ON November 14 in Las Vegas, Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao will be fighting a boxerwho could be his most fearsome opponent ever, Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion.

Boxing pundits are aware that Cotto has a size advantage over our very own PacMan, since the Puerto Rican has fought at least eight times at welterweight (147 pounds) while the Filipino has only fought once at that weight (against Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya, which PacMan won).

Likewise, Cotto’s only loss—an 11th round stoppage by Antonio Margarito—can be considered a fluke since
Margarito was later suspended for one year from boxing because he was found to have “loaded” his gloves with plaster of Paris prior to his bout against Sugar Shane Mosley. There is a strong suspicion Margarito was using “loaded” gloves when he beat Cotto.

Before the press tours for the Pacquiao-Cotto fight, the Puerto Rican impressed observers for he looked like he was preparing for nothing less than an Armageddon. In contrast, our compatriot was taking quite an easy time outside of the ring—doing a TV sitcom and endorsing various products.

Cotto had already trained for one month when the fight’s press tour began while Pacquiao had yet to go to the gym.

Worse, the people in Pacquiao’s camp—from personal assistant Michael Koncz to trainer Freddie Roach—engaged in a ridiculous verbal tussle that reached the abysmal point of Roach being dismissed by Koncz as merely Pacquiao’s trainer.

Vagueness and indecision were earmarks of the PacMan’s camp up to last week, for it was not even known till then whether Pacquiao would be training in Baguio City, Mexico or Canada. Apparently, training in the USA was being avoided to allow our champion to escape being treated by the American taxmen as a taxable resident. Roach was begging to talk with Pacquiao but to no avail—until the two met in New York for the fight’s initial press tour.

With less than two months before the bout on November 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, our PacMan’s distractions from training must be reduced to zero.

He must train properly for what could be indeed the Pacquiao-Cotto Armaggedon.

Let Roach call all the shots


We have nothing against Pacquiao endorsing products, doing TV sitcoms and enjoying some nights dancing and even carousing (if he must do his “duty” to any hedonistic patron)—under circumstances different from what obtains today. And we have nothing against Baguio City for his training venue.
(Although we were disturbed by speculation that he seems to have been forced or led by his patrons to train in Baguio for their own reasons, which are not necessarily the best for our champ.)

But we must insist that his camp must realize that they should let the country’s “Pambansang Kamao” (National Fist) train doubly seriously hard for this fight against Cotto. And we mean he must train very, very much harder than he did when he prepared for his fights against De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton.

Training doubly seriously hard means his time and energy must not be wasted on making product endorsements, on photo sessions unless these are quick and in Baguio City, and on TV appearances while he is training.

When Pacquiao was training for his fight against De La Hoya, there were a few occasions when Roach had to throw out some people from the Wild Card Gym to keep our champion from being distracted by swooning admirers and product salesmen.

Let Roach do the same in Baguio City even if it displeases some people who are close, or claim to be close, to Manny the PacMan.

Roach must call all the shots. For it is only he—“the mere trainer”—who knows what Pacquiao must do to topple the formidable Puerto Rican.

Roach and for sure Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, know very well that a win over Cotto would bring the
Filipino boxing icon closer to a possible “Fight of the Century” with former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. When that time comes, Pacquiao’s victory over Mayweather will cement the Filipino’s claim to be the greatest fighter of this era.

Between Mayweather and Cotto, however, it looks like the Puerto Rican is the more dangerous opponent, since he is willing to trade leather, has a powerful body attack and has more power in his hands at welterweight. The statistics cannot lie: only seven of Cotto’s 35 opponents lasted the distance compared to the 15 of Mayweather’s 40 opponents. Some boxing experts even believe Cotto can beat Mayweather.

Mayweather in spite of all his boasting, was even exposed to be quite vulnerable against a fighter who has a good jab as De La Hoya proved—despite the latter losing by a split decision in their fight.

If you don’t believe that, just ask Roach, who trained De La Hoya for his competitive fight against Mayweather.