Pound for pound boxing champ Manny Pacquiao‘s next fight has been scheduled for December 8th, the same night as the UFC’s next Fox network show. In the recent past when the UFC has had big shows scheduled the same night as major boxing events they’ve has hoped that earlier telecasts on would catch many viewers who were planning on watching boxing later in the evening.

Things may not have worked out that way for the UFC and this development of Pacquiao fighting on a date that the UFC had already set as a Fox event might end up taking away viewers from the MMA programming. Last May, the UFC on Fox 3 featured an exciting card headlined by a spectacular title contender’s fight between lightweights Nate Diaz and Jim Miller. The free to watch event was also followed, on pay per view, by Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting Miguel Cotto.

The UFC’s numbers ended up going down from their prior two Fox shows, while Mayweather’s win had an excellent buy-rate on pay per view. The UFC’s “come pre-game with us before boxing,” strategy might be more successful this time around if Fox promotes the heck out of the event during football telecasts as it did last year for the Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos heavyweight title telecast.

Otherwise, the UFC had better hope that Fox is taking a qualitative and long-view of things because dropping ratings on network television are never good.

By Steve Silverman

The specter of Manny Pacquiao looms over the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto.

Not that Mayweather (42-0) and Cotto (37-2) aren’t capable of putting on a great show in their light-middleweight championship fight, May 5th in Las Vegas, but the boxing world is always transfixed by the best possible matchup. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao has headed that list for a long time.

The 31-year-old Cotto is the real deal and is capable of pushing Mayweather, 35, to the limit. An upset may be a real possibility. Not only does Cotto have sensational power, he is capable of launching a barrage with either hand.

The other factor working against Mayweather is that he may not respect Cotto as a fighter. You can tell that by the trash talk — of which there has been very little. The two fighters have been very respectful of each other and that’s very unusual for Mayweather. In one of the pre-fight press conferences, Mayweather spoke of his admiration for Cotto’s straight-forward and hard-hitting approach. He also used the opportunity to belittle Pacquiao, suggesting that he is barely paying attention to the opponent in front of him.

(Props: MMA Hits. Fight starts at the 9:06 mark.)

By now, you probably know that Manny Pacquiao dominated Miguel Cotto on Saturday night en route to a 12th-round TKO victory, becoming the first boxer to win world titles in seven different weight classes, and solidifying his position as best pound-for-pound pugilist on the planet. Cotto was as game as advertised, and kept the contest competitive early on. But the knockdowns that Pacquiao scored in the third round (right hook) and fourth round (left uppercut) turned the tide of the fight for good, and Cotto spent most of the remainder of the match playing defense.

Cotto’s camp nearly threw in the towel after a demoralizing 11th frame, but the fight was allowed to continue to the last round, in which referee Kenny Bayless seized on the first opportunity to stop the fight; the official time was 0:55 of round 12. Immediately after the fight, the MGM Grand Garden Arena began to chant "We want Floyd!" Ah, but does Money Mayweather want Manny? The video is above; watch and be inspired.

(24/7 Pacquiao-Cotto, Episode 1. Props to HBO.)

Being obsessed with MMA doesn’t mean we can’t mark out for Manny Pacquiao once in a while. It’s hard not to love the guy. He’s a brilliant fighter who’s somehow managed to stay humble, he has a lovely singing voice, and he’s never publicly referred to our favorite sport as panty-wrestling porno for beer-drinkers. It’s almost too bad that we’ll be dutifully liveblogging UFC 105 tomorrow (Spike TV, 8 p.m. ET/PT), because we’re curious to see how Pac-Man does against WBO welterweight champ Miguel Cotto in their 145-pound contest at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. The Pacquiao/Cotto broadcast starts at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. on HBO PPV, so hopefully you live near a kickass sports bar that will be showing both fight cards at the same time. Check out the first installment of HBO’s 24/7: Pacquiao-Cotto above; Pacquiao fans, show some love in the comments section below.

Of all the factors that could have contributed to EliteXC’s sharp decline in network ratings, one we haven’t touched on is the fact that a minor classic in the world of boxing was happening the same night. On Saturday, Antonio Margarito ripped the WBA welterweight (147 pounds) title from the grip of the undefeated Miguel Cotto, in a back-and-forth war that ended with an 11th-round TKO victory for the Mexican fighter. If you have the time/interest, check out the video above. If you only have a little bit of time and interest, skip to the 44:54 mark, where Margarito weathers a fist-storm in the beginning of the tenth frame before turning the tide for good.

(Props: MMA Scraps)