Cotto Does Not Agree With The WBO's Weight Stance

According to WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, and his father Miguel Cotto Sr, WBO president Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel has become too involved in the title controversy with the November 14 bout with Manny Pacquiao. Notwithstanding a recent published report by one careless hack who erroneously attributed the comments to Pacquiao in an effort to instigate a legal situation, it was "Paco" Valcarcel who said the Pacquiao-Cotto bout was a welterweight contest because it was taking place at 145-pounds.

"If the fight is at 147-pounds, that is the limit. If he weights more than that, then you are at junior middleweight. But with one or two pounds less, you are still inside the limit," Paco told El Nuevo Dia. "We (the WBO) have the responsibility... that if a fight is going to be inside the welterweight limit, then it has to be for the title."

The Cotto clan does agree with Paco’s position. They view Paco as a good businessman who is trying to grab a sanctioning fee of $150,000. Since Paco was not involved in the negotiations, Cotto says the WBO president should not involve himself in the dispute.

"If he requires me to, I will gladly give him a letter of resignation. I do not have any problems with that. But in the rough draft of the contracts, the fight was not for the title. That was what we agreed on,” said Cotto to El Nuevo Dia. "For my previous fight. I weighed 146 pounds, but the contract stipulated 147 pounds and the fight was for the WBO title. For this fight the [contract] said 145 pounds and the title was not on the line.”

Top Rank president Bob Arum has already gone on the record and said that he would personally cover the sanctioning fee for both parties out of his own pocket. Arum has told several reporters that Pacquiao-Cotto will have the WBO title at stake.