By Rene Trujillo – After a San Francisco Giants win against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, a brief press conference was held on top of the Giants dugout at beautiful AT&T Park to promote the upcoming card “Firepower” on November 14th. Both Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto were on hand as well as Promoter Bob Arum, Freddie Roach, and even the “Ice Man” himself, Chuck Liddell..
The cloudy skies and light rain were not enough to fend off the rabid Manny Pacquiao fans as they significantly outnumbered the Cotto contingent. The press conference was shortened due to the weather, the rowdy Pacquiao fans throwing items on stage to be autographed, and other unknown factors.
Bob Arum-“The fight will be held at the magnificent MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. Tickets for the fight are virtually sold out.”
Miguel Cotto-“It’s my pleasure to be here. I am prepared for the fight and it’s going to be a war. But come November 14th, I will be returning to Puerto Rico with my belt.”
Freddie Roach- “We will be heading to the Philippines to train for eight weeks. We have always trained for eight weeks and had excellent results.”
Manny Pacquiao- “After the fight I’d like to have a concert for the fans at Mandalay Bay!”
Not only will this be the biggest fight of 2009, but in fighting Miguel Cotto for his WBO belt, Pacquiao will make history if he wins by becoming the first fighter ever to win a title in seven different weight classes. Miguel Cotto is training hard already and he was all business as usual, but Pacquiao on the other hand was playful and interacted with the crowd. However, Freddie Roach insisted that they are taking the fight very seriously and indicated that they will be training in Baguio, Philippines instead of the US because Pacquiao has exhausted his time on US soil as a visitor.
Every time that Pacquiao has a big fight, there are questions regarding all the distractions that are present in the Filipino icon’s life. Nonetheless, he has been able to put all non-boxing related matters aside in previous bouts and has come out victorious. We know that Cotto is a no non-sense guy, but will this finally be the fight in which Pacquiao is not fully prepared for? Tune in on November 14th for the answer as we no doubt have a “Fight of the Year” candidate to look forward to.
