Pacquiao Wants Cotto Fined $1 Million Per Pound Over the Limit? – News

By Boxing News - 08/04/2009 - Comments

pac32434By Manuel Perez: Not only will Manny Pacquiao be getting the bigger cut of the revenue and having Miguel Cotto’s World Boxing Organization title on the line at a catch weight of 145 instead of the normal welterweight limit of 147, but he also reportedly wants Cotto to be penalized a whopping $1 million per pound that the Puerto Rican fighter comes in over the 145 pound catch weight that Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach have set for Cotto for the November 14th bout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Nick Giongco from MB.com. Giongco reports that Pacquiao wants the “a penalty of $1 million per pound” that Cotto comes in over the 145 pound catch weight.

Cotto, 28, could make as much as $10 million for the fight on the high end of the scale, Giongco writes, but with potentially hefty fines for every pound that Cotto comes in over the weight, he could in theory end up getting much less than that.

In contrast, Pacquiao is guaranteed to make a minimum of $12 million but will likely make much more than that by the time the ticket sales and Pay per view figures are final. But if Cotto ends up getting fined an absurd $1 million per pound over the limit, Pacquiao could make out like a fat rat while Cotto ends up going hungry.

I thought the business about Cotto having to put up his WBO welterweight title at 145 was a stinker, but this pretty much takes the whole cake. I hope this doesn’t take effect because that would be an enormous fine tilted in the favor of Pacquiao.

Pacquiao already has a lot of the things in his favor for this bout – weight, revenue split of 65-35, gloves, location and likely Cotto’s WBO title on the line – but this is going a bit too far in my view. Cotto is the champion here, not Pacquiao. Who cares if Pacquiao has won titles in six different divisions in the past?

Pacquiao became popular recently when he defeated a shot and weight drained Oscar De La Hoya, and a war scarred Ricky Hatton. I tell you, if you put another fighter in the same position as Pacquiao, say Juan Manuel Marquez, he likely would have done the same thing that Pacquiao did and he would be the one getting the glory right now and not Pacquiao.

It’s all about Pacquiao fighting the right people at the right time. He already got boxed silly by Marquez twice previously and should have lost both fights in the minds of many boxing fans. Pacquiao hasn’t shown much interest in fighting Marquez a third time after winning a terribly controversial bout last year where Pacquiao defeated Marquez by a 12 round split decision.

So Pacquiao goes from that fight into bouts against three vulnerable fighters – David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton – and all of a sudden Pacquiao is vaulted into the status of a pound for pound number #1 fighter in the minds of some.

I put it to you. If you put Marquez in with the same three fighters that Pacquiao fought, he would have likely won each one of those fights and proved that what Pacquiao accomplished was no big deal.

As for the $1 million dollar fine per pound, if it does exist, Cotto needs to put his foot down and tell Pacquiao and Roach what they can do with their penalty. While Cotto is at it, he should stick to his guns and not put his WBO title on the line unless Pacquiao agrees to have the fight take place at the normal welterweight limit of 147 instead of the handicapping weight of 145. If Pacquiao is afraid to fight at 147, so be it. Pacquiao can then go hunt down another alternative like David Diaz or one of Pacquiao’s other quality opponents.



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