FanHouse Antonio Margarito

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Trainer Nazim Richardson talks about revealing the "blocks" in Antonio Margarito's hand-wraps prior to Shane Mosley's 11th-round knockout of Margarito. The discovery of the illegal padding, which led to a year-long suspension for Margarito, was actually the second time Richardson has discovered illegal padding in an opponent's glove.

Prior to Bernard Hopkins' 12th-round knockout of Felix Trinidad in September of 2001, Richardson found illicit hand-wraps in Trinidad's gloves.

Check out the video after the jump.

Floyd Mayweather was nowhere to be seen in the MGM Grand Hotel during the lead-up to this past Saturday night's Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto welterweight megafight. Nor could the undefeated, five-time champion and Las Vegas resident be found when Pacquiao made history by lifting from Cotto the WBO's 147-pound title belt.

But in the days since Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, stood in the ring before a packed MGM Grand Garden Arena and called out his name as the man he wanted to be Pacquiao's next opponent, Mayweather has gotten the message loud and clear.

Mayweather's name was even chanted by the crowd of more than 16,200, but he says that he just hasn't heard it from Pacquiao's own mouth.

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LAS VEGAS -- During the months when their fight was being negotiated, welterweight stars Shane Mosley and Andre Berto had words.

Berto said Mosley, who, at 38, is the aging veteran, "had some disrespectful things to say on a few interviews."

But on Saturday, following a press conference announcing their Jan. 30 matchup at Mandalay Bay, the two boxers finally met face-to-face.

And it was the younger Berto who believes that he got the best of their exchange.

LAS VEGAS -- Boxing is alive and thriving, and you can see it in the nationalistic pride that enveloped Las Vegas on Friday. The Filipinos and Puerto Ricans descended on The Strip with their colorful flags and chants, and they queued in orderly groups -- Manny Pacquiao's publiko/bayan here, Miguel Cotto's publico/paisanos there -- for a raucous weigh-in Friday afternoon at the MGM Grand Garden.

So much excitement, for two 145-pound boxers standing on a scale. But Pacquiao-Cotto is the biggest thing to happen to boxing since Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya. Or Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton.

You get the idea.

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 -- Shane Mosley will fight Andre Berto, the 26-year-old WBC welterweight champion, on Jan. 30 at The Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, a source familiar with the negotiations informed FanHouse on Thursday.

A deal for the matchup has been in the works for months, and it will be announced here on Saturday, the same day as WBO welterweight (147-pounds) champion, Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 knockouts) defends his crown against Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) at the MGM Grand Hotel.

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."

LAS VEGAS -- Miguel Cotto is a star in Puerto Rico, just not the major attraction that Manny Pacquiao is in his native Philippines.

And among the contributing reasons is that while Cotto's nation has a long list of fighting predecessors against whom to compare him, Pacquiao's essentially has none. [See note at bottom.]

"The Puerto Ricans have a whole collection of stars and they're not wrapped up in one guy like the Filipinos are in Manny," said promoter Bob Arum, listing former Puerto Rican greats such as Felix Trinidad, Wilfredo Gomez and Wilfred Benitez, among others.

"To Filipino fans, Manny's just absolutely incredible. Manny comes from a poor, impoverished country where he is the icon of hope and he represents their country on the world stage," said Arum.

"Puerto Rican fans want Cotto to win, but it's much more rational," said Arum. "Manny's situation is a lot different from being simply the best fighter in Puerto Rico."

On Saturday night, Miguel Cotto, will walk into the same Las Vegas hotel arena where, sixteen months ago, the Puerto Rican fighter suffered the worst beating of his professional boxing career.

And as sure as he knows he'll be at ringside delivering his commentary for Cotto's matchup at the MGM Grand, HBO's Jim Lampley is equally certain that Cotto is going to shed blood, yet again, opposite Manny Pacquiao.

"Of course, [Cotto's] going to bleed in this fight. Unless it's only going to go a minute. Otherwise, if we're in round three, he's cut," said Lampley, who has been ringside during the many times when Cotto has bled, profusely, from facial lacerations.

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."