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A Smiling Arum... the Cat Who Ate the Canary


PhilBoxing.com




"It'll be more of a tactical fight in the early rounds until Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto start hitting each other with their heavy blows." -- Larry Merchant.

"It'll only happen if Cotto is unable to break Pacquiao in the early going." -- Bob Arum.

That said, the stage is now set for one of the biggest fight of the year featuring the Philippines' Pacquiao battling Puerto Rico's Cotto in a 12 round welterwight thriller at MGM's Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"My feeling is that both fighters will go at each other early with Miguel looking to overpower Pacquiao. If Miguel finds that his early aggression is not working, then he goes
to plan B which is to counter-punch because he feels that's where Manny is vulnerable to a fighter who knows what's he's doing. So I think that's the goal. If that does not work, then it becomes a tactical fight," opined Top Rank's Arum.

A tremendous support from media aided by a vigorous marketing campaign has swelled the ranks of fans wanting to watch Saturday's bash at the MGM site and millions all over the planet catching the scene on TVlandia.

So who's going to show up for the fight equipped with the needed firepower to make it a lovely night?

The Filipino ring hero is favored but the Boricua brawler has started gaining adherents to make to make it more interesting --betting wise.

Since arriving in the batty Nevada capital, Pacman remains the choice of bettors occasioned by Manny's competitive nature in all of the weight classes he has competed in.

Miguel Angel is one champion he considers a bar to hurdle so as to achieve an unprecedented seventh world crown in 7 weight divisions.

A daunting task when one takes into account Cotto's record of 27 knockouts in 34 ring combats with a lone setback against Antonio Margarito, an outcome laced with controversies that's debated endlessly in sports bars of boxing aficionados.

One guy who cannot lose even in this gambling mecca is Arum as the promoter of both.

No wonder Unca' Bob keeps smiling like a cat who ate the canary.
He cannot possibly lose Saturday night.

Yesterday he was smiling. Today he was smiling. Even on Sunday, Atty. Bob will be smiling.

Money is real music to Arum's aging ears.

LOL thrice.


Click here to view a list of other articles written by Hermie Rivera.


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