Great news for all the boxing heads out there.

It appears that a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto is in the preliminary stages and could very well happen in November. I don’t think you could make a more exciting fight than this unless Mayweather decides to fight Pacquiao, so fans are definitely getting what they want to see this year. Check the details:

“Manny told me what to do,” Bob Arum said. “Manny told me, ‘Go ahead, make that fight.’ So it will go Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand here in Vegas.”

What with Cotto’s badly cut left eyebrow area, I asked if that might cause a date delay.

“No because it’s not that bad. Miguel is delighted to get a fight against Manny, trust me. Miguel very much wants this fight. It will be a sensational fight the way they attack.”

As far as the explosive, arena-shaking ovation more than 17,000 fans gave Pacquiao when Michael Buffer introduced him, Arum said the fighter was thrilled.

“Manny really enjoyed and liked that,” Arum said. “He was impressed by Cotto’s fan support and told me it reminded him of how the British fans stand with Ricky Hatton.

This fight is gonna be one of the most exciting things we see all year because their styles are very suited for each other. Manny is a fast offensive fighter, Miguel is all-heart and never clenches his opponent. Team Pacquiao made a VERY smart move by targeting Cotto because:

1. His defense is mediocre. Cotto has been put on his ass and rocked PLENTY of times, this plays into Manny’s hands.
2. Cotto is relatively slow, he doesn’t wow anyone with handspeed.

These two things are the exact reason Manny Pacquiao didn’t fight Shane Mosley (who has excellent handspeed and excellent defense). Shane approached Team Pacquiao immediately following his destruction of Ricky Hatton, and was basically told to kick rocks. It wasn’t about money, it wasn’t about weight, it was about the fact that Mosley is very dangerous and the risk outweighed the reward.

I highly doubt Manny would kick Cotto’s ass the way he kicked Hatton’s ass, because Cotto is a tough cookie, but Manny will win nonetheless.

[shouts to bad left hook for the scoop]

There was a glimmer of hope that Floyd Mayweather might come out of his 14 month retirement when he instructed management to explore fight offers, but that seems to be fading away in light of recent news. Fresh off his demolition of Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley’s team made Floyd Mayweather an offer to match up, which has been rejected.

“I was told by [Mayweather's manager] Al Haymon that Floyd was not coming out of retirement to fight Shane Mosley,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told SI.com. “I feel bad for Shane. It’s as if he looked too good in his last fight. It was the best performance of his career and maybe it made some guys not want to face him.”

There’s still a possibility that Floyd wants to fight Manny Pacquiao this fall, but at this point it wouldn’t be a great idea to hold your breath. I can’t think of any welterweight opponents that would be terribly compelling to watch in a bout with Shane Mosley right now aside from Floyd. Margarito is suspended, Oscar is washed up, Hatton and Pacquiao are unavailable. This leaves Andre Berto (who isn’t ready yet), and a rematch with Miguel Cotto.

If push came to shove, I guess I’d take the rematch with Cotto over everythng else.

The undercard matchip between Andre Berto & Steve Forbes is set to begin round 8, the way things are going it could possibly go the distance. That would push the start of Mayorga vs. Mosley to nearly 8:45. Stay tuned and refresh this page for updates.

Round – 1 Ricardo comes out firing as usual, although hes still wild he’s conserving himself much more than we’re used to. Shane is mostly o n the defensive…waiting out a spot. The way Shane is responding it seems as if Ricardo may have gotten under his skin. Mayorga has connected with some pretty good punches late in the round. Shane wasnt terribly fazed but it got his attention.

Mayorga’s round

LOL.. between rounds Shanes dad says “Mayorga’s gonna get tired doing all that crazy shit”

Round – 2 The first half off the round is pretty subdued… Shane is extremely reserved and he’s taking his dads advice of waiting for Mayorga to get tired. Nobody has clearly won the round with 30 seconds left…. Mayorga charges in with wild shots.. most of them missed but he landed a good uppercut.

Mayorgas round (but it could have gone either way, nobody really landed much)
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Sportaphile will be doing a LIVE blog of the Mosley vs. Mayorga fight tonight. Like all fights featuring Ricardo Mayorga… this is gonna be highly entertaining.

The broadcast starts at 7:30pm but theres an undercard bout featuring Andre Berto. Therefore the main event should be underway between 8:15 and 8:30. Check back here around that time for round by round updates.