Bob Arum has been in Tampa taking Miguel I’m No Angel Cotto’s temperature the past two days.

The Top Rank honcho will turn up when Cotto trains Wednesday at the Fight Factory Gym for the benefit of the HBO 24/7 video team which will be taping material.

Everything is copacetic, Arum tells Examiner.com and Boxingconfidential, with the Puerto Rican puncher and his crew in Florida.

“He trains hard,” Arum said of Cotto. “He’s in terrific shape and he’s very confident. He says Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter but that he is better, that he will handle Manny. There’s no animosity here, it’s mutual respect, but Cotto thinks he’s better. I think these two guys actually like each other.

“When Cotto gets in the gym and he trains hard for two solid hours.


“He trains as hard as any fighter you can name. But the guy he is fighting trains for four days without stopping. In 45 years of being around the best fighters, including Marvin Hagler, I’ve never seen a guy train like Manny does. Manny trains for four hours without stopping and, when he does stop, he is not even tired.”

While some in Pacland fret about Pacman being distracted by his outside activities, whether it’s sabong, shooting hoops or planning his post fight victory concert, Arum said there is no reason to be concerned.

Arum said he’s seen this Manny movie before.

“This guy has an excess of energy, that’s who he is,” Arum said. “Manny’s motor just never stops. So what some call distractions, or even possible distractions, to me it’s just standard operating procedure for Manny.

“I mean, he trains, he eats, then he is playing darts or with a musical instrument or basketball. He just never stops.”

There have been whispers about an uptight atmosphere in the Cotto camp and some media types being rejected when they sought access to their workouts.

Arum said there is no conspiracy to bar the media from the Cotto camp but agreed it’s not as loosey-goosey as the Pacman operation can be.

“We had some media guys there today,” Arum said. “But the Cotto guys are not as flexible as Freddie (Roach) and the other guys with Manny. They prefer hard and fast rules about when the press can come in.

“Miguel has an open media day here Oct. 29. With Freddie, well he’s the consummate professional and, when he is working on something with Manny, they close up. But Freddie knows we have to sell tickets also.

“I must say Miguel and his team are speaking very positively.”

Arum noted that the sun is shining in Baguio and that former world champion Jose Luis Castillo seems to be settling in as a useful sparmate for Pacman.

The promoter said Team Pacquiao will fly to Manila, stay overnight and then fly to Los Angeles so they can return to the Wild Card Gym on Oct. 26.

“Everything is beautiful in Baguio.”

Not to mention terrific in Tampa.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: Examiner.com Read more...

MANILA (Reuters) - Manny Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach will demand referees impose automatic disqualification for any deliberate low blow landed during the Filipino's challenge for Miguel Cotto's WBO welterweight title.

Puerto Rican Cotto was docked a point for low blows in his successful defence against Zab Judah in 2007, but maintained the blows had been accidental.

"Cotto stops his opponents' momentum with that kind of blow," American Roach told Monday's Philippine Daily Inquirer.


"In that Judah fight he had five low blows."


Roach said he would raise the issue at a rules meeting before the November 14 showdown in Las Vegas.

The highly anticipated bout pits Pacquiao, widely regarded the world's best pound-for-pound fighter, against Cotto, who retained his WBO title in June with a split decision over Ghana's Joshua Clottey.

Source: Reuters, UK
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By DEXTER A. SEE

BAGUIO CITY — Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao will now enter the most difficult part of his five-week training camp in this mountain resort city as he starts holding sparring sessions with four foreign boxers chosen by three-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach.

Buboy Fernandez, Pacquiao’s assistant trainer, said the sparring mates of the Filipino world champion have moves similar to that of Puerto Rican welterweight champion Miguel Cotto to help Manny prepare necessary techniques to outwit and outbox the much bigger and powerful boxer.


