FanHouse RickyHatton

Throughout the promotion leading up to Saturday night's mega-fight between challenger Manny Pacquiao and his champion fighter Miguel Cotto, trainer Joe Santiago's reputation has taken a verbal beating from his counterpart, Freddie Roach.

A Hall of Fame cornerman whose hopes to guide Pacquiao to an unprecedented, seventh world title in a different weight class, Roach has taken shots at Santiago's relative inexperience.

But during Wednesday's press conference at the Hollywood Theatre at the MGM Grand Hotel where Saturday night's clash will be held, Santiago stepped up to the podium and carried himself the same way that he has throughout the fight's buildup.

With a confidence, a calm demeanor, a calculated speech and, ultimately, control.

LAS VEGAS -- It's not something Manny Pacquiao talks about much nowadays, but earlier in his career, he was knocked out. In the third round. Not once, but twice.

And during an interview on Wednesday at the MGM Grand Hotel, surrounded by reporters with their tape recorders in his face, the man who is now considered boxing's best fighter, pound-for-pound, admitted that he once considered quitting.

"After those fights, I'll admit, I was thinking, 'Oh, maybe I'm going to stop boxing,'" said Pacquiao, 30, referring to stoppages that occurred in 1996 and 1999. "I was thinking, 'Maybe boxing doesn't like me.' But then, it became a message to me to focus more on boxing."

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.

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.

For the third defense of his WBC and WBO middleweight titles, Kelly Pavlik will return to Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall to face former two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion Paul Williams on Dec. 5.

In this second installment of a three-part series, Pavlik spoke to FanHouse about Bernard Hopkins, who beat him last fall in Atlantic City, his relationship with trainer Jack Loew, his unusual training regimen and the origin of his nickname, "The Ghost."

Check out the interview below.

When Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in June 2005, he was greeted by a hostile crowd partisan to the New Jersey native.

The acrimonious reception brought out the best in Mayweather, who stopped Gatti in six rounds after dropping him early during a generally dominant performance for the World Boxing Council light welterweight title.

The undefeated six-time champion expects a similar atmosphere Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mayweather (39-0, 25 knockouts) takes on Mexico City's Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) at a catchweight of 144 pounds.

Juan Manuel Marquez, who is considered one of Mexico's greatest fighters, will fight at 144 pounds -- the highest weight at which he's ever competed -- to face unbeaten Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather Jr. in a battle pitting two of boxing's pound-for-pound best performers Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

FanHouse sought out the opinions and predictions of some of the sport's most knowledgeable sources in the boxing world for the megafight.

Check out the results below.

Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Sr. both agree with Floyd Jr. that his return to the sport should be as boxing's best fighter, pound-for-pound.

"Nobody beat him. He's still undefeated. He's still Floyd Mayweather Jr. It's like your read a book and you're in the 10th chapter, and you close the book to take a nap," said De La Hoya. "You open the book, once again, when you wake up and you pick up where you left off. It's a continuation."

Floyd Mayweather Jr. debunked Manny Pacquiao's present status as boxing's best fighter, pound-for-pound, insisting, among other things, that the 2009 Fighter Of The Year's consecutive knockouts over Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton were against foes he had already exposed.

"Once again, when I beat those guys, it wasn't nothing. But when [Pacquiao] beat them, 'Oh, it's so unbelievable,' and, 'We've never seen something so crazy,'" said Mayweather, 32, in response to questions from FanHouse during a recent conference call. "They're commentating and they've never been in the heat of battle."