Pacquiao picks old foe Cotto over Mayweather, Roach disagrees

Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao didn't hold back when asked whom he'll be rooting for when Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather Jr. dispute the World Boxing Association (WBO) super-welterweight championship Saturday (Sunday morning PHL time). "Siyempre, Cotto tayo," said a smiling Pacquiao Saturday afternoon before leaving the Pan Pacific hotel to host his GMA-7 primetime game show Manny Many Prizes. In contrast, trainer Freddie Roach picks Mayweather to prevail. "Floyd is too fast for Cotto." Not that Pacquiao doesn't have an axe to grind against the 34-year-old Mayweather, the same man who has repeatedly shunned fighting the Filipino ring icon and accused him of using performance-enhancing drugs. Pacquiao, who scored a 12th-round technical knockout win over Cotto in 2009 to grab the welterweight crown, thinks the Puerto Rican has got what it takes to inflict Mayweather his first professional loss and retain the WBA 154-pound title belt in the process. "Kumpiyansa siya (Mayweather) masyado," said Pacquiao, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title holder. "Hindi niya alam malakas si Cotto." Cotto, going into his highly-anticipated showdown with Mayweather (42-0, 28 knockouts) at the MGM Grand, is a 6-1 underdog. Mayweather, the challenger, is also bound to receive boxing's biggest ever guaranteed prize of $32 million. Pacquiao, when informed that odds locally are also heavily stacked against Cotto since a P10,000 bet would earn a P40,000 return should the champion win, doesn't want to put a wager anymore. "No more bets. Cotto lang tayo diyan," said Pacquiao, who has also avoided gambling after he started preaching about the Bible six months ago. — JVP/HS, GMA News