Editor’s note: Manny Pacquiao’s mega-fight versus Miguel Cotto inches near, and after a tumultuous camp inBaguio and a welcome return to Hollywood, Ari Gold shows up at the Wildcard Gym to hug it out with the the pound-for-pound champ. Fire Quinito’s special guest critic, Alekos Orendain, takes us through this week’s Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7.

Whenever I see Jeremy Piven, anywhere, I automatically think Ari Gold. So when he makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the 3rd episode, I was half-expecting him to talk Pacquiao into leaving Top Rank and signing with Miller-Gold instead. His appearance made a strange kind of sense in this episode, with it focusing a bit more on Pacquiao’s showbiz pursuits rather than his training. We get a behind the scenes look at Wapakman (not that I was particularly interested in it) and many (much too many) a glimpse of that ridiculous costume he wears. Ah that costume, what the hell is up with that? You’d think with all the money he’s making they could at least create a better outfit, but no, they had to settle on something that actually looked worse than Adam West’s Batman costume. Anyway, also featured in this episode was Pacquiao’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, where interestingly enough, Ari Gold’s favorite client Vinny Chase himself was a guest in the first season of Entourage (thanks to Jaemark for pointing that out).

Speaking of Entourage, rather than showcasing the fighters and their training, this episode took time to feature the people surrounding both fighters. First up was long time assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez who gets some well deserved airtime and, in my opinion, much deserved praise from both Manny and Freddy. Hearing the story of how Manny literally picked Buboy up from the streets and practically saved him from a life of destitution makes it so much easier to understand how Manny’s entourage has swelled to such an insane number.

Koncz is also featured in the episode and he’s cast in a generally unfavorable light. Rightly so in my mind, considering that Koncz once said that Freddy Roach was “just a trainer” and an unnecessary expense for Pacquiao’s training camp. Freddy, being his usually outspoken self, was pretty frank about his opinion of Koncz calling him an “ass-kisser”.

Rounding up Pacquiao’s side was a short interview for of Freddy’s mother who calmly declared, with the authority that all mothers seem to exude, “I have seen [my fair share] of boxers, and I know a great boxer when I see one. And this young man (Pacquiao) has a real gift.” It was a comforting thing to hear for some reason.

On Cotto’s side, we’re treated to the story of Brian Perez, the horizontally challenged gopher of the group, and some footage of his oversized underwear which sadly I cannot un-see. Still, he seemed like a cool guy, and seeing him jumping into the pool always gives me a chuckle.

Even stranger that the sight of Perez’s underwear though, was the image of Cotto’s two sparring partners, holding what I can only imagine is a Hallmark greeting card, and looking a bit giddy at the prospect of handing over the card to Cotto. I can’t imagine what a greeting card for sparring partners would be like. “You’re a real knock out, literally!” maybe? Or something like “Whenever I’m with you, my heart races, my head pounds and my ribs start breaking”. Very strange indeed.

The show wrapped up differently this time. Instead of the usual melodramatic narration against a backdrop of cool music and footage of the fighters training, we get the usual melodramatic narration against a backdrop of cool music and footage of Cotto riding a car. It was a bit unexpected and the deviation from the norm set off alarm bells in my very superstitious pre-fight state of mind.

Since I definitely don’t want to end this talking about Cotto, I’ll wrap up with this thought: wouldn’t it be cool if Manny made an appearance on Entourage? After all, Jeremy Piven seems to like our guy, the show’s co-producer Mark Wahlberg (last seen jumping with joy like a little fan girl when Pacquiao demolished Ricky Hatton) is a huge fan and the HBO execs probably love Manny for all the revenue he’s generating for them. It doesn’t seem that far-fetched an idea.