CALIFORNIA: Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum has assured his top fighters Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto of a record paycheck for their November 14 title fight in Nevada.
Arum, whose Las Vegas-based company Top Rank is promoting the Pacquiao-Cotto, said that between them, the two welterweight superstars will easily earn $30 million in what could be the richest fight this year.
“I take great pride in this fight,” Arum told Rick Folstad of TheSweetScience.com. “We have two guys who are going to make their biggest payday on November 14. Pacquiao will make over $20 million and Cotto will make over $10 million. And I helped create that.”
Arum, 78, said he just visited his two favorite boxers and found them both in great shape with less than one month to go to the World Boxing Organization welterweight fight dubbed “Fire Power” at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
Arum added that he expects a “very competitive fight with lots of action” that the fans would love.
“Manny is an offensive machine,” he said. “He blends in his defense in the best possible way. In essence, he turns himself into a magician in the ring. He can disappear while in plain sight.”
Arum said Pacquiao, who won his first world title at flyweight, was an explosive puncher, but he added that Cotto has more power because he was a natural welterweight.
“Miguel is the bigger guy, and Manny might be vulnerable to Miguel’s left hand to the body and the head. It’s how Manny reacts to those left hands that will be the story of the fight.”
Cotto focused
The 28-year-old Cotto (34-1, 27 by knockouts) is training in Tampa, Florida, and expects to log 12 full weeks of preparation, according to his trainer Joe Santiago.
Santiago said Team Cotto knows what is at stake in this fight, which Cotto described as the biggest fight of his career.
“Miguel is quite focused in training, especially for the big fights like this one,” Santiago said.
He said Cotto trained for one month in Puerto Rico and would train a total of six more weeks in Tampa the move to Las Vegas at the start of November for the final push.
Cotto, who is putting his WBO welterweight championship belt on the line, said he likes training in Tampa because it’s easy for him to concentrate.
“Puerto Rico is my country and that’s where I live,” he said, talking with the media after a two-hour heavy workout. “But there are a lot of distractions when I’m there. That’s what I like best about Tampa, there are no distractions.”
“I do two things when I’m here. I train and I rest. Train and rest,” said Cotto who added that the hot and humid October weather was very much like back home.
Cotto’s training regimen is quite organized—everything was planned, precise and consistent, said Santiago.
Unlike Pacquiao, who is known to be playful at training camp, Cotto trains with the concentration of Shaolin monk.
Source: manilatimes.net
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