Pacquiao vs. Cotto pay-per-view live undercard updates

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Main event is scheduled to begin about 8:45 PT. You can follow Kevin Baxter’s live round-by-round updates from the main event by clicking here.

Are you ready to ruuuummmble!!!!!

The preliminaries to the highly anticipated Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao welterweight title fight are finally over at the MGM Garden Garden Arena after Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., son of the legendary Mexican champion, extended his record to 41-0-1 with a unanimous decision over over Troy Rowland (25-3) of Grand Rapids, Mich., in a 10-round middleweight contest, the final bout of a compelling eight-fight undercard.

The game Rowland was fighting with a heavy heart – his brother Shane, in a Michigan hospital, was placed in a medically induced coma earlier this month following a bout with the swine flu. And Rowland took everything the power-punching Chavez could give him.

But if Chavez, who had knocked out of eight of his last 11 foes coming in, lacked a knockout punch Saturday, he more than made up for it with polish and savvy, which counted heavily on the judges’ scorecards.

Yuri Foreman vs. Daniel Santos

We’re almost there. Just one more preliminary bout left before Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao square off in the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

But first a bit of history.

In the seventh of eight undercard fights, 29-year-old rabbinical student Yuri Foreman became the first Israeli fighter to win a world boxing championship when he scored a shocking and one-sided decision over Puerto Rican Daniel Santos in a WBA super welterweight title fight.

The unbeaten Foreman (28-0, 8 KOs) knocked Santos (32-4-1, 23 KOs) down in the second round, had him pinned against the ropes in the third then appeared to hurt the champion with a flurry of punches near the end of the fourth round.

Santos responded by clinching with Foreman when the two boxers got close. At one point he tried intimidation as well, turned his back on Foreman and walking toward his corner. But Foreman kept coming -- at times, he seemed, getting too aggressive since he was repeatedly warned for head butting.

Still Foreman, who hasn’t knocked out an opponent in nearly four years, couldn’t put Santos away. And that almost cost him with Santos stung him with a couple of shots midway through the ninth round, leaving Foreman backpeddling.

Two rounds later Foreman nearly made the mistake of his career, turning and walking away from Santos with just second left in the 11th round. Santos chased him and nailed him twice before the bell.

Knowing he needed a knockout to win, Santos charged out again in the final round as Foreman tried desperately to keep his distance. But the weary Santos had little left, stumbling to the canvas for a final time with less than a minute left in his world championship reign.

Alfonso Gomez vs. Jesus Soto-Karass

In the first televised bout on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao bout, Tustin’s Alfonso Gomez won something called the WBC Continental Americas welterweight title in an abbreviated bout against Mexican Jesus Soto-Karass.

An accidental headbutt to the right eye in the third round left Gomez bleeding heavily, leading ringside doctors to stop the fight at two minutes 41 seconds of the sixth of what was scheduled to be a 10-round bout. Because the fight had gone more than half its scheduled distance, the bout went to the scoreboards and the judges gave Gomez (21-4-2, 10 KOs) a unanimous decision.

In addition to the headbutt, which was ruled inadvertent, Soto-Karass (24-4-3, 16 KOs) also got off two low blows, for which he was penalized two points.

Rodrigo Garcia vs. Martin Vierra

The much-anticipated main event, matching Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, is drawing closer at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

In the final non-TV bout on the eight-fight undercard, Santa Ana’s Rodrigo Garcia remained unbeaten with a unanimous and one-sided decision over Martin Vierra of Phoenix is a six-round super welterweight fight.

It was the first time in five professional fights Garcia (5-0, 4 KOs) was forced to go the distance. Vierra fell to 5-3-1 with 2 KOs.

The next bout on the schedule, the first of four pay-per-view fights, will match Jesus Soto-Karass against Tustin’s Alfonso Garcia in a 10-round welterweight fight.

Eden Sonsona vs. Eilon Kedem

The first knockout on the eight-fight undercard preceding Saturday night’s Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto title matchup at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas came in the fourth fight of the night when Eden Sonsona of the Philippines overwhelmed Israeli Navy veteran Eilon Kedem from the opening bell en route to a second-round TKO win.

Sonsona (14-3, 4 KOs) knocked Kedem (9-2-4, 6 KOs) to the canvas with a left hook less than a minute into the fight and never let up, forcing referee Joe Cortez to step between the boxers and halt the fight 17 seconds into the Round 2.

Matt Koborov vs. James Winchester

The third bout of the eight-fight undercard preceding Saturday night’s Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto title matchup at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, hard-punching Russian middleweight Matt Korobov added to his already impressive resume with a dominant six-round win over James Winchester of Reidsville, N.C.

Although Korobov (8-0, 6 KOs) couldn’t knock Winchester out, the stylish left-hander was able to knock Winchester’s mouthpiece into the first row with a sweeping punch midway through the third round.

And though Winchester (10-3, 3 KOs) was able to withstand a withering attack, forcing Korobov to go the distance for just the second time in his pro career, the outcome of the fight was never in doubt.

Richie Mepranum vs. Ernie Marquez

In the second bout of the eight-fight undercard preceding Saturday night’s Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto title matchup at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Richie Mepranum of the Philippines won an unpopular split decision over Ernie Marquez of Ft. Morgan, Colorado, in an entertaining six-round matchup of junior lightweights.

Mepranum (15-2-1, 3 knockouts) scored the only knock down of the fight, dropping Marquez in the second round. But that punch only served to wake up Marquez, who was the aggressor for most of the final four rounds. Marquez (9-6-2, 3 KOs) finished the fight bleeding heavily from a cut above his right eye and when the decision was announced, it was greeted by a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Abner Cotto vs. Lupe Guzman

Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao won’t climb into the ring for their much-hyped fight for another four hours, but if either was looking for an omen they may have gotten one in the first bout on Saturday’s eight-fight undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when Cotto’s cousin, Abner Cotto, won an unanimous decision over Lupe Guzman of Lubbock, Texas in a battle of lightweights.

Cotto (5-0, 3 knockouts) was the aggressor throughout the six-round bout but he couldn’t get Guzman (3-5) to the canvas. Two of the judges gave all six rounds to Cotto while the third judge gave one round to Guzman.
-- Kevin Baxter

Main event is scheduled to begin about 8:15 PT. You can follow Kevin Baxter’s live round-by-round updates from the main event by clicking here later today.

Pacquiao’s attempting to first fighter to win a world title in seven weight classes. He and Oscar De La Hoya are the only men to win titles in six divisions.

Pacquiao’s a 2.5-to-1 favorite to win Cotto’s WBO welterweight title.