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Manny Pacquiao’s flight will arrive tonight (Saturday) one hour earlier than expected. Philippine Airlines Flight 102 will arrive at 6:55 pm at Los Angeles International Airport. Fight fans are invited to come and welcome Pacman at LAX Terminal 4 upon his arrival for his Novemver 14 showdown with Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao selected Baguio — six hours north of Manila by car — as the site of his training camp because he could do road work in the mountains. But the rains made it nearly impossible to run, so instead, HBO has nice shots of him swimming in an indoor pool while it’s storming outside.

Also, according to reports from the Philippines, Pac Man’s entourage has grown, which always makes things entertaining.

Joining us for lunch was HBO’s Ray Stallone, who said that the ratings for 24/7 continue to rise. “Anytime [Floyd] Mayweather is involved, we see a spike in ratings,” said Stallone. “And it’s going up in the 18 to 35 demographic. That’s so heartening. These are our new fans.”

There are a certain generation of people who are forever hooked on boxing because they watched the “Friday Night Fights,” with their dad in the 1950s. Perhaps 24/7 has the same impact. Greenburg hears from all kinds of individuals who watch the series, including a lot of celebrities. One of them, NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson, will soon have his own 24/7 experience.

Before he stepped into the ring against Antonio Margarito in July 2008, Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto was undefeated and considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
The then-WBA welterweight champion — who will fight current pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas — was a powerful and punishing body-puncher, and his handlers were eying a future mega-fight against undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr., if they could coax him out of retirement.

But Cotto fans were stunned as Margarito administered an 11-round beating before Cotto’s corner threw in the towel after Cotto, bloodied and battered, twice took a knee in an attempt to slow the Mexican’s onslaught.

Though he has yet to make up his mind about fighting again or not, it is clear the 10th-round stoppage loss he suffered at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Junior still plays on the mind of Ricky Hatton; far more than the even more devastating and much quicker KO loss he suffered at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in his last fight.

Hatton has yet to make a decision as to whether or not the brutal 2nd-round KO will end his fine and exciting pro career, but he has made it clear that if he were to come back, Floyd Mayweather would be his prime target.

In a new interview with BBC radio, Hatton, now a successful promoter, said he’d need some big motivation to want to return to the ring, and that “Money” is one fighter who would give him that motivation.

When the fight was announced the two combatants were coming off markedly different performances. One frighteningly dominant, the other a test of wills that came down to a scant few points on the judges scorecards. One fighter seemed to be leap-frogging the perilous climb to pound-for-pound supremacy while the other seemed to be finding slippery wet patches as he struggled onward and upward. That their ring accomplishments are in fact comparable became a moot point – one was spectacularly exciting, the other as stoic and measured in his ring approach as his manner.

Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, who will meet in the years biggest and most significant bout on November 14th, have so much more in common than their respective fans and critics would contend. And the level of experience and professionalism both men bring to the ring all but guarantees a fistic display of the highest quality.

Boxing trainer and coach Freddie Roach spoke highly of Manny Pacquiao’s sparring partners that include Jose Luis Castillo, the former lightweight champion of the world as Team Pacquiao leaves Saturday to continue training at the Wild Card Gym in L.A.
Pacquiao’s trainer and coach Freddie Roach is happy with Pacquiao’s sparring partners and speaks highly of them as Team Pacquiao prepares to leave for Los Angeles, California for the last leg of the Filipino boxer’s training and physical conditioning.
Among Pacquiao’s sparing partners who gets special attention from Roach because of the inputs that he gives to the Filipino boxer’s quest for being the first boxer to win seven titles in seven weight divisions, is Jose Luis Castillo of Mexico, himself a former light weight champion of the world who also spoke highly of Manny Pacquiao.
Castillo is convinced that nobody in the weight range where Pacquiao and Cotto are fighting is capable of beating Pacquiao based on his experience on the first few sparring sessions with the pound for pound king.