By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Filed Under: Pacquiao, Boxing, Legislation

MANILA, Philippines—Lawmakers scrambling to book flights to the United States to watch Manny Pacquiao’s fight should heed Malacañang’s advice: Set your priorities right and be sensitive to your calamity-stricken constituents.

“I guess they know what their priorities are. There are pending bills. They should know if they can leave the country or not,” said Undersecretary Lorelei Fajardo Tuesday.

The deputy presidential spokesperson said congressmen should be “sensitive” to their constituents, especially the thousands of calamity victims grappling with the aftermath of several powerful storms.

“They should be sensitive to their constituents especially since elections are just around the corner,” Fajardo told reporters after a briefing in Malacañang.

Pacquiao is gearing up for his Nov. 14 fight with Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas, Nevada. The international boxing champ is heavily favored to snatch the Puerto Rican’s World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) welterweight belt.

As in previous blockbuster fights, where Pacquiao knocked his foes cold in the early rounds, this fight is expected to draw a huge crowd of Manila-based spectators, including lawmakers and government officials.

Already, some 20 lawmakers, including Speaker Prospero Nograles, have flown to the US presumably to watch the fight.

Fajardo said she wasn’t aware if some Cabinet officials had booked flights to watch Pacquiao’s fight, but said that the advice also applied to them.

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“If there’s more work in Manila, [Cabinet members] can always support Manny in some other way. We don’t have to go there,” she told reporters.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, whom Pacquiao looks up to as a father, and Deputy National Security Adviser Luis “Chavit” Singson Jr. are Pacquiao’s rah-rah boys from the executive branch and have always attended his fights.

Fajardo said she wasn’t aware if First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo would fly to Las Vegas to watch the fight live, as he had done so in the past.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be in Singapore that day to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) summit.

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091104-233933/Get-priorities-straight-Pacquiao-fight-bound-officials-told

NY Boxing Examiner by Michael Marley

LOS ANGELES--He might be a virtual teetotaler but Coach Freddie Roach sincerely believes that Miguel Cotto is still suffering from a hangover.

Drawing on his own personal experience as a featherweight who compiled a decent 39-13, 15 knockouts career record, Roach analogizes the Puerto Rican’s devastating experience in taking a beat down from Antonio Margarito to his own two round KO defeat to Lenny Valdez.

“I got caught in the second round,” Roach said Monday at the Wild Card Gym where he put both Manny Pacquiao and British wunderkind Amir Khan through their training paces. “I had never really been hurt in the ring before, amateur or pro, until that fight.

“I was just never the same. It was mental, I think. I knew that I could get hit and hurt.”

Roach was 26-2 when he faced the 9-1 up and comer out of border town Mexicali. Valdez wound up his pro career with a final mark amazingly of 35-18-1, 22 knockouts, amazingly similar to Roach’s totals.
To hear Roach tell it, a fighter who knows he is vulnerable is different than a fighter who has had everything going his way.

Looking at Roach's ring resume underlines his theory because the "Choir Boy" as he was known lost 10 bouts after getting stopped by Valdez.

Roach thinks Cotto's downhill slide will be accelerated by Pacquiao's speed and power.

“He just made made mistakes in the Margarito fight and he knows that,” Roach said. “No matter if he thinks Margarito had something in his hand wraps or not, Cotto still got knocked out and he can’t forget that completely.”

I asked Roach if his repeated KO 1 prediction for Manny over Miguel wasn’t just harmless puffery.

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Roach smiled and then said, “If Manny hurts him in the first, Manny will finish him. I just said that really to get a rise out of the Cotto camp. If they had ignored me, that’s fine but they responded to that so maybe it’s in their heads now.

“Don’t forget that Zab Judah had Cotto hurt.”

Roach said that the limited experience of Jose Santiago as Cotto’s chief trainer and cornerman is an obvious deficiency.

“Cotto, for all his experience, is like any fighter. He still makes mistakes, fundamental mistakes. He’s got a rookie team around him. Look back at his fights and you will see that Miguel Diaz (now Pacquiao’s cutman) was the mouthpiece in Cotto’s corner.


“Any fighter makes certain mistakes because you get into bad habits or you fall back into those bad habits. I did it myself as a fighter and I know that, when (legendary trainer) Eddie Futch wasn’t around, I fell back into those poor habits,” Roach said.


