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Pacquiao Mulls Politics But Open to Mayweather Bout

March 25, 2010 By

Manny Pacquiao is still open to fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. but is waiting for the challenge to come from the other side and for promoters to iron out a row over drug testing.

“I came this far in my boxing career without Mayweather, so I see no need to call him out,” Pacquiao told reporters Monday. “He needs me to bolster his career.

Manny Pacquiao reacts upon spotting someone from the crowd as he carries his daughter Princess upon arrival to another hero’s welcome early Monday in Manila.

“I am open to him fighting me anytime he wants to.”

Pacquiao returned to thousands of cheering fans in Manila to celebrate his latest victory over Joshua Clottey in Dallas. He’ll now focus on a bid to enter politics, campaigning for a seat in the Philippines’ House of Representatives in the May 10 national elections.

Mayweather’s insistence on Olympic-style testing was the primary reason negotiations fell through in January for a megafight against Pacquiao. Mayweather wanted blood tests up to 14 days before the fight, while Pacquiao claims he feels weak after drawing blood and would not agree to testing within 24 days.

The negotiations quickly deteriorated, and Pacquiao signed to fight Clottey while Mayweather turned his attention to welterweight champion Shane Mosley.

Mayweather will face Mosley in Las Vegas on May 1 after both agreed to undergo an unlimited number of unannounced blood and urine tests before and after the fight.

“He should win against Mosley. If not, Mosley and I will fight,” Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao is now concentrating on the national elections. His 2007 campaign fell short, but this time Pacquiao said he is better prepared.

“I have prepared for my political plans even before I faced Clottey last week,” he said. “I am ready to campaign.”

The two-month campaign starts later this week. Apart from running for his own seat in southern Sarangani province, Pacquiao is also campaigning for presidential aspirant Manny Villar, a senator and the richest politician in the country.

Villar raised Pacquiao’s hand after welcoming him at a hotel Monday, before the boxer headed for a church service and a courtesy call in the presidential palace.

Asked if he plans to retire from boxing if he wins at the election, the 31-year-old Pacquiao said he was undecided.

“My own mother asked me to stop boxing. We’ll talk about it,” he said. Wall Street Journal

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Floyd Mayweather Jr Confident Of Beating Manny Pacquiao

December 16, 2009 By

floyd mayweather jr. confident of beating manny pacquiao_Floyd Mayweather Jr says he will knock out Manny Pacquiao if and when boxing’s two biggest stars meet in 2010.

The American and the Philippines star, regarded as the world’s two best pound-for-pound boxers, are finalising plans for a welterweight meeting on 13 March.

And unbeaten Mayweather, 32, said: “He’s been knocked out before and he’s taken losses. I’ll be victorious.”

The Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the NBA’s Lakers, is the latest venue to bid for the fight.

Promoters of both fighters were due to visit the new Dallas Cowboys stadium on Wednesday, but Mayweather’s camp pulled out at the last minute.

It is likely Mayweather, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, would prefer the fight to be in his home town, and the MGM Grand casino would now appear to be the favourite to host the bout.

Representatives of the New Orleans Superdome are also said to be interested in hosting arguably the biggest fight since the turn of the century.

But any venue not in Las Vegas would have to offer more money because Nevada gives fighters tax breaks that other states do not.

Both Cowboy Stadium and the New Orleans Superdome can accommodate up to 100,000 spectators, while the MGM Grand seats about 16,000.

The latter venue staged both boxers’ last fights – Filipino Pacquiao became a five-weight world champion following his WBO welterweight title win over Miguel Cotto in November, while Las Vegas-based Mayweather beat Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in September.

Pacquiao’s victory over Cotto completed an amazing 12 months in which he defeated ring legend Oscar de la Hoya as well as Britain’s Ricky Hatton.

With the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao expecting to surpass the previous record of $18.4m (£11,36m) for gate receipts, which was for Mayweather’s bout with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, promoters Bob Arum and Richard Schaefer are looking to maximise all possible revenues.

And Mayweather remains confident of blotting Pacquaio’s record of 50 victories from 55 fights.

“Pacquiao’s a good fighter but I’ve been around the sport a long time and I’ve dominated boxing for around 15 years now,” the American said on HBO Television’s Joe Buck Live chat show.

“No-one has defeated me yet so we’ll have to see.

“The thing is, I don’t want the fans to be really shocked by what will happen when we do happen to meet up because it’s not going to be anything new.”

Mayweather also admitted he has won and lost huge sums gambling on NFL matches in Las Vegas.

“Two weeks ago I won like a million [dollars], that was across a week of games, Monday night, Sunday and Thursday,” he added.

“I didn’t lose a million but I lost a couple of hundred thousand. Then I tried to get some ‘get back’ and lost some more money on Brett Favre [Minnesota Vikings quarter-back].” BBC News

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Manny By KO

November 7, 2009 By

manny pacquiao_Freddie Roach is so confident Manny Pacquiao can knock out Miguel Cotto in their 12-round welterweight slugfest on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand that he’s putting a total bet of $3,000 on the table.  He’s actually spreading out the wager, staking $1,000 on a first round knockout and $1,000 each on a Cotto falling down on either the ninth or tenth round.
“I put a thousand ($1,000) on the first round. I put a thousand on nine and ten,” said Roach point blank after supervising Pacquiao’s sparring session Tuesday when he went eight rounds with Urbano Antillon and Rey Beltran at the Wild Card gym here.
Roach never doubted Pacquiao is also going to demolish Cotto the way he did previously against Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Eric Morakes, David Diaz, to name a few.

And while he initially sees it as a decision win for the Filipino boxing champion, Roach has since made up his stand and predicted it to be by knockout. He even boldly declared that Pacquiao, who later in the night appeared in the popular show Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, can take the reigning WBO welterweight title holder inside one round.“He (Cotto) gets hit early and if we hurt him early, we’re going to take him down,” said Roach of their fight plan.

Roach even mentioned Cotto’s penchant of getting peeved when hit early on, proof of how thoroughly he has studied the Puerto Rican ever since the fight was formally sealed in July. “If Cotto gets hit early, there will be fouls and there will be low blows. These will be premeditated, so I don’t think the referee have to wait a second time (before disqualifying),” said the three-time Trainer of the Year.

When showed of a semi-naked Cotto whose well-chiseled body bore a lot of tattoos, Roach vows to add more of them. “He likes tattoos, so we’re going to put more tattoos, this time on his face,” he said smiling. Further reinforcing Roach’s belief on a Pacquiao win is the way the 30-year- old pound-for-pound king is conducting himself in training camp, now on its final week.

The 49-year old Roach said training is back to normal for Pacquiao following the series of distractions that hounded the camp early on when it was held in Manila. “I’m happy with everything and he’s where I want him to be,” said Roach, who bared the Filipino will spar six more rounds on Thursday and finally four on Saturday before heading to Las Vegas two days later.

But Roach said Pacquiao should be wise enough to avoid engaging Cotto on the ropes, saying “our fight is in the middle of the ring.”“We have to do a good job of staying out of the ropes. Foot speed and hand speed, then pick him apart,” said Roach.

Unlike him who doesn’t want to engage Cotto should the champion goes beyond 145 pounds, Roach said Pacquiao is more than willing to fight him at any weight, at any time. “Manny doesn’t give a sh*t about the weight. Manny will fight (Cotto) at any weight. Manny will fight King Kong,” he said.  By Gerry N. Ramos, Journal Online

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