Pacquiao foe Cotto to hold media workout

HOLLYWOOD – World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Miguel Cotto gets to show how ready he is for his Nov. 14 showdown against Manny Pacquiao by holding a media workout in this district of movies and stars Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time). The 28-year old Puerto Rican is arriving here from Las Vegas, Nevada where he had already been staying as early as the other day. Cotto is scheduled to work out at the Pound4Pound gym in La Cienega Boulevard in El Segundo, California, where an open forum will first be held before the champion does his thing in the ring along with trainer Joe Santiago. The Caguas, Puerto Rico native already broke camp in Tampa, Florida last week and arrived in Las Vegas the other day, two weeks before his highly-anticipated Nov. 14 showdown with the Filipino boxing superstar. Reports coming from Las Vegas had it that Cotto appeared drained as he try to meet the 145-pound catch weight agreed upon for the welterweight bout dubbed “Firepower" promoted by Top Rank. Under the fight contract, Cotto is bound to pay $1 million for every pound excess of the agreed catch weight. This will be the first time the Puerto Rican will be fighting below the welterweight limit (147 pounds) since 2006. Pacquiao, meanwhile, holds his own public workout the following day (Wednesday, Thursday in Manila) at the Wild Card gym here, where he is in his final phase of an eight-week training that began at the Shape-Up gym in Baguio City, Philippines. As Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) does his media workout, the 30-year old Filipino ring idol (49-3, 37 KOs) will be sparring with regular sparmates Shawn Porter, Rey Beltran and Rashad Holloway also at the famed sweatshop owned by trainer Freddie Roach. Pacquiao has already sparred close to 130 rounds and is expected to complete their target of 150 by the time his team departs for Las Vegas Monday next week. Despite being a 2-1 underdog, two world champions are predicting a big win for Cotto. Compatriots Juan Manuel Lopez and Carlos Quintana have it on record that the Puerto Rican native will be able to pull off an upset. “Miguel has all the tools to beat Pacquiao," said Lopez, the reigning WBO super-bantamweight champion, in an interview by Primera Hora, a Puerto Rico-based newspaper. The undefeated champion, however, stressed that should Cotto gets tired the way he did in his last fight against Joshua Clottey during their WBO championship at the Madison Square Garden, he can be in for a big trouble. “In his last fight, Cotto was a bit tired in the end, and because Manny throws a lot of punches, that could make him tired. And if that happens, he will have problems," said Lopez. But Quintana, whom Cotto beat via a fifth round technical knockout in a 2007 title fight, believes the champion’s strength will be too much to offset Pacquiao’s speed. “Miguel is a welterweight with a lot of power and fast hands. Miguel has to make his fight. I don’t think Pacquiao will exchange punches with Cotto, who will win by either decision or knockout," he said. – GMANews.TV