By Manuel Perez: If Manny Pacquiao wants a chance at World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s WBO title, then Manny’s going to have to grow a pair and put on another two pounds to make the fight at the normal 147 pound limit of the welterweight division rather than his 145 pound catch weight business because Cotto is refusing to put his WBO title on the line for their November 14th fight unless Pacquiao comes in at the normal weight.
I don’t see the problem with any of this. It’s pretty simple, really. Pacquiao wants Cotto’s title to be on the line because he has this thing about wanting to capture a 7th world title.
Cotto agreed to Pacquiao’s wishes to have the fight take place at a 145 pound catch weight, so that Pacquiao, the smaller fighter, could have a little handicap in then fight. But Cotto didn’t agree to put his WBO title on the line, which I totally agree with.
I mean, Cotto can’t give everything up if he’s already giving in by taking the smaller cut of the PPV revenue, coming in at a lower 145 pound catch weight. By having his WBO belt on the line at the lower weight, just seems wrong. If Pacquiao wants the title, let him put on a couple of pounds and take Cotto on at the regulation weight of 147 instead of trying to have things his own way.
There’s talk that the WBO might pressure Cotto to put the title on the line by threatening to strip him of his title unless he puts it on the line for the fight. The WBO already has said that they’re okay with the title being on the line at the lower 145 pound weight rather than 147. It’s very peculiar how the WBO would choose to bend their rules like this, but oh well, this is boxing for you.
However, Cotto is saying that he’ll vacate the WBO title if they try to force him to put it on the line for the fight. Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, is unhappy with all this and thinks that the fight has little meaning unless the title is on the line. I doubt that he really believes this because it sounds like he’s just trying to placate the wishes of Pacquiao, knowing how much he wants to try and pick up this trinket.
It looks like Pacquiao is going to have to make a decision. Either he fights Cotto at the normal weight for the welterweight division at 147, or he fights the bout without the title being on the line. I have pretty good guess what Pacquiao will do. No way will he take the fight at 147, because I think Cotto will give Pacquiao problems if the bout is held at the full welterweight limit.
I think Cotto is going to beat him anyway, but without the gimmick of the 145 catch weight slowing Cotto down by weakening him, he’s going to destroy Pacquiao in quick fashion. Of course, that was a pretty much shot De La Hoya and not a prime Cotto.
Cotto is a proud warrior and he doesn’t care if he’s stripped of his title. He fights on principal and I have a massive amount of respect for this warrior. It’s like they want Cotto to have his title on the line with a handicap of Cotto fighting the bout on his knees with one hand tied behind his back. No one really cares about the title anyway except for boxing fans that are into the status thing.
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