Insider: Pacquiao-Cotto Fight Almost a Done Deal

MANILA, Philippines – Long-time boxing promoter and Team Pacquiao insider Rex “Wakee" Salud is certain that Miguel Cotto is going to be Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent.

Following a conversation with Top Rank chairman Bob Arum in Las Vegas, Salud said Thursday only the issues concerning the catch weight and purse split have to be settled. Otherwise, he said everything seems to be penciled for the November 14 showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“Si Cotto na yan," said Salud, a close confidante of Pacquiao who once managed former two-time world champion Gerry Penalosa.

Salud is currently with Pacquiao in General Santos City to attend the birthday celebration of the Pacman’s brother Roel.

“Sa tingin ko 80 to 90 percent, almost 100 percent, tuloy na yan," he stated in an separate interview earlier on GMA’s Unang Hirit.

From what Salud understands, Cotto wants the fight to be at 145, two pounds below what Pacquiao’s camp had been asking for at 143.

Also a major point of the discussion is how much each fighter would get. Understandably, Salud pointed out, Pacquiao would have the bigger share of the pie, being boxing’s top attraction and the best pound-for-pound fighter, regardless of Cotto’s WBO welterweight title being at stake.

But Arum is confident he can reach a deal with both camps within the week, considering both have expressed their interest to fight each other five months from now.

"I laid out everything. Hopefully we'll have their answer and get it resolved with them by the end of the week," Arum said in a USA Today report. "Both guys want to fight each other. When that happens, generally it can all come together.

“Giving me a few weeks, which is no hurry, enables me to have enough time to pull it together so nobody feels I'm steamrolling them. There's an art in doing this," he added.

Pacquiao himself hints of a likely Cotto fight.

In his “Kumbinasyon" column for Abante and Philboxing, Pacquiao recalled his recent trip to New York, where he personally witnessed Cotto escape with a split decision win over Joshua Clottey.

Source: gmanews.tv