Celebrity Hot Shots

Last Tuesday May 19,2009, uerto Rican newspaper, Primera Hora, that he would not fight pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao at a weight below 145 pounds, a declaration that, if he sticks to it, seems to all but negate the possibility of the two men ever fighting each other.

Despite the public’s clamoring for Pacquiao to fight the returning Floyd Mayweather Jr. later this year, Bob Arum of Top Rank, who promotes both Pacquiao and Cotto, has been pushing this potential Pac Man/Cotto matchup in the press since Pacman defeated Ricky Hatton in two rounds earlier this month.The weight issue, though, looks to be a major stumbling block. Where Manny’s team was willing to take a gamble at 147 pounds to face the aging Oscar De La Hoya, now it insists Pacquiao stay in the 140-pound zone, especially if he is going to step in there with a welterweight monster like Cotto. Clearly, they feel that with Manny’s star power growing by the day, they have the juice to dictate the terms to anyone who wants to face the Pac Man Express.

One of Pacquiao’s advisers, Michael Koncz, said as much recently to The Philippine Star: “It’s really up to Manny at what weight he’d like to fight Cotto, if at all … Manny might want to bring it down to 142 … This fight would mean more to Cotto than to Manny. If a limit of 142 is agreed, let Cotto struggle to make weight, not Manny.”