Pacquiao-Cotto showdown set for November in Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AFP) - Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao and three-time world champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico will meet in Las Vegas on November 14, promoter Bob Arum announced on Monday.

Pacquiao, considered the pound-for-pound world champion after flattening England's Ricky Hatton in the second round in May, will meet Cotto after failed overtures from US veterans Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jnr.

"Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto have reached an agreement to fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on November 14," said Arum, the promoter for both fighters.

Cotto agreed to contesting the fight at a weight limit of 145 pounds, two pounds below the welterweight maximum.

Pacquiao, 49-3 with two drawn and 37 knockouts, has won world titles in a record-tying six weight classes from 112 to 140 pounds.

Last year, the flashy Filipino defeated Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz and Oscar de la Hoya. Pacquiao then continued his win streak to 10 fights by stopping Hatton in the second round.

Cotto, 34-1 with 27 knockouts, has defeated a host of top fighters including Mosley, Zab Judah and Joshua Clottey. Cotto's only loss came last year to Mexico's Antonio Margarito.

The announcement comes as a disappointment for World Boxing Association welterweight champion Mosley, 46-5 with 39 knockouts.

Mosley said he was willing to take only 40 percent of the purse and would agree to fight at the light-welterweight limit in order to strike a deal with Pacquiao.

Mayweather, 39-0 with 25 knockouts, will make his return from a 21-month layoff in September when he fights Mexico's Marquez. The fight was delayed from last weekend after Mayweather suffered a rib injury.

A Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown is the mega-fight most boxing fans would want to see, matching the past and current pound-for-pound ring kings, but now both men must overcome a difficult opponent simply to set the stage for such a bout.

Mayweather said last week it was unlikely he would fight Pacquiao because both camps were insistent on the lion's share of a 60-40 fight purse split. Mayweather also has bitter feelings toward Arum, his former promoter.

Lopez headlining Top Rank card on Boardwalk

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Juan Manuel Lopez watched countryman Miguel Cotto fill Madison Square Garden on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade and marveled at how thousands of people gravitated toward the welterweight champion.

The young super bantamweight champ imagines himself in the same role one day.

“I know I’m getting to the level I can headline,” said Lopez, who will defend his title against little-known Olivier Lontchi on Saturday night in Atlantic City. “But I do look forward to a year, two years down the line, being the headline on that night.

“That’s the dream. That’s every Puerto Rican’s dream.”

Lopez won his title on the boardwalk last year by knocking out Daniel Ponce De Leon in the first round, ending his three-year title reign.

He’s been busy ever since.

The hard-hitting Lopez (25-0, 23 KOs) has already defended his title three times, all by knockout, and aced arguably the most difficult test of his burgeoning career in April, when he dismantled Gerry Penalosa on the way to a 10th-round stoppage. It was the 13th straight fight Lopez has ended early.

“At 122 (pounds),” promoter Bob Arum said, “he’s beginning to run out of opponents.”

That’s why Arum intends to build a worthy challenger over course of the next 18 months, or at the very least a worthwhile test. Few believe that Lontchi (18-0-2, 8 KOs) stands much of a chance, so Arum has already requested the theater at Madison Square Garden for Sept. 26, when he hopes Lopez and exciting Cuban knockout artist Yuriorkis Gamboa will be on the same card in separate fights.

Then, down the road, the two would ultimately face each other.

“They don’t know who Gamboa is and they don’t know who this kid is, but that’s my job in the next year, to make that a must-see fight they put on pay-per-view,” Arum said. “I don’t know if I can do it, but that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

Arum knows better than anyone that things can change quickly in boxing.

Just look at how the card Saturday night came together.

It was originally headlined by middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik defending against Sergio Mora, but that fight was scrapped months ago. A bout involving Paul Malignaggi and unbeaten Mike Alvarado was scratched when Alvarado was hurt sparring, and a bantamweight title bout between Fernando Montiel and Eric Morel was postponed when Montiel hurt his hand.