Roach said one habit of Cotto’s might lead to a commercial endorsement deal with a money transmission company such as Western Union.


“Cotto telegraphs his punches. He’s the boss in his camp, in the gym and in the corner. But he can’t watch himself. He can’t see what his mistakes are. You need to have someone watching you every day, watching your everyday habits and tendencies.


“What experience does this Santiago have, a degree in sports medicine? I love these sports medicine guys.”

Taking Roach’s emotional temperature Monday was quite easy for me.

It might’ve been a cool, misty even foggy 72 degrees, standard LA weather conditions, but Roach is cooking with hot grease.

Pacman’s trainer thinks Cotto is soon about to get into a flaming cauldron, that will prove to be scorchingly hot.

The stove is on high and the ingredients have been poured into the pot.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m11d3-Western-Union-Man-Roach-says-Cotto-telegraphs-his-punches

Posted: November 3rd, 2009 | By David Isaacson

Freddie Roach, the coach of Manny Pacquiao, has deservedly earned a reputation of being one of the best boxing trainers in the world today.

Of course, there have been other trainers who have been considered greats along the way.

There was Angelo Dundee (Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard), Manny Steward (Thomas Hearns and Lennox Lewis), Eddie Futch (Bob Foster, Joe Frazier and Roach himself) and maybe even Alton Merkerson (Roy Jones jnr) or Roger Mayweather (Floyd Mayweather jnr).

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There’s also a counter-view that great boxers would have become great anyway – whether they had good trainers or not!

What do you think? (There are a whole bunch of great trainers from years gone by whom I have over-looked in this poll – apologies for that)\

Source: http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/longdrop/2009/11/03/is-freddie-roach-the-greatest-trainer-of-all-time/

By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com

“They can do what they want and say what they want, Miguel doesn’t pay much attention to those things.”

Thus declared World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s conditioning coach Phil Landman by way of reacting to his ward’s almost not getting the attention his November 14 opponent Manny Pacquiao has been getting.

Landman, in an interview with broadcast journalist Dennis Principe in his program ‘Sports Chat’ yesterday, said Cotto, who will be staking his 147-pound crown in that 12-round encounter with the Filipino icon at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, said the Puerto Rican is actually benefitting from the lesser attention the media is according him.

“Yeah, I think so. This less-superstar status Miguel is getting is giving him more precious time to focus on the things that matter most,” Landman said.

The International Boxing Organization junior-welterweight champion’s famous trainer and psywar master Freddie Roach has been doing all the talking for Team Pacquiao, obviously in his efforts to get the goat of their once-beaten but still formidable foe.

“A lot of what Freddie says is to get in camp Cotto’s heads. There is nothing wrong with that. That’s boxing. No one knows what can happen. The fight could go a lot of different ways and that’s why it’s going to be a great fight,” fight promoter Bob Arum said in a recent conference call in justifying Roach’s verbal assault on Cotto.

Roach, in a separate interview, even claimed he has placed a huge bet on a first round knockout win for his prized ward to which Landman said: “So far, Roach is coming up short with his shots.”

Now working on his ninth fight with Cotto, Landman assured that the program he has established from the day they first met has been greatly absorbed by his fighter.

Proof of this, added Landman, is the constant ability of the longtime light welterweight champion Cotto to deal with all type of fighters the welterweight can offer, speed and power wise.

“Since we arrived we knew what we have to achieve and we knew exactly the kind of work to be done and we’ve done that,” said Landman “We try to make new things but for the most part we generally stick to something that has worked.”

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Landman’s job as Cotto’s conditioning coach started when the Puerto Rican made his debut in the tough 147lb division in December 2006. By that time Cotto had already beaten most, if not all who challenged his supremacy light welterweight class.

Cotto’s booming entry into the welterweight derby, a fifth round stoppage of compatriot Carlos Quintana, gifted him the vacant World Boxing Association belt.

Cotto finally reached full stardom after scoring a close but deserving 12-round verdict over longtime pound-for-pound entrant Shane Mosley in a WBA title defense November of 2007 at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

Cotto’s celebrity status however came to a screeching halt after he was battered to a pulp by Mexican warrior Antonio Margarito via an 11th round stoppage in July 2007 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Back-to-back wins after the Margarito setback somewhat regained for Cotto some of the luster he lost. But what pushed Cotto closer to recapturing his lofty position was the issue that befell Margarito who was caught red-handed of using plaster-like substance on his hand wraps moments before the Mexican’s title defense opposite Mosley early this year in Los Angeles.

