SPORTS: World Boxing Council (WBC)

WBC SELLS PACQUIAO-COTTO KEY-RINGS
TO RAISE FUNDS FOR RP TYPHOON VICTIMS

By Alex P. Vidal

LOS ANGELES, California – The World Boxing Council (WBC) has offered its “modest support to the great people of this extraordinary boxing country (Philippines)”, which was recently slammed by deadly typhoon “Ketsana” that killed hundreds of people and rendered thousands of families homeless, by selling commemorative key-rings of the first WBC Diamond Belt fight ever between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Angel Cotto on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The project dubbed “WBC Asia Relief fund – Philippine Disaster”, offers circle keyring model
double face key-ring: one face with Pacquiao, the back face with Cotto 1 ¾ inches diameter, glove model big (3 inches tall by 2 ¼ wide) shiny finish and old metal matt finish for the following prices: 5 assorted key-rings = $50 US plus shipping; 10 assorted key-rings = $95 US plus shipping; 15 assorted key-rings = $140 US plus shipping; 20 assorted key-ring = $185 US plus shipping; and 50 assorted key-rings = $450 US plus shipping.

CHARITY

According to the WBC News released from the office of president Jose Sulaiman Chagnon in Mexico City dated October 12, 2009, “all the money raised will be sent for charity to the Philippines through the Games and Amusement Board chaired by WBC vice president Eric Buhain.
“The WBC joins the world helping force just like we did in 2005 in the Asian Tsunami disaster. Extra donations will be really appreciated by our Philippine brothers,” said the WBC News.
Associated Press has reported that authorities sent more than 200 coffins recently to the typhoon-battered northern Philippines for the grim task of burying the storm’s victims, including a family of eight whose house was buried under a torrent of mud.

DEATH TOLL

The nationwide death toll from landslides and flooding reportedly stood at more than 600 since back-to-back storms started pounding the northern Philippines on Sept. 26. Hundreds of thousands are still displaced, and the damage from the worst flooding in 40 years has run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
The death toll was so high that some areas ran out of coffins. More than 200 wooden caskets assembled in neighboring provinces were expected in Baguio, where more funerals were planned, said regional disaster-relief director Olive Luces.
Baguio city, in the heart of the Cordillera mountain range where at least 277 people died, organized a burial for a family of eight, including six children, whose house along Marcos Highway was pinned down by other houses that tumbled down a mountainside late last week.

 

SPORTS:

DISCLOSURE OF PACQUIAO’S 2010 FIGHT
MAY HAVE JEOPARDIZED MAYWEATHER DEAL

By Alex P. Vidal

LOS ANGELES, California – Did somebody commit a mea culpa in prematurely disclosing that International Boxing Organization (IBO) light welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao would soon relinquish the title after fighting Miguel Angel Cotto on November 14 to duke it out with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a rich transaction in March 2010?
This question surfaced in the boxing circle here after Top Rank chief Bob Arum recently announced the 30-year-old Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KO’s) “may no longer pursue Mayweather” but will instead square off with Shane Mosley in his next fight before the May elections in the Philippines if he will dispose of Cotto (34-1, 27 KO’s) in a 12-round fracas at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“It appears the first round of negotiation with Team Mayweather bogged down due to disagreement in sharing of purse,” said sources from La Brea on 3rd St. here who refused to be named because they were not authorized to say something about the deal which has been going on even before Mayweather silenced Juan Manuel Marquez in 12 rounds last September 19 in Las Vegas.
Sources said both Pacquiao and Mayweather would have bankrolled at least $20 million (about 940 million in Philippine money) each but Team Mayweather reportedly “wanted the bigger slice of the pie” after the unbeaten black fighter dislodged Marquez and his reputation has been deodorized once again after a 21-month hiatus.

DATE OF FIGHT

The proposed date of the multi-million duel would have been March 13, 2010 but sources said the Mayweather camp wanted to up the ante for the 34-year-old hard-hitting American fighter after reports spread first week of October that “Mayweather has agreed to face Pacquiao” regardless of the result of his fight against the 28-year-old Cotto.
The Mayweather camp thought the Pacquiao camp desperately wanted the deal sealed soon as it has already been publicized and the date of the supposed fight reported in media; hence, it could use the opportunity to make astronomical demands, it was learned.
“How could Mayweather have agreed to fight Pacquiao next when he is now enjoying with his family after a bruising clash with Marquez and has never sat down with any representative of Pacquiao to seriously discuss the matter?” sources quoted a member of Mayweather’s training team as reportedly saying.
They said, “It is not Mayweather who is hankering for a Pacquiao fight because he is the one who is undefeated and has nothing to prove anymore in as far as his talent an skills are concerned.”
Arum has announced that he would turn his back from the negotiation table if Mayweather, nicknamed “Money”, will insist on a 60-40 sharing.
And, sources said, “it appears Arum has packed up his portfolio as he refused to succumb to Mayweather’s demand as he did not want to compromise the status of the prized Filipino icon who is reputed as the best boxer in the world pound-for-pound.”
Arum described Mayweather’s demand as “outrageous.” He did not elaborate.
Arum, 77, made a brief visit at Pacquiao’s training camp in Baguio City, Philippines last week of September where the part-time politician and richest Filipino professional athlete is staying together with trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning tactician Alex Ariza, among other training personnel.

REUNIFICATION POSSIBLE

Meanwhile, if Pacquiao will eliminate Cotto in the numbers game, he could end up facing Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) in a WBO, WBA welterweight unification duel tentatively next year, it was reported.
Although he is also included in the elite list as Mayweather’s possible next opponent, Mosley has a score to settle with Cotto who upset him and grabbed his WBA welterweight crown on Nov. 10, 2007 at the Madison Square Garden in New York before Mosley masterfully broke Antonio Margarito (37-6, 27 KO’s) into pieces with a 9th round stoppage for the WBA super welterweight belt on January 24, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Margarito was the first man to stop Cotto in the 11th round in a bloody encounter on July 26, 2008 in a match that transformed the MGM Grand into a bullfight arena with Puerto Rican and Mexican fans loudly jeering and yelling at each other like their countries are at war.
A Cotto-Mosley rematch is reportedly not a far-fetched possibility next year to determine who will meet Mayweather in the event of a Cotto win over Pacquiao on Nov. 14.