Editor’s note: Manny Pacquiao’s versus Miguel Cotto is only a few hours away, and the two fighters are just about ready to put their training camps behind them. After tumultuous camps in Baguio, Manila, and Hollywood, the finale of Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7 turns to the Pacquiao camp in the bright lights of Las Vegas, with the fighter looking fierce and fearless heading into the fight.

So, we’re just a few hours away from the fight and I finally got to watch the final episode of the series. In all honesty, the anticipation has gotten to the point where I’m too nervous to write and the last episode did absolutely nothing to calm those nerves, but I’ll give it a shot.

The show opened, as usual, with a recap of the previous episodes. It was a bit appropriate that the first thing it showed was Roach belittling Cotto’s young trainer Joe Santiago. Appropriate because before the episode aired, I was able to catch the weigh in for the fight, and right after Cotto had his turn at the scales (right on the button at 145 pounds and looking very mean in his Iron Man undies), the trainers got into a verbal tussle started by Santiago who apparently told Roach “one forty-five asshole!”. This was in response, I would wager, to the doubts circulating about Cotto making the catch-weight. If there were any doubts of Roach’s mind games getting inside Santiago’s head, I’d say that would settle it right there.

Continue reading "Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7: Finale gives little comfort to Manny fans for the main event"

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).

Continue reading "Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7: Ari Gold hugs it out with Manny’s very own Entourage in episode 3"

Editor’s note: Manny Pacquiao’s buildup for his mega-fight with Miguel Cotto continues. After turmoil in Pac-Man’s camp in the first episode of Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7, thing began to settle down for the pound-for-pound champ. Fire Quinito’s special guest critic, Alekos Orendain, takes us through the week in Pacquiao’s preparation.

I have to say, it’s been an interesting week for the National Fist. Most of us have probably seen clips of Manny singing Sometimes When We Touch on the Jimmy Kimmel Show (seriously, it’s not that he’s going up against a full fledged elite welterweight that has me convinced that he’s got the biggest balls in boxing, it’s that he has the guts to take his videoke trained singing voice and showcase it in a primetime talk show so very emphatically) and have probably read the amazing article in Time magazine (where he also makes the cover) about him and his life.

Continue reading "Pacquiao 24/7: Manny takes a beating in episode 2, but at least he gets a nice soundtrack"

Editor’s note: With preparations for the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto in full swing, Fire Quinito’s special guest critic, Alekos Orendain, takes a look at Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7.

Honestly, I could spend all day listening to narrator Liev Schreiber (aka Sabretooth in that piece of crap movie Wolverine: Origins) talk about the various analogies between life inside and outside the ring and not be bored. Add that to HBO’s top notch production values and throw in 2 world class boxers, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, into the mix and you’ve got yourself a show that’s pretty hard to screw up. This, however, will be Pacquiao’s 3rd time being featured in the groundbreaking series and for all of his… talents, there’s only so much about Pacman that you can show that can be thought of as interesting after 3 runs. So I was a bit worried that this time around, maybe the show wouldn’t be as compelling and dramatic as before.

Continue reading "Pacquiao-Cotto 24/7: Trouble brews for Pacman in episode 1"