Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao wrapped up their coast-to-coast media tour on Monday at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to announce their “Fire Power” PPV bout scheduled for November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. One final event in this media blitz will take place tonight in San Diego as Manny Pacquiao will toss the first pitch to Padres star reliever Heath Bell, who has 37 saves, tied with St Louis reliever Ryan Franklin as the best in the National League.
“This our last stop of our promotional tour and starting next Monday thru November 14 we have no excuses but to train, we have no excuses, we have no time but to think about the fight, we will go to the fight in our best shape,” stated Miguel Cotto as he addressed the media. “Finally I will come back to Puerto Rico with my WBO title and my new title, the Diamond belt.”
“Its an honor to fight for the WBO title and in the welterweight division, I will do my best for this fight and to capture these new belts,” said Manny Pacquiao. “I am going to train hard to show the people who Manny Pacquiao really is. I will train hard and give my fans what they want to see. In reality, you can’t predict what’s going to happen, that’s all I can say.”
Many people believe Pacquiao’s speed is the key to beating the Puerto Rican, Cotto thinks otherwise.
“Speed is important but with my defense, his speed won’t matter,” stated Cotto. “I don’t have to think anything about Manny Pacquiao, I have to take myself to the best shape ever and capitalize on every thing Pacquiao can bring. People don’t see my speed but I think I have speed too.”
The simmering feud between WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto and his trainer and uncle, Evangelista is no longer part of his training camp. When asked how this will impact his training Cotto simply answered, “He didn’t stay in my last fight and it doesn’t affect my fight in anyways.”
In the past few months Manny Pacquiao stepped away from boxing to launch a parallel career as an entertainer, a comedian in a new sitcom called ‘Show Me Da Manny’ airing on the GMA Network and playing a roll of a super hero. Will this interfere with Manny’s training?
“The last few weeks of course I didn’t think about boxing, I had in on mind other things like doing movies and stuff,” responded Pacquiao. “I am going to put all that aside and focus on boxing now.”
Pacquiao and Cotto boast nine world titles in seven different weight divisions between them and a combined professional record of 83-4-2 (64 KO’s), a winning percentage of 93% and victory by knockout ratio of 77%.
“This fight will be the most exciting and memorable event that Top Rank has promoted in 40 years,” said Hall of fame promoter Bob Arum.
Remaining tickets are priced at $1,00, $750, $500 and $300. The Pacquiao vs. Cotto pay-per-view telecast, has a suggested retail price of $54.95.
All photos by Big Joe Miranda