After Hatton, Pacquiao groomed to fight Cotto

April 17, 2009, 9:44pm Bob Arum swears he is not looking past Ricky Hatton, but the Hall of Fame promoter already has a big-named opponent lined up for Filipino star Manny Pacquiao, who is set to rumble with the brash Briton on May 2 in Las Vegas. “Miguel Cotto,” Arum told the Bulletin over lunch at Manila Hotel Friday hours after arriving from the US. Arum said Cotto, a native of Puerto Rico, is fighting Joshua Clottey of Ghana on June 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York, and Pacquiao himself has told him that meeting Cotto is tops in his mind. “We can do it at Madison Square Garden,” said Arum, noting that Pacquiao will be at ringside when Cotto squares off with Clottey in the Big Apple. However, Arum reveals that should a fight with Cotto happen, it will not take place until late-November. “Manny told me that after this one (with Hatton), he would be available to fight next in late-November,” said Arum, who is in town to preside over Sunday morning’s double world championship fight at the Araneta Coliseum featuring flyweight champion Nonito Donaire and light-fly title challenger Brian Viloria. Arum cited that Hatton could pose problems for Pacquiao and while “anything can happen in boxing, (but) “speed kills and nine out of ten, speed wins as in any other sport.” Besides, Arum rationalizes, “Hatton can’t fight southpaws.” Arum said Pacquiao’s left-handed stance and his lightning-fast hands would mess up Hatton that the fight will end in the same manner Pacquiao won over David Diaz. “Pacquiao figures to win and Pacquiao figures to win big,” said Arum, a seventy-something Harvard-educated lawyer from New York. “Manny and Freddie have all this figured out.” Told that the now-retired Floyd Mayweather Sr. appears to be the right choice for a post-Hatton fight, Arum said this early that “Mayweather wants “60 percent” of the revenue and “I feel right now that Manny deserves the bigger percentage because he is the star.” Another option is for Pacquiao to battle Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. “in a catchweight of 150 lbs,” said Arum. http://mb.com.ph/articles/202785/after-hatton-pacquiao-groomed-fight-cotto