'Knowledge is power'

'Pacman' shrugs off talk that he's too small to beat welterweight king. To pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao, size doesn't matter.

The Filipino boxing hero, gearing up for a world title clash with Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto that could give Pacquiao a slice of boxing history, doesn't put much stock in those who say Cotto's superior size could prove too much.

"I have heard that a couple of times in the past two years," he said with a smile as as reporters, photographers and TV cameramen jammed Hollywood's WildCard boxing club to see him train.

After all, his most recent victories have come against bigger opponents.

Admittedly Oscar De La Hoya was past his prime when Pacquiao stopped him in the eighth in December 2008. On May 2, Pacquiao knocked out Britain's Ricky Hatton in the second round of their junior-welterweight clash.

"It's not about comparing size, not about comparing power," he insisted. "Knowledge is power. You don't have knowledge, you don't have power."

Pacquiao handed Hatton his first defeat at junior-welterweight, claiming the IBO belt to match a ring record with a title in a sixth career weight division. He had already won the crowns at lightweight, super-featherweight, junior-featherweight, featherweight and flyweight.

With the hard-hitting Cotto's WBO welterweight belt on the line in a bout to be fought at 145 pounds, Pacquiao could capture an outright record by claiming a title in a seventh weight division. It won't be a walkover.

Cotto, a classic boxer, has knocked out 27 opponents and has only one defeat in 34 bouts. Even that loss is now being disputed because the man who beat him in July 2008, Antonio Margarito, was found to be wearing gloves laced with a plaster-of-Paris substance in a subsequent fight, against Shane Mosley.

It has never been proven that Margarito cheated for the Cotto fight but suspicions are strong.

Cotto said he wasn't listening to talk about Pacquiao (49-3-2, 27 KOs) possibly fighting Floyd Mayweather in a mega title fight if he beats Cotto.

"He can fight Mayweather as many times as he wants after I beat him," Cotto said.

Source: timeslive.co.za