By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Team Pacquiao’s inner circle which includes trainer Freddie Roach, adviser Michael Koncz and Manny Pacquiao himself are expected to size up Miguel Cotto (33-1, 27 KO’s)when he fights Joshua Clottey (35-2, 20 KO’s) at Madison Square Garden on June 13.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who also handles the hard-hitting Puerto Rican who lost his WBA welterweight title to Antonio Margarito by an 11th round TKO last July 26 with Margarito subsequently losing to Shane Mosley by a 9th round TKO on January 24 this year said Pacquiao would watch Cotto’s fight amidst indications that Arum was quietly pushing for a Cotto fight.
Arum told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that Pacquiao would receive the award for “Fighter of the Year” from the Boxing Writers Association of America on the eve of the Cotto fight but that right now they were going to savor Pacquiao’s sensational 2nd round annihilation of Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton and not talk about a future opponent.
Koncz told us in an overseas telephone conversation from Las Vegas where he was finishing up some details connected with the Hatton fight that Pacquiao would attend the Cotto fight because Filipino Rodel Mayol was fighting for the world title against .undefeated Ivan Calderon for the WBO light flyweight title.
Koncz himself didn’t look favorably on a Cotto fight pointing out that pointing out that he was “a good body puncher and much bigger than Manny” and figured it was “a dangerous fight when we have other options.”
Trainer Freddie Roach was not prepared to allow Pacquiao to consider fighting Cotto at 147 pounds even though he mauled Oscar De La Hoya at that same weight because Cotto presented bigger problems.
Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times quoted Roach as saying “if Cotto wants to come down a few pounds we can make that happen or we can go with Shane Mosley” the reigning 147 pound champion .
Mosley himself downplayed a possible Cotto fight for Pacquiao saying “I don’t see any reason they’d want to fight Cotto when I’m the champion who beat Margarito who beat Cotto.”
Mosley predicted a fight against Pacquiao would be “a classic fight. We both have good hand speed and power and I think the fans want to see the best fight the best.” Mosley at the same time indicated he was prepared to talk about coming down to a catch weight of 143 which is what Floyd Mayweather Jr agreed to against Juan Manuel Marquez in their scheduled July 18 clash.
Most members of Pacquiao’s inner circle indicated that Mayweather Jr had lost out by signing to fight Marquez and announcing it before the Pacquiao- Ricky Hatton showdown and as a result lost out.
Koncz recalled that Mayweather Jr “kinda slit his own throat” from a financial aspect when they were “negotiating and getting close” with Mayweather he went and did a deal to fight Marquez which Koncz believes won’t draw. Koncz said he expects the Hatton fight to generate “somewhere in the vicinity of two million” in pay-per-view buys “so now their leverage is gone.”
Arum himself told us that if ever they do a Mayweather Jr fight the most he can expect to get is 35 percent as against 65 percent for Pacquiao.
Koncz said that Pacquiao felt “fabulous” after a victory party hosted by the Mandalay Bay at which he had a band and enjoyed singing for almost an hour while wife Jinkee who normally doesn’t stay long also stayed behind until the celebration was over because the party was “elegant and she liked it so much.”
He said there was “no pushing, shoving crowd.”
Pacquiao, with customary humility said he was "just lucky to hit him first with a right hook." Referring to the crippling left that seperated Hatton from his senses in the second round, the world's unquestioned pound-for-pound king remarked, it was a hard punch. I didn't think he will get up."
