Cotto-Pacquiao Is NOT Set

By Rich Mancuso

The way Bob arum sees it a second fight with Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao has not been made. The fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. is another story, and according to Arum, Mayweather can keep his May 5 date but it won’t be with Pacquiao.

Tuesday was another day of this and that pertaining to the two biggest names in the sport. Arum was irate about an internet report, which claimed, a press conference had been set in New York City for this coming Monday that would announce the second fight with Cotto against Pacquiao. In that report there were further claims that Pacquiao continues to avoid Mayweather because Arum is afraid of Mayweather,

The matter continues to be Pacquiao, and a cut over his right eye that still needs time to heel after his third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. Arum, who met with Pacquiao in the Philippines last week, is waiting to hear his champion about possible opponents for a June fight either against Marquez, Cotto, Timothy Bradley or Lamont Peterson.

The venue and purse split for the mega-fight with Pacquiao and Mayweather are still the main issues. Top Rank is going ahead with plans to erect a large venue on the Las Vegas strip, adjacent to the MGM Grand Hotel to accommodate as many fans as possible.

There is not enough time to put the fight together in May. And though it continues to appear that Arum and Pacquiao are looking as the bad guys in all of this, the logical explanation is that Mayweather is keeping his May 5th date, still without an opponent. Though all the reports say at some point in the next few days it will be Mayweather against Canelo Alvarez.

Arum is also incensed that reports of Pacquiao set for Cotto are coming from Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, the third man in the Mayweather picture. Apparently Schaefer, tied in with a boxing web site, is feeding information that does not get verified. And with the age of social media, with editing not as it was in the old newspaper era, anything can get published or is made to be believed.

Cotto remains in Puerto Rico and Arum is open to working with the three-time champion. Because Cotto has not re-signed his contract with Top Rank, it does not necessarily mean he will not deal with Arum. But there always is a possible scenario that Cotto could go ahead and make his own fight with Mayweather, though the more likely picture is Pacquiao will pick Cotto as his next opponent in June.

Does this mean once again that Mayweather and Pacquiao is dead? No, because Arum is open to Pacquiao fighting in November. Yes, to more drama and the mega-fight continuing to be a fantasy and more to write and discuss.

This post is sponsored in part by Great Neck Apartments & Five Towns Homes For Sale