Pacquiao and Cotto will be mixing it up inside the ring for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown held by the Puerto Rican on November 14, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The four sparring mates of Pacquiao include David Rodela; Shawn Porter, an African-American who was a former member of the US Olympic team; Urbano Antillon, WBO super featherweight champion who knocked down Manny’s brother, Bobby Pacquiao in a title bout early this year, and Raymond Tito Serrano, a Puerto Rican champion who could match the moves of Cotto.

Fernandez said the sparring sessions with the foreign boxers will be done in a staggered manner so as not to overwork the champion and to allow him to reach his peak form during the fight.

Team Pacquiao is confident their ward will be able to adjust to Cotto’s style with the help of his sparring mates to emerge victorious.

source: mb.com.ph
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Source: pacquiaovideo.com

Manny Pacquio visits Baguio City Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. at Baguio City Hall for a courtesy call. The mayor is thankful that Manny choose their city as a training location. Baguio is celebrating its 100 years centennial. Pacquiao receives a symbolic key of Baguio City.

Hundreds of city hall employees left their work to meet and cheer the champion. Many of them tried to break into the security, wishing to get an autograph or pictures with him.

During the courtesy call, Pacquiao said his decision to run for congress is certain, that he will be announcing his candidacy, that retirement from boxing is near.

Freddie Roach is happy for Pacquiao, but he has one wish for his star pupil before the curtains closes: defeat Mayweather.









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By NICK GIONGCO

Manny Pacquiao is surprisingly ahead of his training schedule, which is four days old, that he is now ready for sparring, the boxer’s American trainer said on Friday.

“This is our best start ever,” trainer Freddie Roach told The Bulletin on Friday after presiding over Pacquiao’s training at the Shape Up Boxing Gym at the Cooyeesan Hotel in Baguio City.

Roach is convinced that the Filipino is fit enough that he can start sparring sessions on Tuesday...

“Manny is going to be ready (to spar),” said Roach, who, in the past had to wait until 10 days or two weeks after the start of training camp before letting Pacquiao do some sparring.

Two sparmates -- unbeaten welterweight prospect Shawn Porter and lightweight star Urbano Antillon -- are arriving in the country tomorrow morning from Los Angeles and motor direct to Baguio from the airport.

While there is still seven-and-a-half weeks to go before Pacquiao faces Miguel Cotto on November 14 in Las Vegas, Roach believes they are not only right on track but a little bit ahead of schedule.

For the third straight day, Roach let Pacquiao hit the mitts for ten rounds after doing nine rounds on Tuesday, just hours after Roach landed in Manila from a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles and less than an hour after arriving in Baguio.

Pacquiao and Roach are camping out in the City of Pines possibly until the third week of October.

Meanwhile, over in Tampa, Florida, site of Cotto’s training camp, top trainer Joe Santiago expressed the belief that on fight night at the MGM Grand, the sheer size advantage of Cotto as well as his natural strength will prove to be very tough for Pacquiao to overcome.

“We have great respect for his speed and we take our hats off to what he’s done for boxing, but on the day of the fight, Miguel is going to be the stronger man in the ring,” Cotto taskmaster Joe Santiago told the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia.

Source: www.mb.com.ph

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By Mark Vester

During a recent interview, trainer Freddie Roach voiced his concern about the possibility of Miguel Cotto not making the contract weight of 145-pounds for the November 14 clash with Manny Pacquiao. Roach is not taking any chances. He wants to make sure Cotto doesn't pull a Floyd Mayweather Jr, who weighed 146-pounds for last Saturday's fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. The fight was contracted for 144. As punishment, Mayweather had to pay Marquez $600,000.

“We will make sure that Cotto cannot use his weight to his advantage,” Roach told The Philippine Star.

Cotto's trainer Joe Santiago says Roach, or anyone else for that matter, should worry about Cotto's weight. They don't plan on having to pay Pacquiao any weight penalties. He guarantees that Cotto will weigh 145-pounds.

"There is no doubt, Cotto will weigh 145-pounds," Santiago told El Nuevo Dia.

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com

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