We'll Fight Cotto Even If He Weighs 147 - Roach

I think this welterweight title stuff is more of an afterthought. What matters here is what is in the fight contract itself. If it is in the contract that Pacquiao and camp have the option to call the fight off at a certain weigh-in point for Cotto, be it 145, 147 or higher, that's the hard and fast rule there.

Maybe Roach is referring to a contractual clause, that if Cotto weighs in within 145-147, there's a penalty for him with option for Pac not to go on with the fight, and if he goes beyond 147 the contract still provides an option for Pac and Roach to go on with the fight with penalties for Cotto of course, but Roach is saying now they will no longer fight beyond that weight.

 

Exactly.

 

Roach does not make those kind of decissions. It's a collective agreement and decission within team Pac.

 

The fight will be for the Welterweight title, right off the bat there will be lawsuits filed by the Cotto team if Pac refuses to fight if Cotto comes in at the limit of 147 lbs.

.....and its really beside the point now because its already been established that Cotto can come in at the Welterweight limit while incurring financial penalties.

......any fighter weighing beyond the welterweight limit is subject to whatever procedure that would occur in any other fight where the limit has been exceeded.


Let me say that this is a completely different scenario that occured for JMM-Mayweather.....that fight was not a title fight and was contracted at no more than 144 lbs.

......then Mayweather shamelessly let GBP know the night before the fight that they were not going to honor the contracted weight limit.......team Marquez was notified, and new contracts had to be signed.

Pac-Cotto is totally different, the contract already stipulates that if Cotto comes in at over 145 lbs, he will be penalized 1 million for every pound up to the the welter limit of 147 lbs.
......beyond that, Cotto loses his title at the scales and the whole thing becomes a sham.


Why Roach is publicly spewing that they would walk if Cotto goes over the Welter limit is beyond me.....when has Cotto ever failed to make weight????

 

We don't know what's in the fight contract, what options are given to Pacquiao if Cotto weighs in for example at 146, over the declared catchweight but still within welterweight, if Pac and company can cancel the fight and still take penalty money. We should remember that the inclusion of the WBO title belt was more an afterthought than the first order of business regarding negotiations. It is more like Paco Varcarcel stamped the fight with his precious dry seal after everything else had been ironed out. Does anybody think a clause stating that for example "any fighter going above 145lb is cause for fight cancellation" would make Varcarcel adamantly refuse to put his welterweight belt on the line?

 

Plain and simple my friend, initially Cotto was not going to put his title on the line.......
.....Pac wanted Cotto's belt to be on the line, so quite simply he'd look like a complete idiot now if it would to come down to Cotto weighing 147 lbs and Pac saying, "I'm not going through with the fight because Cotto is two pounds over our agreement."

.....if Pac wants Cotto definitely weighing 145 lbs, he should have never insisted the Welterweight title be on the line.
147 lbs is the Welterweight limit, and if Pac wants to fight for that belt, Cotto is within his right to weigh the maximum for any title defense of his.
.....just that simple.


Its really elementary.....every World title nowdays is watered down (they just dont have the significance they once had) and Pac just wants to add another bogus World title to his resume without having to face a bonafide Welter to earn it.
......and I'm not just knocking Pacquiao for this, its not just him as most fighters today just dont have the integrity to earn whats coming to them.

Just my opinion, but if Pacquiao truly wants to call himself a welterweight champion, he should hope Cotto officially weighs at the Welterweight limit of 147 lbs.

If Pac wants to be Welterweight champion of the world, fight a Welterweight!