Insider Notebook: Pacquiao-Cotto; Linares; Juanma; More

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Robert Morales - Promoting the Nov. 14 welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto at MGM Grand in Las Vegas appears to be a win-win situation for Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters.

If Cotto wins, he could become the most popular fighter ever from Puerto Rico. And it would do little to hurt Pacquiao, a world-renown figure who is worshipped in his beloved Philippines.

A Pacquiao win would only further cement his legacy as one of the great fighters of the past 50 years, and Arum's biggest cash cow would give even more milk.

Cotto's career would only be tremendously hurt if he were to go down without a fight, and we all know that won't happen.

We spoke with Bob Arum from Cotto's training camp in Tampa, Fla., on Monday. He had his own reasons for considering this a win-win situation.

"I agree with that somewhat," Arum said via telephone. "What I really believe is that this will be one of the greatest fights in history and there won't be a loser in the fight. Even if a guy gets stopped or loses a decision, he won't be a loser. [details]

[Pullcounter]

By Robert Morales - Promoting the Nov. 14 welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto at MGM Grand in Las Vegas appears to be a win-win situation for Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters.

If Cotto wins, he could become the most popular fighter ever from Puerto Rico. And it would do little to hurt Pacquiao, a world-renown figure who is worshipped in his beloved Philippines.

A Pacquiao win would only further cement his legacy as one of the great fighters of the past 50 years, and Arum's biggest cash cow would give even more milk.

Cotto's career would only be tremendously hurt if he were to go down without a fight, and we all know that won't happen.

We spoke with Bob Arum from Cotto's training camp in Tampa, Fla., on Monday. He had his own reasons for considering this a win-win situation.

"I agree with that somewhat," Arum said via telephone. "What I really believe is that this will be one of the greatest fights in history and there won't be a loser in the fight. Even if a guy gets stopped or loses a decision, he won't be a loser. [details]

imho this fight is a lose-lose situation for cotto... he has nothing to gain but money. if he wins, he beat up a smaller dude, if he loses he got beat up by a smaller dude.

not sure what is linares' problem... might be the weight, but we gotta see what happens next.

juanma should stay at 122 lbs and get a little more polish... he shouldn't be struggling against mtagwa. and he needs to beat caballero at 122 lbs.

vasquez could be rusty, but he could be shot... 3 wars w/ raf does that.

[Silencers]

Dan Rafael reported that Linares got knocked out in sparring in preparation for the Salgado fight too so maybe that weight really did take a big toll on him.

I'm not sure about Juanma's weight problems, he looked very comfortable at the weigh in and he was on weight for like a month before the fight, it'll be interesting to see what this velocity trainer has to say.

Solis used to be even quicker when he was lighter, as it is, he has some of the fastest hands in the division but when he was lighter, he had fast feet to go along with the fast hands and his hands were faster as well.

I have mixed thoughts about Vazquez-Priolo, Priolo was knocked out 5 of his last 6 fights but they were at 118 and even at 112, Priolo is 5'8, pretty tall for a guy making 118 and 112, his punch resistance might be better at 126, he looked very comfortable at the weight. But then again, Priolo has fought his career at 118 and below, it could be a worrying sign that Vazquez couldn't move Priolo around on the inside considering how he should be the stronger man. Vazquez' defense was quite bad too, Priolo almost couldn't miss with right hands over Vazquez' left. I don't think Vazquez is shot, I think he's worn down but I think he has a few good fights left in him, his legs looked OK for a fighter who has been through the wars that he has been through, in fact I thought his legs looked better than Marquez' did in his comeback fight, Marquez just had that one punch knockout power to take out his opponent with.

[Pullcounter]

oh yeah... arum said cotto only fights good when he's agressive....

:flame:

[Al Haymon]

Arum gets to keep both sides of this fight. This bout will do about 800K, so that will be a nice cut for the Bobfather.

[Bushidō]

The weight was the last thing I thought of. I thought he just got caught cold. But who knows. I'd like to hear it from Linares. Maybe its just due to the inactivity between fights. We'll see though. He's still young so I assumed he could keep making 130

[Bushidō]

Dan Rafael reported that Linares got knocked out in sparring in preparation for the Salgado fight too so maybe that weight really did take a big toll on him.

I'm not sure about Juanma's weight problems, he looked very comfortable at the weigh in and he was on weight for like a month before the fight, it'll be interesting to see what this velocity trainer has to say.

Solis used to be even quicker when he was lighter, as it is, he has some of the fastest hands in the division but when he was lighter, he had fast feet to go along with the fast hands and his hands were faster as well.

I have mixed thoughts about Vazquez-Priolo, Priolo was knocked out 5 of his last 6 fights but they were at 118 and even at 112, Priolo is 5'8, pretty tall for a guy making 118 and 112, his punch resistance might be better at 126, he looked very comfortable at the weight. But then again, Priolo has fought his career at 118 and below, it could be a worrying sign that Vazquez couldn't move Priolo around on the inside considering how he should be the stronger man. Vazquez' defense was quite bad too, Priolo almost couldn't miss with right hands over Vazquez' left. I don't think Vazquez is shot, I think he's worn down but I think he has a few good fights left in him, his legs looked OK for a fighter who has been through the wars that he has been through, in fact I thought his legs looked better than Marquez' did in his comeback fight, Marquez just had that one punch knockout power to take out his opponent with.

Do you got a link to that?

[Silencers]

Do you got a link to that?

Linares had trained for the fight in Las Vegas and, from what we hear from multiple sources, had been knocked out cold in the gym in sparring by prospect Lonnie Smith and had a hard time with another prospect, Brandon Rios. Perhaps whatever Linares' issues were came with him into the fight.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=rafael_dan&id=4553218

[ProBox1]

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...dan&id=4553218

That's not true. I heard from multiple sources that Smith knocked Linares down. It was a hard knockdown and Linares was hurt but He was NEVER knocked out cold. I heard Linares tried to play it off and blamed a sore thigh for being dropped. Someone should note that Linares handled Smith very easily a day prior to being dropped.

[Silencers]

That's not true. I heard from multiple sources that Smith knocked Linares down. It was a hard knockdown and Linares was hurt but He was NEVER knocked out cold. I heard Linares tried to play it off and blamed a sore thigh for being dropped. Someone should note that Linares handled Smith very easily a day prior to being dropped.

Thanks for clearing that up, a knockdown still isn't good in sparring though for a top class guy like Linares.