The Truth of Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather JR: The Bob Arum Deception
By Joe Wilson
One would think that trial and error is usually the best teacher. Even, if you are an architect, building a house or a carpenter, designing cabinets; without a blueprint or a design to follow, you are bound to make some mistakes. That is why it is important to follow the necessary steps to prevent making costly mistakes.
Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao’s promoter has been promoting fights for many, many decades. If anyone should have the blueprint on putting together a fight, it should be him. Arum promoted some of the biggest fights in the 70’s and 80’s. He knows promoting, as good as most preachers know The Bible. This is how he gained all of his riches, and boy is he loaded.
I must admit he is the best at what he does. Arum has mastered the promoting game. Floyd “Money” Mayweather knows him better than anyone, because he was once promoted by him. Their departure was very bitter. And, what they both seem to have in common is—they are all about the buck. No kidding.
Arum knew just what to offer Floyd Mayweather, JR., to turn him off. He truly knows what offer Floyd would take, and what offer he would turn down. Remember, Arum knows Floyd very well. When Bob Arum is truly ready for “The Big Fight” to happen (Mayweather vs. Pacquiao), he knows what to do. This is what he does for a living. He is not quite ready for this match up.
Team Mayweather’s response was just the way he hoped it would be. First of all, he gives Floyd a deadline on negotiations. Floyd had just come off one of the biggest wins of his career in the Shane Mosley wipeout. And when we talk pay per view numbers, the dude is king… “Money” Mayweather has demonstrated time and time again that he “put butts in seats,” when it comes to selling a fight.
Arum knows as long as he can keep “Money” Mayweather away from Manny Pacquiao, his stock will continue to rise. Right now the only fighter that poses a real threat to Pacquiao is “Money” Mayweather. Arum knows that if, and when that fight happens, Floyd could end up beating Manny so bad, that his stocks will plummet over night. Arum is not ready for that to happen. Millions of dollars on top of millions would go down the drain. That would be Arum’s worst nightmare.
Okay, know that the chess game favorites Arum, he can place Manny Pacquiao in fights that he can win and also have the pleasure of promoting both fighters. Remember, he promotes Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, whose boxing privileges will probably be re-granted in the weeks to come. He has already made it known that Pacquiao will be fighting one of these guys on November 2010. These two fighters will allow Arum to maximize the most profit with very little risk. Bob Arum is a lot smarter than we give him credit for. He has this whole thing all planned out and it’s going just as planned.
With Team Mayweather watching from the sidelines, Arum now has both Jerry Jones and his new Cowboy Stadium in Texas, and MGM Casino of Las Vegas as the home of Pacquiao’s next fights. The highest bidder of the two will probably get his next bout. As Jim Lampley would say “That’s some colorful stuff.”
After the dominating performance “Money” Mayweather displayed over Shane Mosley, tell me what promoter would want to jeopardize the legacy of his fighter, when he can gain more by fighting this guy on a later date? The writing was on the wall when, I heard from several sources, that Arum did not contact Team Mayweather at all during negotiations. Instead all negotiations went through the president of HBO Sports Ross Greenburg.
According to Arum, weeks ago negotiations were going well with Team Mayweather, however, now we know that was just speculations. The results we the boxing fans have received from the news of “The Big Fight” have gone just the way Bob Arum planned it. He really wants no parts of “Money” Mayweather right now. Too early, just not part of the plan right now. Arum will deal with “Money” Mayweather when the time is right for him, not the fighters or the fans.
With old-father time knocking at the door, maybe Arum is about to make his own departure in the sport of boxing and have two to three fights in mind for Manny Pacquiao with “Money” Mayweather being the last on the list. Once again I will repeat myself and say “If Bob Arum wanted “The Big Fight,” to take place now, he knows just the kind of offer to present to Floyd, with the agreement of Manny and the fight would be on—just that simple!
Arum knew just what would tick “Money” Mayweather off, and it did. Floyd felt so disrespected by Arum, he refused to say anything. It silenced him! That was wisdom at its best. Sometimes the best answer is to “say nothing.” Bob knew if he pissed of Team Mayweather, it would buy him more time to put together the other fights he had in mind before “The Big Fight.” With Bob Arum, its nothing personal against the fans, “it’s all about the Benjamins.”
I guess if you look at things from a seasoned promoters prospective, whom seen his younger days as a promoter “if it don’t make big money, it don’t make sense.” Arum knows that the biggest fight to be made in boxing is Floyd and Manny. Worst case scenario, even if both of these fighters should lose their very next fight, they still would be a big attraction facing each other, fans would still buy that fight, so Bob’s Arums point is—what’s the rush?