Top Rank wound up turning the event into one of its “Latin Fury” cards, which are designed to showcase some of its top fighters from Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The co-main event is a super flyweight fight between Jorge Arce (51-5-1, 39 KOs), who was convincingly stopped by Vic Darchinyan in a February title fight, against Filipino challenger Fernando Lumacad (19-1-2, 7 KOs).

“I will fight again for the title,” said Arce, who once held an interim super flyweight title. “Maybe next year, I will fight (Darchinyan) again.”

Also on the card, Vanes Martirosyan (24-0, 15 KOs) takes on Andrey Tsurkan (26-4, 17 KOs) in a junior middleweight fight, and Yuri Foreman (27-0, 8 KOs) takes on Cornelius Bundrage (29-4, 17 KOs) in an IBF junior middleweight eliminator.

Foreman may be the most unique story on the card, in that while he’s training to be a world champion he’s also training to be a rabbi. The 28-year-old Belarussian is about 18 months from earning a degree in rabbinical studies.

“Foreman is a real great story, and it will capture everyone’s imagination,” Arum said. “If you tell the story and people are following the story, then people will look for the plus side of what he’s doing in the ring, the skilled boxer he is.

“He can’t punch hard,” Arum added. “But he tells me, ‘I don’t punch hard, I don’t hurt anybody, because it’d be wrong for a rabbi to do that.”

Cotto keeps focus on Clottey as Pacquiao comes calling

NEW YORK (AFP) - Manny Pacquiao will be sitting at ringside to watch Miguel Cotto defend his welterweight crown Saturday against Ghana's Joshua Clottey, the Filipino superstar sizing up his potential next opponent.

Puerto Rican star Cotto, 33-1 with 27 knockouts, will face Clottey, 35-2 with 20 knockouts, on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York - a date that has become a fight tradition for Cotto at Madison Square Garden.

Pacquiao is considered boxing's pound-for-pound champion after knocking out Britain's Ricky Hatton in the second round last month at Las Vegas.

"It was very good and a very strong moment for Pacquiao in that fight," Cotto said.

While fight fans hunger for a Pacquiao showdown against unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather Jnr, who ends his retirement next month against Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez, it might be Cotto who climbs into the ring with "Pac-man" next.

"I can?t tell you about anything the rest of the year or next year because I'm preparing for Clottey," Cotto said. "The only person I have on my mind right now is Joshua Clottey."

Pacquiao and Cotto each have Bob Arum as promoter while Mayweather has often worked with Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, which can offer veteran US fighter Shane Mosley as a possible next opponent if Pacquiao-Mayweather does not materialize quickly.

Clottey is a major obstacle in Cotto's path, however.

Cotto suffered his first loss last July to Mexico's Antonio Margarito but bounced back to win the lightly regarded World Boxing Organization crown, the one he risks Saturday, from Britain's Michael Jennings in February.

"It was good coming off my first loss," Cotto said. "After that fight I felt pretty good to be ready for this fight now. This fight is important.

"No matter what Joshua brings to the ring, I will be fine. If he wants to move, I am ready for him. If he wants to face me in the middle of the ring, I am ready for that, too.

"I don't know what's going to happen. The only thing I know is I am going to be the winner."

Clottey knows the crowd will be with Cotto.

"When I come to the ring I'm a very deaf guy. I see people but I don't hear what they're talking about," Clottey said. "I don't know how tough he's going to be, but anybody who chooses me to be the winner, they will win, because that's what I'm going to do. I will win the fight."

Clottey won the International Boxing Federation welterweight crown by beating US veteran Zab Judah last August but was stripped of the title in April for refusing to fight South African mandatory challenger Isaac Hlatshwayo in favor of Cotto.

Now Clottey figures if he defeats Cotto, he will have a place in the conversation about whom Pacquiao fights next.

