MANILA, Philippines - It seems that Miguel Cotto is the one dictating on Manny Pacquiao when it should be the other way around.
First, he got the Filipino pound-for-pound champion to agree to the catchweight of 145 lb, and now, the Puerto Rican champion is saying he’d only stake his WBO welterweight crown if Pacquiao climbs to 147.
Pacquiao, through his lawyer Franklin Gacal, said weeks ago that the fight is off if Cotto insists on 145 lb, and said he wants the younger, bigger but not necessarily stronger champion to go down to 143.
But somewhere along the way Pacquiao agreed at 145 lb, and the other day, upon realizing that there’s a chance for him to win an unprecedented seventh world crown in different weight classes, he said he wants Cotto’s title.
“We should be the one dictating the terms. We are the main attraction,” said Gacal, adding that if Cotto insists at 145 lb then they might consider Shane Mosley, the WBA weltweight champion, who would have been easier to deal with.
Mosley first said he’s willing to fight Pacquiao at 144 lb and stake his WBO crown, and days after he dangled another offer for him to fight Pacquiao at 140 lb for the Filipino’s IBO light-welterweight title he won over Ricky Hatton last May.
While they have agreed verbally on the fight to take place on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, Pacquiao and Cotto have yet to sign the fight contract, and may take them a little more time to decide whether or not a title will be at stake.
Arum told The STAR Cotto doesn’t want to pay the WBO sanction fee of $150,000. – Abac Cordero
Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=492019&publicationSubCategoryId=69 (August 1, 2009)
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