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Hollywood —Going by Miguel Cotto’s bilingual online micro updates, you’d think that the Puerto Rican boxing star is running a very relaxed camp.
Manny Pacquiao isn’t convinced.
The pound-for-pound king, who has been jovial and worry-free for several consecutive training days now, thinks Cotto, who he will face on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is still shedding off pounds with about eight days to go before fight night.
“I think he’s dieting,” said Pacquiao. Several foreign journalists, who saw Cotto during his press preview Tuesday, think he’s even crash-dieting.
In contrast, Pacquiao is enjoying the benefits of fighting at a heavier weight—he gets to eat more.
“Because of my training, I need to eat,” Pacquiao told reporters after fighting five more rounds of sparring at the Wild Card gym. The Filipino icon is expected to start tapering off drastically from his beastly regimen as he prepares to move out of Los Angeles and into Las Vegas in two days time.
“We’re making sure that I don’t go under the weight.”
Pacquiao normally wakes up at 149 pounds, but his weight easily slips to 146 after training.
Pacquiao sparred against Urbano Antillon and Ray Beltran Saturday, before heading off to an important engagement. He was derailed a few minutes because of crowd issues at the Wild Card parking area, but the Los Angeles Police Department sent squad cars to solve the problem.
The crowd was eventually dispersed in about an hour. (See related story).
Cotto, meanwhile, in his last two posts on his Twitter account, is making it appear he has little worries going into the homestretch of his camp.
“[I’m] at the house, resting,” Cotto posted. The Puerto Rican, who will stake his WBO lightweight crown against Pacquiao, was watching an HBO primer on the fight Saturday, saying “Today’s 24/7 was really good.”
Reacting to a well-wisher Cotto posted in Spanish: “I feel good. I trained hard but I’m very happy.”
Pacquiao feels that the weight issues favor his bid to become the first fighter to win seven world championships in as many weight divisions, an opinion he formed after experiencing how tough it was to meet the super featherweight limit of 130 lbs when he dominated that class.
“It has a big effect on a fighter,” said Pacquiao. who is far from his carefree self every time he struggles to meet the weight. “When a fighter is engaged in a tight battle, it becomes a disadvantage if he had to lose weight before the fight.”
Several journalists who watched Cotto pegged the Puerto Rican at 150 to 152 lb. and even Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, believes that Cotto is struggling to make the weight.
But Cotto’s own conditioning coach, Phil Landman, said his ward will easily meet the catch weight.
“We’ll be fine during the weigh-in,” Landman told reporters last Tuesday.
With Team Pacquiao motoring to Las Vegas Monday, the boxer is expected to take it easy Sunday, with church the only thing really on his schedule.
Pacquiao has been asked to cancel his regular jogging schedule early Sunday morning.
“The say I’ve put in a lot of road work already,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao will spar four or five more rounds Monday before leading a huge convoy through a four-hour road trip to Las Vegas. He already has 149 rounds of sparring thus far.
Manny Pacquiao isn’t convinced.
The pound-for-pound king, who has been jovial and worry-free for several consecutive training days now, thinks Cotto, who he will face on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is still shedding off pounds with about eight days to go before fight night.
“I think he’s dieting,” said Pacquiao. Several foreign journalists, who saw Cotto during his press preview Tuesday, think he’s even crash-dieting.
In contrast, Pacquiao is enjoying the benefits of fighting at a heavier weight—he gets to eat more.
“Because of my training, I need to eat,” Pacquiao told reporters after fighting five more rounds of sparring at the Wild Card gym. The Filipino icon is expected to start tapering off drastically from his beastly regimen as he prepares to move out of Los Angeles and into Las Vegas in two days time.
“We’re making sure that I don’t go under the weight.”
Pacquiao normally wakes up at 149 pounds, but his weight easily slips to 146 after training.
Pacquiao sparred against Urbano Antillon and Ray Beltran Saturday, before heading off to an important engagement. He was derailed a few minutes because of crowd issues at the Wild Card parking area, but the Los Angeles Police Department sent squad cars to solve the problem.
The crowd was eventually dispersed in about an hour. (See related story).
Cotto, meanwhile, in his last two posts on his Twitter account, is making it appear he has little worries going into the homestretch of his camp.
“[I’m] at the house, resting,” Cotto posted. The Puerto Rican, who will stake his WBO lightweight crown against Pacquiao, was watching an HBO primer on the fight Saturday, saying “Today’s 24/7 was really good.”
Reacting to a well-wisher Cotto posted in Spanish: “I feel good. I trained hard but I’m very happy.”
Pacquiao feels that the weight issues favor his bid to become the first fighter to win seven world championships in as many weight divisions, an opinion he formed after experiencing how tough it was to meet the super featherweight limit of 130 lbs when he dominated that class.
“It has a big effect on a fighter,” said Pacquiao. who is far from his carefree self every time he struggles to meet the weight. “When a fighter is engaged in a tight battle, it becomes a disadvantage if he had to lose weight before the fight.”
Several journalists who watched Cotto pegged the Puerto Rican at 150 to 152 lb. and even Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, believes that Cotto is struggling to make the weight.
But Cotto’s own conditioning coach, Phil Landman, said his ward will easily meet the catch weight.
“We’ll be fine during the weigh-in,” Landman told reporters last Tuesday.
With Team Pacquiao motoring to Las Vegas Monday, the boxer is expected to take it easy Sunday, with church the only thing really on his schedule.
Pacquiao has been asked to cancel his regular jogging schedule early Sunday morning.
“The say I’ve put in a lot of road work already,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao will spar four or five more rounds Monday before leading a huge convoy through a four-hour road trip to Las Vegas. He already has 149 rounds of sparring thus far.