"Cotto is going to fight Pacquiao if he wins - that?s what I?ve been hearing," Clottey said. "Cotto is going to get his. Even if he wins it is not going to be easy at all. He?s not going to be able to fight somebody else."

Clottey prepared to face Cotto—and crowd

By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Joshua Clottey will walk into sold-out Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, just a few miles from where the Ghana native now makes his home in the Bronx, and almost certainly face a wall of vocal opposition.

It’ll be the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade, and thousands of flag-carrying fans will have turned out to see charismatic welterweight champion Miguel Cotto defend his title.

Clottey, himself a former champion, insists he won’t hear any of it.

“Trust me, when I come to the ring I’m a very, very deaf guy,” Clottey said. “The only thing I do is I see people, but I don’t hear what they’re talking about. This is business, we’re in the ring. He’s hitting my body, he’s hitting my head—I don’t have time for that.”

Cotto certainly brings the name recognition to the WBO title fight, and he’s the big reason that even the cheap seats will be gone at the Garden. HBO is expecting a huge television audience, and even New York sports stars like Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran are trying to secure tickets.

“I keep hearing boxing is dead, boxing is dying—I’ve always been incredulous, because I don’t know what anybody is talking about,” Top Rank boss Bob Arum said. “Just look at this.”

Promotional company Top Rank has turned the Puerto Rican Day weekend into Cotto’s showcase, and the popular fighter has embraced it every bit as much as his fans.

His first fight in boxing’s so-called Mecca, when Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) was just beginning to build his reputation, was a knockout of Mohamad Abdulaev. He’s gone on to beat Brooklyn-based fighters Paul Malignaggi and Zab Judah before delirious crowds that show up to the Garden en masse to see their hero sometimes just once a year.

He’s never before failed them, his only loss a controversial one to Antonio Margarito nearly a year ago in Las Vegas, and doesn’t plan to against another hard-punching challenger.

“Joshua Clottey? I’ve prepared myself for anything he can bring that night,” Cotto said Wednesday, at the final pre-fight news conference. “The question is, is he prepared for the kind of Miguel Cotto that’s going to climb into the ring?”

While the Puerto Rican star is well known, Clottey is very nearly an enigma.

A native of Accra, the capital and most populous city of the west African nation of Ghana, Clottey began fighting in small shows in Africa. He caught the eye of promoter Panos Eliades, who also promoted Lennox Lewis, and Clottey wound up fighting in Europe for several years.

He eventually made his way to New York, where he settled in the Bronx.

Considered large for a welterweight, it didn’t take long for Clottey (35-2, 20 KOs) to step into the ring with Margarito. He was leading that title fight in December 2006 until he broke his hand in the fourth round, and while Clottey gamely pressed on, Margarito handed him his first loss in nearly seven years.

It took several months for the hand to heal, but Clottey returned to beat former lightweight champ Diego Corrales, beginning yet another impressive string of victories: Felix Flores, previously unbeaten Shamone Alvarez, Jose Luis Cruz and Judah.

His bout against the tough Brooklyn fighter last August was a back-and-forth slugfest, which was stopped by referee Robert Byrd because of a nasty cut over Judah’s right eye. By the slimmest of margins—one point on two scorecards— Clottey was given the technical decision.

His bout against Cotto was supposed to be a unification fight, Clottey having won the IBF title, but politics and sanctioning bodies got in the way.

Rather than fight a string of undeserving challengers, Clottey simply vacated the belt to take the much larger and more lucrative fight against Cotto — on easily the biggest day of the year for Puerto Rican fight fans in New York.

“Even if I lose, I’ll make a good account of myself, and they’ll ask for me. The people that are picking me to win the fight, they’re making a very good decision,” Clottey said.

“I don’t know how tough he’s going to be, but anybody who chooses me to be the winner, they’ll win, because that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll win the fight.”

Welterweight champ Miguel Cotto returns to MSG

By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP)—In a corner of the South Bronx, WBO welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto stepped into an outdoor ring before hundreds of fans and a wave of adulation washed over him.

