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Caguas, P.R. – A large crowd of Boxing fans showed up today at the Caguas “Centro de Bellas Artes” to get a glimpse of two of today’s most exciting fighters. The public was treated to a promotional reel of Miguel Cotto’s and Manny Pacquiao’s previous victories before the participants of “Fire Power” made their entrance rising from under the stage to the roar of the crowd.
Top Rank’s main man, Bob Arum, went on stage first and quickly reminded everyone of the reason for the gathering: the greatest fight of the year and possibly of the decade. To support his claim, Arum mentioned that not only was the WBO Welterweight title currently held by Cotto on the line but that the WBC had commissioned a special belt adorned with diamonds which is set to go home with the winner of the fight.
Arum introduced each of the speakers to address the public in the conference among which were Caguas’s Mayor, William Miranda Marín, the Secretary of Sports and Recreation of Puerto Rico, Henry Neumann, current WBO Jr. Middleweight champion Daniel Santos, WBO’s president Francisco Valcarcel, trainers Freddie Roach and José “Joe” Santiago and finally the fighters themselves.
Santos, who is set to defend against undefeated Yuri Foreman in the undercard of Cotto vs. Pacquiao, thanked the public for showing up and urged to watch the fights. He said he’s excited and ready to get in the ring again and added that his money is on Cotto by a knockout.
Top rated trainer Freddie Roach kept it very short at the podium and basically just thanked everyone for the treatment he had received. Cotto’s trainer, Joe Santiago was just as short but added at the end that he was confident of his fighter’s victory.
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Before “The Pacman” took the stage, Arum spoke about the fighter’s origin in poverty and his first fight for the equivalent of twenty dollars. He told people about how he was self taught and how he had earned a high school diploma and a bachelor’s degree. The accolades didn’t stop there and by the time he introduced the pound for pound king, the public was cheering for the foreigner.
Manny graciously accepted the ovation before explaining that he understands that Puerto Ricans will root for Cotto and Filipinos will do the same for him. With his usual smile he commented on Cotto’s abilities and promised the they would each do their best to make their people happy.
Again Arum would take the podium. This time he would speak of Puerto Rico’s history in boxing, mentioning names like (Wilfredo) Gómez, (Wilfred) Benítez and (Félix) Trinidad. He would go on to talk about Cotto’s Olympic background and his incursion into professionalism and how he knew from the beginning that Cotto was special. He would take a leap of faith in saying Cotto would eventually be one of the greats of all time but was straight on the mark when he said that he was a fighter and a man all Puerto Ricans can be proud of.
Cotto would take the stage last and keep it very short. After the crowd settled down, he thanked all in attendance and especially Pacquiao and his team. He did this in both English and Spanish and would then go on to guarantee a victory for Puerto Rico.
The event was characterized by both fighter’s brevity and respect when speaking. This quality is usual for both Cotto and Pacquiao who prefer making their statements come fight time.
I must note though, that when Arum was presenting Cotto, he made a reference to his loss to Antonio Margarito and mentioned there was “doubt” there. It may be the first time Mr. Arum has not openly defended the fighter regarding Margarito’s suspension following his loss to Shane Mosely.
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