MANILA, Philippines – Miguel Cotto’s camp is close to making a decision regarding the fight laid down by promoter Bob Arum against Manny Pacquiao on November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“I talked preliminarily with the Cotto people face-to-face at a meeting in Tampa when he was training for the (Joshua) Clottey fight," Arum said in an interview at USAToday.com. “Now I feel confident I can get the rest of the business done on the telephone."
“I laid out everything. Hopefully we’ll have their answer and get it resolved with them by the end of the week," Arum added. “Both guys want to fight each other. When that happens, generally it can all come together."
If a fight is set, Cotto will defend his WBO welterweight (147 lbs) crown against Pacquiao, the reigning pound-for-pound king. Pacquiao defeated Oscar de la Hoya last December in the same weight division.
Cotto is coming from a split decision win over Joshua Clottey of Ghana last week.
Next for Arum is meeting with Pacquiao’s camp.
And he knows that he cannot pressure Pacquiao to immediately make a decision. “There’s a ton of money involved. If you push it under arbitrary deadlines it’s going to go off track."
“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," added Arum.
“The most pressing issue..., that’s the money and who gets what," Arum said. “That’s always the biggest issue. I’ve dealt with both of these camps over the years so many times that I feel that we’ll come together and all be satisfied. Based on my conversations with both camps today I am extremely optimistic."
Source: gmanews.tv
Sunday, June 21, 2009
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