Arum was planning on matching Pacquiao vs. Valero

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Top Rank promoter 78-year-old Bob Arum was planning on putting unbeaten Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KO’s) against his number #1 fighter Manny Pacquiao for a big money fight within a couple of bouts. All of that will never happen now that Valero has committed suicide while in jail in Venezuela. We’ll never know what Valero could have done with his boxing career. In an article at Reuters, Arum said “I was grooming him [Valero] as a future opponent for Manny Pacquiao. That would have been a sensational fight.”

Arum was right about that. Valero was very special and could have been a great one had he lived. Valero was in jail for killing his wife on Sunday. And then today, Monday, Valero was found hanging in his jail cell. The jailers had taken his shoelaces and shirt as a suicide precaution, but had failed to take his trousers, which is what Valero used to hang himself on the bars of the cell. This is all pretty tragic and it’s something that hopefully people can learn from.

Valero reportedly had an alcohol problem before his death, and this would have had to have been treated for him to have taken on a top fighter like Pacquiao. But it’s interesting to speculate what would have happened if Valero and Pacquiao had met in the ring. Both Pacquiao and Valero would have been the same height at 5’6”, but unless Pacquiao came down in weight from 147, Valero would have been at a great disadvantage against Pacquiao.

At the time of his death, Valero hadn’t fought over 135. In fact, Valero only moved up in weight from super feather last year in April. To ask Valero to move up to welterweight for a fight against Pacquiao, which I could see happening given the pull that Pacquiao has, would have been asking too much from Valero. However, if the fight could have taken place at 140, Valero would have had an excellent chance at possibly beating Pacquiao. Both of these fighters would have gone toe-to-toe, and there’s no telling whether Pacquiao or Valero would have emerged as the winner. Valero had never been beaten and with his crushing power and unorthodox fighting style, he would have been a big problem for Pacquiao to deal with.

Arum wasn’t aware of how bad Valero’s problem was with alcohol at the time of Edwin’s death, saying “I had heard stories about drug and alcohol abuse, but I never realized the magnitude of it. The few times I met with hi, he seemed perfectly normal.” 

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Source: boxingnews24.com By Dave Lahr

Trainer Emanuel Steward for Cotto

According to Fight News, world famous boxing trainer Emanuel Steward plans on training former WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s) for his next fight on June 5th against WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) at the Yankees Stadium, in New York. This is an odd setup because Foreman was trying to get the services of Steward as well. However, Steward chose to work for Cotto, the more established fighter.

Steward, who trains IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko among many others, has made no secret about his interest in training Cotto. Steward sees things that he feels he can fix with Cotto’s game. Steward probably couldn’t hurt Cotto any, as he’s coming off a disappointing 12th round TKO against Manny Pacquiao last year. Steward is known for his success in training taller fighters like Tommy Hearns, Jermain Taylor and Klitschko. It’s difficult to see what improvements Steward can make in Cotto’s game, other getting him to clinch and use his jab more.

Cotto rarely clinches in his fights and this forces him to fight hard for 12 rounds. Steward might choose to change that a bit. Foreman is a fighter that uses a lot of clinching after every punch. Steward is going to have to figure out away to for Cotto to defeat Foreman’s punch and grab technique or else Cotto may find himself losing again. The 5’11” Foreman is bigger than Cotto by four inches and has a longer reach as well.

On paper, Foreman’s fighting style would appear to be all wrong for Cotto. Foreman moves all the time, uses his jab effectively and is good at punching and immediately trying up his opponents to keep them from getting their own shots off. Even if a fighter trains hard for Foreman’s style, it’s still extremely difficult to fight him because of his movement and grabbing technique.

Foreman doesn’t give much of a target except for the top of his head when he comes diving forward. If Cotto stands in his tracks when Foreman comes at him, he could find himself getting nailed by the top of Foreman’s head. With his constant diving in against his opponents, Foreman causes a lot of head butts. Cotto might have problems with Foreman’s head most of all their fight. It’s clearly a weapon and hard to combat against.

If Cotto does end up beating Foreman, it’s unknown if Cotto will decide to keep the WBA title to use for Manny Pacquiao bait to lure him for a 2nd fight. Besides Alfredo Angulo, Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez, there are few other opponents for Cotto to fight. It’s doubtful he’ll want to fight any of those guys.

Source: boxingnews24.com By Jim Dowe

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Manny Pacquiao in TIME's 'most influential' poll again

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MANILA, Philippines – Boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao is again included in TIME Magazine’s poll for the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010.

The poll, which opened on April 1, has Pacquiao joining global personalities like US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Conan O'Brien and Oprah Winfrey in the list.

As of April 3, Pacquiao was ranked No. 20 behind satire host John Stewart.

He had a total number of 4,663 votes with an average rating of 91. This is his second appearance on the list.

Pacquiao, a 7-division champion and reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight king, finished No. 20 in TIME Magazine's list of most influential “Heroes & Icons” in 2009.

Other categories listed in TIME’s 100 are Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers, and Scientists & Thinkers.

In the Philippines, Pacquiao is currently engaged in another form of battle. He is running against Roy Chiongbian for the lone congressional seat of Sarangani province in Mindanao.

"An idol in his native Philippines, Pacquiao has become an international sports god, drawing much-needed fans to the fading profession of boxing,” TIME Magazine said.

“For now, the Filipino, a champion in seven weight classes, is focusing on a prize he has tried but failed to win before: a seat in his country's legislature,” it added.

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source: sports.yahoo.com