Cotto/Pacquiao: Many questions, no answers, no title....no fight?

After all the punch and grab over whether or not this fight would actually happen, finally a deal was struck and the announcement was made. Bob Arum stated that the fight was agreed upon by both parties and that November 14th would be the defining moment in the careers of two of the sports most prominent warriors.

After all the celebration for the official announcement, there seems to be a few key issues that stand in the way, and some close to the situation have began to wonder whether or not we actually have a fight.

It's hard to believe that we don't until you stumble across one major detail......Neither signature has touched the contracts yet!

When Bob Arum was quoted last week as saying that "it should be done this week or early next", I knew there was more to the mix than what we were being told. It's one thing to have a verbal agreement over the phone from thousands of miles away (Cotto in Puerto Rico and Pacquiao in the Philippines) but it's another story when guys get to see things face to face and learn that some of the details were not completely addressed.

Seems there wasn't a complete understanding for whether or not the title would be on the line, and apparently, all the issues surrounding the economics have yet to be hashed out as well.

Arum was recently quoted as saying that sanctioning fees could tally up to $400K, however, research has revealed that $340K is the magic number, with both fighters forking over $150K a piece, and Arum contributing $40K as the promoter.

Many have jumped on Cotto's back for failing to pay his portion of the sanctioning fees, but few have stopped to notice that Pacquiao has yet to pay his either, and there is no clear indication that he will. Sounds odd in theory, but the only reason I would think he has failed to do so is because other aspects of the contract have yet to be resolved, as we know that he's more than game to carry out his end of the bargain.

The next few days will be very pivotal, but I guess Major League Baseball's World series being in October was a good thing. That's the reason Arum wanted to push the fight back to November as opposed to Pacquiao's October 17th request. Looks like now that extra month will be spent entirely on re-negotiating a fight that we were told was already complete.

Whatever the case may be....fellas....get 'er done!

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-845-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m7d28-CottoPacquiao-Many-questions-no-answers-no-titleno-fight