated fighters in borderline weights, would be two pound lesser than the regular welter-weight (147 pounds) and five pounds higher than Pacquiao’s official weight (140 pounds) when he demolished Ricky Hatton in two rounds on May 2 in Las Vegas for the obscure International Boxing Organization (IBO) light welterweight championship.
Pacquiao’s IBO and Cotto’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crowns will be figuratively deposited in the locker rooms as they lock horns for 12 rounds in a card to be promoted by Top Rank on a pay-per-view on HBO.
But even if the Pacquiao-Cotto slugfest set on November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada is non-title, the 30-year-old Pacquiao, who is part-time politician, said he would be putting on line his reputation as best boxer pound-of-pound.
Despite the non-championship setto, Pacquiao is expected to draw a big number of paying fans as he is still considered as top grosser in terms of tickets sold in his four previous performances alternately at the Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand.
POTENTIAL
"I agreed to fight Cotto in 145 pounds because I know he has the biggest potential to give me a good fight and to entertain boxing fans," Pacquiao revealed in a recent website column in vernacular.
The richest Filipino athlete also expressed concern about the decline in attendance in many sports events this year saying "fans appeared to be not anymore excited."
He attributed this to the economic meltdown in the United States and the injuries suffered by some boxers that caused the postponement of some major blockbuster fights notably the Floyd Mayweather versus Juan Manuel Marquez 12-round duel which was reset from July 18 to September 19, this year.
Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KO’s) said fans want him to fight Cotto (34-1, 27 KO’s) as both their styles are "exciting" and "surely not a boring one."
Pacquiao said he was sure he would not need to chase the 28-year-old Cotto around the ring as the Puerto Rican idol has promised not to retreat from start to end.
Team Pacquiao is banking on Cotto’s "lackluster" performance in his most recent outing on June 13 this year at the Madison Square Garden in New York where he scored a split decision win over Joshua Clottey to pocket the WBO diadem, his fourth major world championship since turning professional on Feb. 23, 2001 with a first round annihilation of Jason Doucet in Austin, Texas. /MP
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