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Some people think a little “birdie” spoke to Miguel Cotto as they played golf on a fancy course in Puerto Rico.
Some cynical people, my favorite kind, think the little “birdie” goes by the name of Oscar…De La Hoya…and that the little “birdie” told Cotto to demand that Manny Pacquiao fight him at the 147 pound welterweight limit or, barring that, at least at 145 pounds.
o stick with golf parlance, it would be “par for the course” for one fight promoter to stick his sand wedge in where it doesn’t belong, particularly given the history of bad blood between Oskie and his former promoter and Pacman promoter Bob Arum.
Meanwhile, respected journalists Recah Trinidad in steamy Manila and Housecat Matt Stolow in steamy Dallas are rattling their chains about the issue, implying that he would be taking “the Man” out of “Manny” if the Pinoy Idol continues to demand that Nov. 14 opponent Cotto agree to a contractual weight limitation of 143 pounds. Our Indy based Fight Sports Examiner Dennis Guillermo has also questioned how macho such a demand really is.
That could be cool so soon after Halloween, seeing Pacman assaulting a scarecrow.
To throw more gasoline on the growing bonfire, Pacquiao lawyer Franklin “Jeng” Gacal, also known as The Jackal, took to the radio airwaves in the Philippines to state emphatically that, unless the Cotto camp says yes to 143 pounds,
Sugar Shane Mosley will be called forward from the “on deck circle” that Arum banished him to.
In other words, Oscar’s Golden Boy would replace Arum’s own Boricua Bomber.
PACLAND IN TURMOIL!
I just spoke to jet setter Arum, though, interrupting his Lake Como-Lake Garda Northern Italy vacation, and the Top Rank honcho laid down the law.
“I don’t know why Gacal would say that. Where did he say that?” Arum said. “Look, one thing we are not going to do is jeopardize any fighter’s health. I gave a contract to Michael Koncz for Manny to sign and it has a 145 pound limit. Miguel agreed to two pounds less than the welterweight limit.
“The fight is going to happen at 145 pounds. Forget all this talk because that is what it’s going to be.”
Arum hinted that Gacal’s saber rattling might not be overly serious.
Arum told me he will not interrupt his Mediterranean holiday excursion and will stick to an itinerary that his him landing back in Los Angeles on Sunday for a Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. press conference on Monday.
It is my understanding that Manny will sign the contract and I will get it back when I return,” Arum said. “I don’t see a problem here, I really don’t.”
I was about to ask old duffer Arum about the golfing tete a tete on Isla Encanta when the phone clicked off.
Parsimonious but always harmonious Bob may have thought I was calling collect. Maybe he's got a prepaid mobile phone, I don't know.
Looks like another tempest in a teapot in Pacland.
Who in their right mind would walk away from a $12 million guarantee to take a tougher opponent for what could well be less money?
Oh, you’re right. Pacquiao is a fighter. How could he be in his right mind?
All this smoke and steam, you ask?
It’s coming out of the teapot.
Make mine green tea as it is a health elixir.
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