“Pacquiao’s our next main objective and were giving everything to attain that,” Landman said. “Since we arrived we knew what we have to achieve and we knew what exactly the kind of work to be done and we’ve done that.”

“Obviously he (Pacquiao is the best in the sport. We try to make new things but for the most part we generally stick to the plan and something that has worked,” he bared. “We always try to make it interesting but we make adjustments just a little bit. Miguel doesn’t need anything to get motivated because in fighting Manny Pacquiao, That alone keeps him motivated.”

Speaking of the catch-weight Pacquiao and Cotto will be fighting, Landman said: “We don’t really need to be motivated. At 145 he will come in as strong as he was fighting at 147.”

Source: http://philboxing.com/news/story-28938.html

By Michael Woods

Examining HBO's 24/7 for clues which might affect the outcome of the upcoming fight is one of the most enjoyable aspects of watching the expertly crafted infomercial. In the second installment of the Pacquiao-Cotto docudrama miniseries, TSS played PI, and looked for anything in the fighters' actions, physiques or behaviors that might inform a fight fan what is likely to unfold on Nov. 14, when Manny Pacquiao tries to secure a seventh title in a seventh weight class from WBO welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto in a 145 pound "catchweight" clash.

In the previous installment, we saw Cotto mixing business with pleasure; it looked like his training camp in Florida, away from distractions in his native Puerto Rico, took a load off the fighter with the frequently furrowed brow. In contrast, Pacquiao's camp was a picture less tranquil. He chose to stay in Baguiao, a region beset by severely foul weather, causing his trainer Freddie Roach to firmly request that the fighter switch up his plans, and decamp to a safer spot, free from typhoons, and perhaps, leeching politicians hoping to get a bump in the polls with a endorsement from Manny.


In the second episode, viewer saw a previously perturbed Roach in Manila, having made the eight-hour trek from Baguiao without Pacquiao. They hugged it out, it was made clear, and got back on track preparing for Cotto. Or, they got back on track as much as Manny's demigod status allows—fans clamor to touch the fighter whenever he exits Gerry Penalosa's gym. But Pacquiao seems to be able to clear his mind of distractions. And Roach makes sure of it, offering a $1,000 bounty to any sparring partner who dumps Manny on his can. So far, Shawn Porter and Jose Luis Castillo haven't been able to get that extra spiff in their envelope, but the added impetus gives Pacman more reason to stay on message in training, and tells viewers that at this juncture, at least, it certainly appears that all the money and adoration he enjoys hasn't swelled his head, and won't pave the way for a fall to Cotto.


Back to Cotto—the Puerto Rican hitter welcomed Miguel the 3rd to Tampa, for a week-long visit to see pop do his thing. That includes pre-dawn workouts at a local track. Perhaps the "stamina thing," Cotto's supposed tendency to fade in the last third of fights, will not be an issue come Nov. 14, if these track workouts have been installed, or modified, to speak to his gas-tank woes? Team Cotto did manage to get some chill-time in, going golfing, and viewers with old-school values might wonder if Miguel is splitting his focus too much, taking too much time with his son, instead of eating, breathing and sleeping Pacquiao 24-7.

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Then again, Manny does manage to have a varied life during training camp. Witness Pacman's duet with a female vocalist on the 1977 Dan Hill classic "Sometimes When We Touch," which he filmed for a Filipino TV network as part of a farewell concert. That went swimmingly, but there was still the matter of the conflict within his crew. Fitness coach Alex Ariza and advisor Michael Koncz haven't been getting along, and snipe at each other in front of Manny, who stays above the fray, seemingly untouched by the chaos. Can Manny truly be as unruffled by the beefing as he appears?


A viewer watching this installment might wonder whether Cotto's sparring partners are of a lesser breed than Pacquaio's and be left to think that Pacman's camp is that much more effective than Miguel's. Cotto gets work in with 9-3-1 southpaw Kenny Abril, from Rochester, NY, and 7-1 Georgian lefty Fred Tukes. Contrasted with Pacman's crew, which included 26-1 Mexican Urbano Antillon, 10-0 Shawn Porter from Ohio and former lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo (60-9-1), it does seem like Cotto's getting gypped in this department. Perhaps the time spent studying films of Pacquiao on the part of Miguel's dad Miguel Sr. and 32-year-old trainer Joe Santiago will compensate.


