LAS VEGAS — Miguel Cotto didn't need to be reminded what his role is supposed to be against Manny Pacquiao.

Not after signing for half the money Pacquiao is getting paid. Not after having to agree to tomorrow's bout 2 pounds under his normal weight just to get the fight.

Not after spending months training for a fight a lot people in boxing don't really believe he has much chance of winning.

Promoter Bob Arum took time at the final prefight press conference to remind him anyway.

"Psychologically he knows it and I know it," Arum said. "In this fight he is not the star of the show."

No, the star of the show is boxing's latest sensation, a mild mannered Filipino who gave Oscar De La Hoya such a beating he quit on the stool. Pacquiao is the face of this event, the boxer who brings his native Philippines to a virtual standstill every time he steps into the ring.

Almost lost in the Manny mania that has made this perhaps the most anticipated fight of the year is that Cotto has some serious credentials of his own.

"I don't want to be Manny Pacquiao," Cotto said. "I just want to be Miguel Cotto."

Cotto was a rising star himself, a relentless puncher who won two titles, knocked almost everyone in front of him out, and had no trouble selling out Madison Square Garden.

Though Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) is careful not to say so, his trainer, Freddie Roach, believes Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) is not the fighter he once was.

"I've studied the tapes of Cotto before and after the Margarito fight and he's not the same person," Roach said. "It's a good time to fight Miguel Cotto."

Oddsmakers think so, too, making Pacquiao a 2 1/2-1 favorite.