Don't shoot messenger, fire away at Cotto for dispute

Don't shoot messenger, fire away at Cotto for dispute July 23, 1:37 PM Don’t shoot the messenger. Don't waste bullets on an innocent party on this furious flap which has rocked Pacland, Cottoland and the entire boxing universe. But take aim at Miguel Angel Cotto all you want, have target practice if you wish, because he is the one giving orders to his respected San Juan attorney, Gabriel Penagaricano Jr. I don’t know Junior well but I do know his father, a fine man and a distinguished attorney who was a trusted counselor to Don Jose Sulaiman and the WBC long before the WBO was created. It is the great warrior from Caguas who calls the shots, taking his lawyer’s advice into consideration, and Cotto considers his most valuable piece of jewelry, the WBO welterweight title bout, to be just another bargaining chip on the table with his up and down relationship with promoter Bob Arum. If Cotto doesn’t agree that he is defending the WBO diadem against Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14, then shame on the Boricua Bomber. He’s getting paid millions partially because of his world championship status and not because he’s a unique entertainer. I hate to say it but it might be a massive golfing scandal if it turns out that Cotto’s reluctance to put the WBO belt on the line against eager to snatch it Megamanny. Cotto and WBO President Paco Valcarcel, whose relationship with Oscar De La Hoya runs deep (he has a huge golf photo of Oscar and himself in his law office), want the world to believe that the pair played 18 holes of golf recently at the Bahia Beach course without saying a single word about boxing. I believe that as much as I believe that the Tooth Fairy still visits Leon Spinks. I believe that like I believe Michael Jackson steered clear of popping painkillers like popcorn. Sure, Oscar and Miguel, playing golf in an amazing coincidental meeting at the first hole, only talked about birdies, about bunkers and about laying up from just off the green. They talked about “green” all right, the kind of “green” that fighters like to extract from promoter and that promoters like Arum and Oscar like to keep in their own pocket. It would come as no surprise if De La Hoya, always ready to throw a monkey wrench into a Top Rank promotion, suggested that Cotto play it coy on the title. On the other hand, given his closeness to Valcarcel, why would Oscar want to dent the WBO treasury? I can’t ask Paco because he was in court, not on the fairway, that particular day. On this one, I hereby give Paco a mulligan. All this back and forth poppycock is, I must note, just par for the course.