Taking the 'man' out of 'Man-ny' Pacquiao

http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/Pacquiao-vs-Cotto(7).jpg http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m7d14-Taking-the-man-out-of-Manny-Pacquiao Unless Manny Pacquiao is secretly crippled, he needs to throw away his crutch. I mean his weight crutch. The Pinoy Idol can easily toss it aside as it only weighs two pounds. If Pacquiao is really the one insisting that he won’t fight Miguel Cotto above 143 pounds, then he should be ashamed. If he’s the force behind this silly argument, then he is taking the “Man” out of “Manny.” If it’s just trainer Freddie Roach playing protective Mother Hen and attorney Franklin Gacal backing up Roach, then they are in the wrong here. It demeans Pacquiao, especially his well earned status as the world’s best pound for fighter, to be quibbling over two measly pounds concerning this Nov. 14 bout. Does Pacman wish to look like a bully outside of the ring? Methinks not but he is. Team Pacquiao is trying to give Cotto, a respected fighter and a world champion also, the treatment that superstar Sugar Ray Leonard gave Canadian “Golden Boy” Donnie Lalonde back in 1988. Lalonde was made to agree to pare off five and ½ pounds to get his $5 million jackpot purse against the charismatic Leonard at Caesars Palace in a bout, which oddly enough, was promoted by WWE wrestling impresario Vince McMahon. More on Lalonde, who was a worthy and hard hitting light heavyweight champion in a minute. I spoke to Bob Arum, cavorting with his wife on a lakeside vacation in scenic Northern Italy, earlier Tuesday and he told me, as far as he is concerned as the promoter of both Pacman and Cotto, the bout would go on with a 145 pound weight limit agreement. I know I am perceived as a Packy backer and a Pacmaniac and bodily organ hugger but…right is right and wrong is wrong. Megamanny is the King of the Mountain so he can’t be stressed out over two mere pounds. A compromise between the camps making the weight 144 wouldn’t disturb you, me or the horses in Southern Nevada either but the older Cotto coming down two pounds from the welter limit is enough already. All you Pacmaniacs who will curse me on this, don’t be hypocrites. If it was Floyd Mayweather Jr. doing this you would be going crazy. Pacquiao is not going to lose this fight if the limit is 145. Ditto if the limit is 143 or 144 but the difference is Manny will make himself look like a contractual bully for no good reason. Now back to suicide blond Lalonde (hair dyed by his own hands). The Winnipeg fighter had real talent. He decisioned ruffian Mustapha Hamsho (at 170) and then beat rugged Eddie Davis (173 ¼) to win a light heavyweight crown. He stopped Davis and then stopped Leslie Stewart (weighing 172 ½). Both those fights were in Stewart’s native Trinidad. Cleverly handled by the late manager Dave Wolf, who had Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini previously, Lalonde was no figment of the imagination. He could punch as Leonard found out when he was decked before stopping Lalonde. Lalonde weighed 165 pounds when he fought Leonard or seven ½ pounds less than he had against Stewart. Leonard came in at 165 pounds, his heaviest ever. It was Leonard who called the piper as to weight because he had the drawing power. Wolf would’ve been a fool to refuse and Wolf, who wrote a wonderful book about basketball star Connie Hawkins, was nobody’s fool. Quick story 1: Teddy Atlas trained Lalonde and their split was not amicable. Atlas rang me up with a quote as to Wolf and the fighter which I ran in The New York Post. Referring to their hair, Atlas chirped: “One dies it, the other one buys it.” Wolf wore a constantly shifting toupee. Quick story 2: One night, Team Lalonde was in Ashland, Ky., for a non TV fight and the chosen “tomato can” did not show up. O a 24-2 Lalonde blasted out Frank Walters, a guy out of Minot, ND., who made his pro debut and never fought again. Atlas didn’t like it but Wolf okayed the mismatch. Walters was not a fighter but was part of the Lalonde entourage. It’s something I don’t believe Atlas has ever since discussed. This weight thing has become a crutch for Pacquiao. In this instance, I cannot agree more with fellow Examiner, Dennis dSource Guillermo. If he wants the two pounds so badly, let Pacman pay more money to Cotto like the always slick Leonard and lawyer Mike Trainer did to persuade Marvin Hagler to agree to 12 rounds and not 15, to a smaller ring and to the brand of gloves Leonard wanted. Those concessions were stupidly made and may have cost Hagler a victory in the April 6, 1987, Superfight but they were paid for by Leonard. Three more rounds with nine minutes of action and a smaller ring might have changed the result although I still regard the Leonard decision victory as repugnant. I hope we don’t discover that Manny is playing the diva. Pound for pound kingpins don’t need crutches, Manny.