By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is so hyped up for his forthcoming “Fire Power” showdown with WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on November 14 that his trainers have been forced to hold him back.

Conditioning expert Alex Ariza said he had “to pull him back and forth when he started running this morning and had to literally grab him to slow him down. Its no joke. Once you get this guy started man, forget it. He is a juggernaut and will not stop.”

At the Wild Card Gym of celebrated trainer Freddie Roach, Pacquiao sparred eight rounds, four  with Raymund Beltran and four with Urbano Antillon.

After the workout Pacquiao told Ariza he “felt good” and he looked good and Roach indicated that “what he did in the ring today in sparring, he could do all night to Miguel Cotto if he wants to. “

Ariza said he was “just turning those guys in the middle of the ring. It looked like a bullfighter. So smooth the way he was doing it. Those two guys (Beltran and Antillon) fight similar to Cotto. They come forward to throw good punches, short hooks but Manny was on point today. Just too fast and too good.”

The conditioning guru who helped Roach turn Pacquiao into a devastating punching machine said “now that we got him (Pacquiao) where we want him its just to keep him from pushing himself too hard until he just kind of tapers in to next week.”

Meantime, three-time world champion Cotto who is regarded as the pride of Puerto Rico showed he too is in great shape and ready to rumble against the Philippines hero, Pacquiao.

During a packed media day workout in Los Angeles, Cotto who began training almost one month before Pacquiao who is aiming to win a record-breaking world title in a seventh weight division has remained quietly confident that he would retain his title and also grab the coveted,  World Boxing Council “Diamond Belt” which is studded with diamonds and other precious  stones.

The exodus of Philippine government officials to watch the fight which will be telecast in the country by Solar Sports and on a pay-per-view basis in cinemas, stadiums, restaurants and bars nationwide, has forced the ruling party to postpone its convention to pick its standard bearer and running mate for the presidential elections in May 2010 and have, in the process, come under fire from tens of thousands still reeling from the calamitous floods caused by back-to-back typhoons that left a swath of death and destruction.