Cotto has slight edge on scales

WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto will take a one-pound advantage into his showdown with Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Puerto Rico's Cotto weighed in at 145 pounds in front of around 5,000 fight fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the venue for the fight itself.

Challenger Pacquiao, returning to the ring for the first time since his stunning knockout of Britain's Ricky Hatton in the same arena six months ago, had climbed on the scales first to cheers from his fellow Filipinos in a crowd roughly evenly split between the rival camps. Looking extremely relaxed as he stripped to his boxer shorts, Pacquiao weighed in at 144 pounds while Cotto had worn a far more intense look as he arrived on stage.

There was a brief, angry exchange between Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach and the Cotto camp after the Puerto Rican got off the scales but order was maintained and both fighters addressed the crowd in their native languages.

Pacquiao will be bidding to win a major title in a sixth different weight division when he challenges Cotto having previously won recognised belts at fly, super-bantam, super-feather and lightweight.