THE BRONX–Sugar Shane Mosley, motivated purely by self interest, sings the praises of Manny Pacquiao.
Mosley is lobbying hard to be the Pinoy Idol?s next foe, possibly on Oct. 17.
He?s not the only welterweight champion in the ?Hallelujah Pacman? chorus.
Miguel Cotto, WBO champ at 147 pounds, was calm and serene as he showed his physical form to thousands of appreciative fans, nearly all of them his fellow Puerto Ricans, Saturday afternoon in rough and tumble Mott Haven section of the South Bronx.
In a key marketing move, promoter Top Rank teamed up with AT&T to put on a Cotto public workout at the corner of East 152 Street and Wales Avenue. There were about 5,000 in attendance at the two block long Puerto Rican Festival street fair. At one of the fair a salsa band was playing and about in the middle, a ring was set up for Cotto.
Cotto?s title defense against Bronxite Joshua Clottey is Saturday night at Madison Square Garden and the 33-1, 27 KOs Cotto seems to be primed for a great performance against a physically strong and durable challenger.
Cotto, whose only loss was to now suspended Antonio Margarito, admitted to being quite surprised at how easily Pacman trampled Ricky Hatton. And he also admitted to hearing all the speculation about who will be next on Manny?s dance card.
Cotto shook his head slightly as he referred to the two round Hatton blitz.
?This was a huge surprise, I think, for everyone out there,? Cotto said ?He is one of the greatest boxers.?
Is there any chance Cotto will lose his Clottey focus and trip himself up by looking ahead to a Pacman bout and jackpot?
This question may have added importance given the fact that Cotto recently had a fistfight with his uncle-trainer Evangelista Cotto and then switched trainers. He also put in eight week of training in Orlando rather than training near home in Caguas, P.R.
?I had a good eight weeks (training),? Cotto said. ?I wanted to get away from all distractions and I did that. I had a group which was focused and kept me focused.
?I hear all the talk (on Pacquiao),? Cotto said. ?But I keep my focus on this fight, on Joshua Clottey.”
Cotto, who speaks freely in English to reporters these days, was extremely tranquil even when talking about Margarito who he feels may have loaded his handwraps before their fight, won by Margarito on an 11th round stoppage.
?I didn?t want to protest (that loss),? Cotto said. ?No one from my team went to his dressing room to watch and check his hands. I felt that, if we made that kind of mistake, then we just have to deal with it and move on.
?If it comes up, I would fight him again. It would be a revenge fight for me.?
That loss, the removal of his trainer, seem to be on Cotto?s mind but not in a disturbing way. He seems to have accepted both events.
?This fight?I am having a new beginning. We?ll see what kind of skill Joshua Clottey can bring to the ring. I know he has skills but I know and he knows that Miguel is better than him.?
Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, said formatting a big Garden bout with the weeklong Puerto Rican celebration in New York works like a charm.
?We?ve been doing this five years now,? duBoef said, ?and putting the fight on the night before the big parade. The Puerto Rican people have come to expect it. Fighting is part of their culture and the enthusiasm is great.?
Some area residents in tenement buildings literally watched Cotto?s workout out of their living room windows.
One man peddled large PR flags and asked a price of $10. The peddler, wearing a Yankees cap, said, ?I am from Ecuador but, hey, I need a job.?
Hovering around the ring was British visitor and ex-pro boxer Abdul Mannan, 37.
Now what is a Mancunian doing at a Cotto workout in the bowels of the South Bronx?
?I?m on holiday so I rode an hour on the subway,? Mannan said. ?Manny Pacquiao will beat all these guys except for Mayweather. It will take a Ray Leonard type boxer like Mayweather to beat Manny because Manny is like Roberto Duran.?
One of the most popular teeshirts for sale paid tribute to the late, great Boricua baseball superstar Roberto Clemente.
