FanHouse Antonio Margarito

Champion Miguel Cotto has a message for challenger Manny Pacquiao as well as those who believe he can be successful during his quest to win a world title in a record seventh different weight class: "They picked the wrong guy."

"If he thinks he's going to reach a seventh title in a seventh different division, he picked the wrong moment, the wrong fighter and the wrong opponent," said Cotto, all but bristling during Thursday's conference call with the national media.

"If he thinks he's going to beat Miguel Cotto," said Cotto, "he's pretty much all wrong with that kind of thinking."

During the buildup of WBO welterweight champ Miguel Cotto vs. Manny Pacquiao, the challenger's trainer, Freddie Roach, says he's having fun at the expense of Cotto and his chief cornermen, Joe Santiago.

Cotto "is slower," and "gets hit so much more" since his 11th-round knockout loss to Antonio Margarito, and "his defense sucks, because he's training himself," said Roach.

See what else Roach had to say after the jump.

It appeared that the setting could not have been better on that final day of May, when 26-year-old Alfredo Angulo seemed to be on the verge of a transitional moment in his young professional boxing career.

For not only did the 154-pounder boast a spotless record at 15-0 with 12 knockouts, but the Mexicali, Mexico, native had steamrolled his way through 11 consecutive knockouts entering that junior middleweight bout at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

Angulo's opponent was Kermit Cintron, an ex-welterweight (147 pounds) champion who was just two bouts removed from a sixth-round knockout loss to former titlist Antonio Margarito.

Former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron dropped Juliano Ramos in the fourth round and stopped him in the fifth round of their junior middleweight bout on Saturday night in Roberto Clemente Stadium in Carolina, Puerto Rico.

In victory, the 30-year-old Houston resident rose to 32-2-1 with his 28th knockout, this taking place in the city of his birth for his first fight on his native soil.

For Andre Berto, the visions of glory are ever present in his thoughts and in his dreams, so much so, that he often finds himself throwing punches at imaginary opponents.

"The faces change from time to time. With the left hand, I see Shane Mosley. With the right hand, I see Manny Pacquiao. Left hook, I see Miguel Cotto. It's just that I have all of their spirits just haunting me in the gym," said Berto, the 26-year-old WBC welterweight (147 pounds) champion.

"They pop up from time to time in my sleep, too," said Berto, who is 25-0 with 19 knockouts. "I've already envisioned myself fighting all of those guys, and seeing the outcomes, seeing how the fight will end up."

Former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron will face Juliano Ramos on Saturday night in a junior middleweight bout in Roberto Clemente Stadium in Carolina, P.R.

Now a resident of Houston, the 30-year-old Cintron (31-2-1, 27 KOs) returns to the city of his birth to face Ramos (15-2, 12 KOs), a Brazilian who has not fought since losing by sixth-round stoppage to Mike Jones in August 2008.

It will be Cintron's first fight on his native soil.

TAMPA, Fla. -- With eyes fixated on perspiration-soaked, WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto's workout, Bob Arum surveyed his latest promotional responsibility at The Fight Factory gymnasium like an artist appreciating his most recent piece.

"Miguel is just a fighter with great, great heart," said Arum, whose 42 years in boxing began with the Muhammad Ali victory over George Chuvalo -- his first of 26 fights involving the man many call "The Greatest" -- and included the George Foreman comeback.

A 78-year-old Harvard graduate and attorney, Arum also handled every fight of Marvelous Marvin Hagler's career, as well as substantial portions of those of Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

FanHouse caught up with Arum on Tuesday during Cotto's training in Florida for his Nov. 14 defense against Manny Pacquiao to discuss the futures of Cotto, Pacquiao, and several other fighters he promotes.

Mark Taffet, Senior Vice President of HBO Sports Pay Per View, said Floyd Mayweather "clearly has proven his star status by generating the kinds of pay per view numbers that very few men in the history of the sport have ever generated."

FanHouse spoke to Taffet, the man in charge of HBO's Pay Per View, as he addressed Mayweather, the Nov. 14 megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, the cable giant's "hunger to go younger" initiative geared toward drawing America's youth to the sport of boxing, and how the organization determines which fights are deserving of pay television status during this exclusive interview.

FanHouse caught up to rising middleweight, Paul Williams, in Westminster, MD., on Friday night where the man generally considered to be among boxing's pound-for-pound best watched a stablemate on a local fight card.

A 28-year-old, southpaw with two-fisted power and, usually, an incredible energy level and punch output, "The Punisher" Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts) has twice won WBO titles at welterweight (147 pounds) and one at junior middleweight (154). Williams will appear with 27-year-old, World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization middleweight (160) champion, Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) at Tuesday's press conference announcing their Dec. 5 clash at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

A former professional boxer, Freddie Roach has not fought competitively since retiring in October 1986.

But during an exclusive interview with FanHouse from Los Angeles on Tuesday, the 2009 Trainer of The Year seemed as if he was ready to lace up the gloves and go after rival trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Hearing for the first time that Mayweather Sr. has implied that steroid use had contributed to the rise in weight of Manny Pacquiao, his No. 1 fighter and boxing's 2009 Fighter of the Year, Roach fired back, among other things, "Where in the hell did that come from?"

Check out the full interview below.

---

---