Pacman-Cotto looms in Abu Dhabi

Pacman-Cotto looms in Abu Dhabi
by Ronnie Nathanielsz

MANNY Pacquiao is likely to face World Boxing Organization light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 13, which was the date set for his planned megabuck showdown with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Insidesports.ph, Manila Standard and Viva Sports learned that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz met over dinner with a representative of the United Arab Emirates’ Royal Family and their lawyer in Las Vegas on Monday to discuss details of the proposed title fight.

Koncz revealed that he had relayed to the Abu Dhabi officials last week, “what we require for the fight and they told us it’s not a problem.”

Fortune and CNN have classified Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as the richest city in the world. As one of the biggest oil producers in the world, it is also the home of the Emirati Royal Family and has developed into a large and modern, cosmopolitan metropolis.

Lem Satterfield, boxing editor at AOL Fan House and news editor at BoxingScene.com, quoted Arum as saying: “There’s a tremendous appeal for Manny Pacquiao in the Middle East. All of his fights are shown throughout the Middle East and there’s a large number of Filipinos, who work in the Middle East. All his fights are shown all over in those countries. Manny is very, very popular and famous over there.”

In fact, the Solar Sports coverage of Pacquiao’s fight are telecast in the Middle East by The Filipino Channel of ABS-CBN due to the huge demand from Filipinos working in the region.

Mayweather Jr’s continued silence and his failure to sign a contract sent to him weeks ago precipitated the willingness of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to meet with the representatives of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family after Pacquiao himself told Manila Standard: “I don’t have a problem if Mayweather doesn’t want to fight because there are others waiting and eager to fight me.”

Pacquiao mentioned the names of Cotto, from whom he won the World Boxing Organization welterweight title last November and Antonio Margarito.

There were suggestions in the past that should Arum wish to pursue a fight with Margarito and he couldn’t get a license to fight in Las Vegas, a Pacquiao-Margarito clash in Mexico was a possibility. In fact, Arum mentioned the fact that he received a big offer to stage a Pacquiao-Margarito fight in Monterey