With his belt on the line and trainer Freddie Roach’s words under his skin, the reigning WBO welterweight champion understands exactly how much bigger the stakes actually are when he climbs the MGM Grand ring to face Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.

“It’s huge,” trainer Joe Santiago told DailyBreeze.com’s Robert Morales of the fight’s implications. “Everybody knows what Pacquiao has done and we know what Miguel is capable of doing. It would not only be huge for me and Miguel, but for everybody in Puerto Rico.”

A popular athlete in the Caribbean nation, Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) could achieve the iconic status of Pacquiao—who compels an entire nation to sit still every time he fights—with a victory over the reigning pound-for-pound king.

The low-key Santiago also said he faces no added pressure going up against the tested tandem of Pacquiao and Freddie Roach, the renowned trainer whose prediction of a first-round knockout had Camp Cotto barking rebuttals all over the web.

“I have been around the camp for seven years, so I know how he prepares himself,” said Santiago. “The confidence the Cotto family had in me, made me feel good.”

Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) isn’t just fighting for a rich purse, either. Already with six weight crowns—including lineal ones—the hard-punching southpaw from Mindanao hopes to bag an unprecedented seventh when he hunts for Cotto’s WBO belt.

Top Rank chief Bob Arum, confident as he is in the abilities of his current top-grosser, cautioned that Cotto may catch a good enough break during fight night to pull off an upset, citing the Puerto Rican’s performance against Joshua Clottey, who he narrowly defeated despite a nasty cut above the eye.

“For Miguel to come back after suffering that cut and to come back and pull out a victory I think shows an absolutely brilliant performance,” Arum told DailyBreeze.com. – Inquirer.net

It vividly exposed the long ignored issues in boxing – loyalty amongst team members hired to do a specific job.

But, loyalty, or rather the lack of it is certainly not surprising given the present mentality in the sweet science that is no different from today’s corporate world where employees move from one company to another and in the process exposing the weaknesses of the former employer so they will look good to the new employer.

And, the old cut-man, Joe Chavez is no different.

Chavez who used to be a mainstay of the Team Pacquiao was not hired to be on the Pacman’s corner in his fight against Miguel Cotto on November 14th at the MGM Grand.

On the contrary he will be working the corner of Miguel Cotto that night.

Since he is now on the opposite corner, Chavez has been telling the Cotto people all the little secrets he learned while he was working for Pacquiao perhaps thinking it may disadvantage the Filipino spitfire. Thus, he will look good to the Cotto people.

Now people can say that is okay. It’s part of the game.

Bull!

Chavez’ behavior is a classic example of loyalty gone bonkers.

And, it certainly exposed the character of the man.

It is a classic example of what the almighty dollar can do even to the character of an old supposedly venerable cutman who has been in the business for so long.

It would be perfectly understandable if he tells the Cotto people about the “weakness” of Pacquiao. After all, he is now employed by the Puerto Rican.

However, he should have been more discreet and kept it away from the media.

But alas, he didn’t. Thus, an issue about his character was exposed.

The behavior of Chavez is a lesson learned for boxers from the Philippines that fight in foreign lands, the US included.

Filipino boxers should drop the long existing colonial mentality that makes them favor more popular cut-men of foreign origin over cut-men of Philippine ancestry who are just as good as anybody in the business and whose only fault is lack of exposure.

They seem to forget that popularity does not always translate to ability to get the job done, and get it done well.

Filipino boxers and their handlers should perhaps take a lesson or two from Tony Aldeguer and the Team ALA from Cebu.

ALA boxers have fought in many places including the US and Mexico. But I do not recall seeing a non-Filipino cut-man in their corner. Now Tony Martin, the Englishman from Las Vegas could be an exception. Yes, he is British, but he is married to a Pinay and is Filipino at heart. Even his kids speak Cebuano.

In fact, Tony Aldeguer himself goes out of the way to seek Filipino cut-men to work the corner of ALA boxers instead of hiring someone who is a-non-Pinoy.

Chavez’ behavior may have an unexpected redeeming value. It is a wake up call for Filipino boxers fighting in the US.

In particular, it opened the eyes of Filipino boxers, managers and promoters to the presence of good Filipino cut-men in the US some of whom have medical background and thus the training and experiences to handle cuts and even intra-oral injuries the proper way.

On top of that, they are not only knowledgeable about infection control but are conscious about it as well 24/7.

Certainly, you will never see these Filipino professionals act as cut-men without using universal precautions to protect themselves and the boxers from potential deadly cross-infections or more so, keep a Q-tips (used to apply coagulant on the cuts) in their mouths or held on top of their ears.

While Chavez has a different role inside Team Cotto with Joe Santiago as head trainer, the seasoned cornerman has immersed himself so much in Pacquiao’s corner that he claims that he knows some of Pacquiao’s  innermost secrets.

“When attacked, he (Pacquiao) doesn’t know what to do,” Chavez told the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia over the weekend.

Before the Argentine-born Miguel Diaz was recruited by Team Pacquiao, Chavez had been a familiar fixture in the corner manned by Freddie Roach, having aided Pacquiao in his bloody brawl with Juan Manuel Marquez and a few of other fights.

“I have other work here (in Team Cotto), but if they ask me, I can help and do my comments and I know Pacquiao very well,” said Chavez.

Aside from Team Cotto’s observation that Pacquiao doesn’t do well when he is the one being pursued, Chavez believes that Cotto’s natural advantage in size will eventually prove to be Pacquiao’s downfall.

“Cotto is (like) a bull. Pacquiao is fast, but Cotto has more power in the punch and is strong. This will be the difference. Pacquiao has never fought as strong as Cotto,” said Chavez.

Pacquiao, according to Ariza, was at least forced to slow down.

“It did him good; We had some breaks in the morning and we were able to rest a bit,” said Ariza. “In the beginning of his training here, he was overdoing it. Last week, he was able to relax.”

As in past training camps, one of the toughest things to do is to get Pacquiao to taper off from his noted beastly workouts.

The Pacman, who is preparing for a super bout against Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, hasn’t been taking it easy in sparring, however.

On Tuesday, Pacquiao sparred with highly touted former two-time world lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo for three rounds, dominating the Mexican thoroughly. The Filipino sensation then wrapped up his day’s session with a four-round confrontasi opposite American Shawn Porter.

“I’m starting to get in better shape,” Pacquiao told the Inquirer in Filipino. “Even if I haven’t been able to run, at least, I’m starting to swim and I’ve been trying the treadmill.”

In his anticipated sparring with Castillo, Pacquiao used his vastly improved lateral movements in trying to avoid the Mexican’s uppercuts and body shots. Pacquiao stalled Castillo’s aggressive attacks with three to five punch combos and counter left straights.

The 35-year-old Castillo (60-9-1, 52 KOs) ended his first day of sparring with specks of blood on his left nostril.

“I can’t see his left. It’s very fast and strong. I think that will be a big problem of Cotto,” Castillo told the Inquirer.