At Roach's Wild Card Gym, Pacquiao looks trim and on message. He doesn't seem put off by the absence of Michael Moorer, who helped Roach while Manny got ready for Ricky Hatton, and rubbed Manny the wrong way with his brusque manner. The Wild Card looks cramped but homey, while Cotto's training zone in Tampa looks roomier, but more complicated. Viewers see his wife Melissa, who he'd been estranged from, is back in the picture. She comes to the gym, with two more kids, and Miguel's mom, who wears an expression none too joyous. Perhaps those relationships don't siphon an ounce of Cotto's mental energy, perhaps he is relieved to be unburdened from the presence of his uncle Evangelista, who he split from in the spring. But we saw Miguel's dad admit he and his bro have severed ties totally, one wonders if having all these sticky family issues in his face benefits Cotto two weeks before his big bout.

Source: http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/7366/tss-searching-clues-cotto-pacquiao/

Dallas Boxing Examiner | Matt Stolow

Manny Pacquiao may very well win his seventh world title in seven different weight divisions in less than two weeks. But if he wants to be known as the best welterweight today and not just a title holder, he simply has to challenge Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at 147.

Trainer Freddie Roach recently said they wouldn't go over 154 if that, so a battle at 147 seems realistic if Pacquiao gets past Cotto.

Mayweather's credentials as the No. 1 welterweight are solid. Miguel Cotto's are very good but just short of Mayweather's, and Pacquiao doesn't have enough fights there yet.

All three fighters have met common opponents. DeMarcus Corley, Zab Judah and Ricky Hatton, to name three, have met some combination of Pacquiao, Mayweather and Cotto.

Mayweather has three welterweight defenses against Ricky Hatton, Carlos Baldomir and Zab Judah, along with a non-title against Sharmba Mitchell. He even went up to 150 to fight Oscar De La Hoya for his 154 title.

Mayweather has two WBC Light Welterweight (140) Eliminators against DeMarcus "Chop Chop"Corley and Henry Bruseles. He has one WBC Light Welterweight fight against Arturo Gatti.

Mayweather has four WBC Lightweight (135) defenses. Two are against former Pacquiao sparring partner and world champion Jose Luis Castillo. Mayweather had nine WBC Super Featherweight (130) before that included wins over world champions Genaro Hernandez and Jesus Chavez.

Cotto won a vacant title over someone named Michael Jennings, that no TV network would buy, and a near life or death battle with respected Joshua Clottey in his one title defense during this current second run at the welterweights.

Cotto made four successful welterweight title defenses and claimed a vacant title before losing to Antonio Margarito under suspicious circumstances in his first run at 147.

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He had beaten Alfonso Gomez, Shane Mosley, Zab Judah, Oktay Urkal, and the vacant title over Carlos Quintana.

Cotto made six successful title defenses and one successful vacant title win at 140.

Those wins were against: Paulie Malignaggi, Gianluca Branco, Ricardo Torres, Muhammad Abdullaev, DeMarcus Corley, Randall Bailey and Kelson Pinto, respectively.

Pacquiao has an impressive KO-2 over Ricky Hatton for the IBO Light Welterweight Title (he weighed in at 138). Pacquiao (142) also has his gigantic December 2008 8 -round TKO over Oscar De La Hoya (145).

But the question remains: What will Manny Pacquiao do next after this fight with Cotto?
An exciting, competitive fight could bring about an easy to make rematch. A Pacquiao win over Cotto could set up negotiations for a Mayweather fight.

I believe negotiations have and are going on between Pacquiao and Mayweather camps and Arum said basically no they are not and it would be a while because Mayweather is so difficult to deal with, simply to get people off his back.

Originally there were eight weight divisions and only one sanctioning body. For a while after World War II it stayed that way but in early 1950s the lighter weights went to the junior titles and more sanctioning groups, starting with the World Boxing Association came into being.

Today we have 17 weight divisions, six world sanctioning organizations, Interim titles and, Champion in Recess that serve only to dilute the boxing product because they are not accountable to anybody about anything.

