LASV VEGAS — The fight is on. Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto both made weight for Saturday night’s pay-per-view bout with Pacquiao checking in at 144, while Cotto weighed 145, the contracted weight limit for the welterweight bout.
The two fighters stepped on the scales in front of a raucous crowd of about 6,500 at an enclosed section of the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “I’m healthy and I ate well for the fight,” Cotto said. “My strength will be too much for (Pacquiao).”
The crowd seemed to split evenly between Pacquiao and Cotto supporters. Helping to pump the crowd was Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, who spent a couple of moments chatting with the Tecate girls before taking the stage to a chorus of boos. “Must be Dallas fans,” Jacobs told the crowd before adding. “It’s going to be a great fight in the ring for as long as it lasts.”
Moments after the weigh-in trainers Freddie Roach and Joe Santiago got into a heated verbal exchange and had to be separated. Santiago apparently took umbrage over comments Roach has made about Santiago’s inexperience and that Cotto was basically running his own training camp. “145 pounds….(explective),” Santiago said.
Cotto promised victory. “I’m going to win tomorrow night for all of Puerto Rico and for all Latinos,” he said.
Meanwhile, as fans were leaving the arena Antonio Margarito was making his way toward an exit. The Cotto fans didn’t hold back, yelling “Cheater . . .cheater.” Margarito was caught using a hardened substance in his wraps just before his fight with Shane Mosley and many believe he likely used loaded gloves to defeat Cotto in July 2008. Margarito is currently under a one-year suspension that ends in January. There has been talk of a rematch between Cotto and Margarito.
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