He stripped off his shirt and women swooned. He went through his drills— stretching, jumping rope and punching padded gloves—and onlookers shouted: “Pound for pound, baby!”

“He’s just an awesome fighter,” said 23-year-old Jose Centeno, whose dad is from Puerto Rico and who waited under a hot sun to get a photo of Cotto. “He’s our pride.”

This is Cotto Country. New York is a city where nearly 800,000 residents have Puerto Rican roots, and the hard-hitting Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) is much beloved here.

“We all want a champ,” said Alfredo Pimentel, who lives in Spanish Harlem near La Fonda Boricua, a restaurant Cotto frequents that is well known for serving authentic Puerto Rican food.

“We love him here. It’s one way for Puerto Ricans to express we have champions. We’re a small country but we got them. Everybody has natural resources but we have champions.”

The 28-year-old Cotto, one of the world’s top boxers, has not let them down. He’s never lost in five fights at Madison Square Garden. On Saturday, he’ll tangle at the Garden with 32-year-old Joshua Clottey of New York, a tough fighter who was born in Ghana and loves to come forward like Cotto.

Clottey is Cotto’s first real test since a questionable loss last year in a bloody slugfest to Mexican Antonio Margarito, who was found to have a plaster-like substance on his hand wraps before a subsequent defeat to Shane Mosley.

Cotto dismantled Michael Jennings in February at the Garden but that was a mismatch—Jennings never had a chance.

The Clottey bout takes place on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade and will lure many Cotto fans. Three of his previous five victories at the Garden have landed on the weekend of the parade, establishing him as genuine attraction, a sure ticket seller.

“There’s a natural hook between the area and his culture,” said Top Rank President Todd duBoef, Cotto’s promoter. Another Puerto Rican fighter, WBO junior flyweight Ivan Calderon (32-0, 6 KOs) of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico is also on the undercard. Cotto is from Caguas, which is about 20 miles south of San Juan.

Cotto’s previous fights at the Garden have drawn a total of nearly 52,000 people. Cotto has sold more tickets overall at the Garden than any other fighter in the last decade. He’s already sold more than 15,000 seats for the upcoming bout against Clottey (35-2, 20 KOs).

“I am a big fan of Puerto Rican weekend there in New York and to be a part of that would mean a lot for any person,” Cotto said in a conference call with reporters. “Now in my career it is like a tradition. Every year fighting in front of thousands of Puerto Rican people at Madison Square Garden means a lot to me.”

Nuyoricans, as they are known, always embrace their best fighters and in particular welterweights—including Wilfredo Gomez, Felix Trinidad, Hector Camacho and Jose “Chegui” Torres. All of them fought at the Garden. All of them were loved.

Cotto is the latest to stake his claim here, solidifying his popularity by doing what all boxing fans relish: winning in style and becoming a champ. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a had key victories in New York—taking out Mosley, a former pound-for-pound king at the Garden in 2007—and two Brooklyn fighters, Zab Judah and Paul Malignaggi.

At the exhibition last Saturday, Cotto didn’t just come to Bronx for a few minutes.

As a disk jockey played a mix of traditional Puerto Rican songs and pop music, he put on a lengthy show that didn’t cost his supporters a dime—an important gesture in a low-income neighborhood where not everybody can afford to see a fight at the Garden or on HBO.

“First, he’s Puerto Rican and we wears it with a badge of honor,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who was shaking hands with potential voters, piggy backing on Cotto’s popularity. “We love the fact that Cotto is here. They get to see him for free. Because of that, we respect him and love him.”

After arriving, the humble Cotto went about securing his fan base, endearing himself to many. He autographed pictures, speed bags and head gear. His handlers threw out Cotto headbands.

The Cotto crazies clamored for him.

In between workouts, Cotto smothered his children and wife with kisses. He winked and smiled.

Why wouldn’t Cotto be happy?

He was practically home.