Beneath that we have layers of International, national, and regional titles.

The trick is for the sanctioning bodies to protect their interests by tying up its top contenders waiting for their title shot with these interim titles so as not to see them go fight for other titles of other organizations while the current champion considers retirement or easy voluntary defenses.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-11372-Dallas-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m11d3-Pacquiao-must-challenge-Mayweather-to-be-the-undisputed-best-at-147

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HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. (November 2, 2009) – Three-time Trainer of the Year World-Famous Freddie Roach issued a medical warning to World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, the pride of Puerto Rico, who will be defending his title against boxing’s No. 1 pound for pound fighter and box office attraction Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao. Roach, who is training Pacquiao at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, promised to go viral. “Manny is a carrier of the incurable M1P1 Virus – PacMan Fever. It has a short incubation period. Once Cotto is exposed to it on November 14 the prognosis is not good. In fact, he’ll be cooked -- laid out within nine rounds. Even Louis Pasteur couldn't create a vaccine to protect Cotto from this!.”

Check out Roach’s video interview with Mark Kriegel of FoxSports.com, where Roach breaks down the upcoming fight and predicts a ninth-round knockout victory for Pacquiao.

http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=db9eed3f-86dc-45f9-9572-b5723226c809

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In a testament to Pacquiao’s worldwide appeal, Pacman will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live Tomorrow! Tuesday, November 3, beginning at 12:05 a.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs), of General Santos City, Philippines, has won six world titles in as many different weight divisions ranging from 112 to 140 pounds. Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, has sold more tickets to Madison Square Garden in this millennium than any other fighter. He has held a world title every year since 2004.

Promoted by Top Rank, in association MP Promotions, Miguel Cotto Promotions, MGM Grand and Tecate, FIRE POWER: COTTO vs. PACQUIAO, will take place, Saturday, November 14, at the soldout MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and will be produced and distributed live on HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.

HBO's® fast-moving reality series "24/7 Pacquiao/Cotto" returns with an all new episode This Saturday! November 7 at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT. The four-episode series chronicles the preparations and back stories of both fighters as they train for their November 14 pay-per-view showdown. Episodes one and two are available on HBO ON DEMAND.

Source: http://philboxing.com/news/story-28884.html

I have huge respect for trainer Freddie Roach, but I can’t agree with his prediction that Manny Pacquiao will knock out Miguel Cotto in the first round next Saturday night.

I don’t dispute Pacquiao has incredible speed, and I accept that he carries fantastic power, but even so, one look at Pacquiao’s record will tell you that he seldom wins fights in the first round. The last time he achieved that was more than seven years ago, when he was still a junior-featherweight. That is 17 fights and 130 rounds ago!

That’s when he stopped Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym of Thailand two minutes 46 seconds into the first round. His previous first-round stoppage came in June 2000 against South Korea’s Seung-Kon Chae, then an unbeaten fighter.

In his days before becoming a world champion, Pacquiao scored four first-round KOs for a career tally of six. But his best round for finishing an opponent is the second, which he’s achieved seven times.

Pacquiao has executed five stoppage wins in round three and five in round four, which means that 23 of his 37 career stoppage wins have come in the first four rounds.

It’s awesome stuff, but remember this: Miguel Cotto is tough. Sure, Zab Judah rocked him in round one, but he recovered quickly. Secondly, he has been stopped only once in his career and that was in the 11th round against a hard fighter who might have been packing plaster-of-paris in his gloves!

And don’t forget, for all the similarities and weaknesses that Roach claims to have spotted between Cotto and Hatton, Pacquiao didn’t stop Hatton in round one.

Furthermore, if you look back on superfights throughout history, how many of them ended in the first round? Almost none!

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Pacquiao and Cotto fans seem to think their fighter will have an easy night on November 14. The last time both these men went the distance they had to settle for split decisions – Cotto against Joshua Clottey in June and Pacquiao against Juan Manuel Marquez in March last year.

I have a feeling that this fight will go to the final bell, although I think Pacquiao will emerge victorious. If there is a stoppage, it will be in the later rounds.

I’m not entirely sure how this will end, but that’s what makes this an intriguing fight – nobody knows what will happen!

Source: http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/longdrop/2009/11/02/why-manny-pacquiao-wont-ko-miguel-cotto-in-round-1/