Arum and Pacquiao Blunder With Mayweather Showdown
Published: Jan 16 2012 by: Rich Thomas
Manny Pacquiao's place as the world's #1 welterweight, boxing's pound-for-pound king and even his moral authority over Floyd Mayweather have all taken quite a beating during the last few months, with the end result that Pacman has slipped in the minds of fight fans (at least non-Filipino fight fans) to second place on all counts. Reasonable people have gone from thinking Mayweather was ducking Pacquiao to thinking the reverse, and the outrage over Mayweather's insistence that Pacquiao submit to steroid testing has all but disappeared. This sea change in boxing came about for no other reason than Bob Arum's flawed matchmaking strategy, and by extension, Manny Pacquiao's acceptance of it.
The Downward Slide for Pacquiao - The Timeline
Credit: Chris Farina - Top Rank
A quick review of the chain of events that undermined Pacquiao's stature is in order. The first link was Pacquiao's close and controversial Majority Decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez. Many experts though "Dinamita" was robbed in both the 2011 rubber match and the 2008 rematch. Even those who do not, however (once again excepting the rabid Filipino crowd), admit that the fight essentially picked up where Pacman vs. JMM I and II left off, and therefore revealed no major growth in Pacquaio's boxing style.
Compounding this result was the response to it by Top Rank and Pacquiao's camp. Freddie Roach started backpedaling from a showdown with Mayweather immediately after the fight, with Arum following suit and eventually scheduled away any possibility of such a fight taking place in the first half of this year.
Floyd Mayweather, on the other hand, trounced Victor Ortiz back in September. In comparing recent victories, Mayweather looks a lot better than Pacquiao. Also, Mayweather sensed the blood in the water after the outcome of Pacquiao vs. Marquez III, and he promptly pounced, calling out Pacquiao again for a May 5th bout that Pacquiao could have easily have made.
Most of the boxing world had accused Floyd Mayweather of being the main stumbling block in making a showdown with Manny Pacquiao happen. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and it's Pacquiao who is perceived as dodging the issue.
Arum's Flawed Strategy
In both matchmaking and promotional terms, this role reversal is entirely due to blowback in Bob Arum's basic strategy. Manny Pacquiao's fame exploded in December 2008 with his shocking upset victory over an aged, drained, rusty Oscar de la Hoya. That fight took place roughly nine months after the controversial outcome Pacquaio vs. Marquez II. The only fight date most boxing fans wanted to see Pacquiao undertake more than Mayweather was with Juan Manuel Marquez, yet the Pacquiao camp put off a rubber match with Marquez for more than three years. In doing so, a considerable amount of hype and expectation was built up around Pacquiao, and that bubble has burst. Also, Pacquiao has lost valuable time in tuning up for an engagement with Pretty Boy Floyd.
Bob Arum pursued a string of fights where he served as promoter for both Pacquiao and the opponent. In retrospect, it is now clear than the only man well-served by this strategy was Arum himself, who made fistfuls of extra cash in playing both ends of the equation. Planning for a potential mega-fight against the likes of the Pretty Boy, a more intelligent matchmaking strategy would have put Pacquiao in with a reasonable facsimile of Floyd Mayweather back in 2009 and/or 2010. That would have meant either the rubber match with Juan Manuel Marquez (skilled counter-puncher) or with Andre Berto (speedy slickster). Neither of these fighters is Mayweather, but both would have tested the same Pacquiao weaknesses as Mayweather.
The Pacfans in particular should take this criticism to heart. Imagine if Pacman had fought Marquez for a third time in 2009. Whatever the outcome, Roach's response would have been the same as now: "You need more work - back to the gym!" Then imagine that Pacquiao takes on Berto in 2010, and whatever the outcome, Roach sees more room for improvement. If Pacquiao could have been retooled for a showdown with Floyd Mayweather, that is the road that should have been followed. Instead, Arum chose to maximize his earnings, and Roach and Pacquiao acquiesced. Those choices have now boomeranged on the people who made them.
Good reporting, its time for Pacquiao to rethink his stand, it is very disappointing if he will retract for not fighting Mayweather. Filipino fans will not love it. His fate should not be left to Arum’s dictation. He could have not reached his present stature if he has no guts and faith in himself and in God who gives him all the blessings. One word of advice keep away from too much being a celebrity and lessen politics. Keep focus only on professional boxing as your trade particularly in facing Mayweather.
Floyd is like “the boy who cried wolf”. He constantly denies his very own statements. Even if he’s telling the truth now, Arum and Pac don’t believe him anymore unless he makes a formal offer to fight or sends over a representative to start a negotiation.
I can’t blame Arum and Pac not jumping the gun this time. Any normal and sane person would do the same.
Floyd had all the opportunity to land this fight since he came back from retirement. It was Floyd who made the whole negotiation hard to close. His outrageous demands, his double talk and outright denial of what he said. Looking from the outside, I do believe Bob have always been reasonable and level-headed in all the failed negotiations. Mayweather should realize whether he likes Bob or not that he has to sit down with him because he is the promoter of Manny. It is Floyd’s dislike of Bob that has caused this fight from not happening. Bob on the other hand knows how to set aside differences and has the capacity to sit down with people he does not like for this fight to happen. Floyd might be a bit smart but he does not have the class of an educated man and his prejudice over people is very obvious.
can you see the news interview by rick reeno of Bob Arum?mayweather is the plan A..manny wants to fight him but only the gayman is using twitter to negotiate a fight .how can you negotiate a fight like that?get him to sit with Arum and discuss the contract..now the Gayman is backpedalling again..
To be fair with Pac, JMM ducked him for 4yrs since they came to a draw eventhough Pac was “unintentionally” robbed due to the mistake done by one judge. I think no one can put a blame to Team Pac for accepting the third figh 3yrs after the second bout since Team JMM did it to them before. Writer must put it to account. Now about Berto, c’mon man everyone knows that Berto cancelled his fight with Mosley and not talking about fighting after the Haiti disaster. You can not blame team Pac for fighting Clottey instead who that time is a legit threat to anyone and at top 5 among the welters. It’s good to note that Clottey gave Cotto a hell of a fight but no one thought that he will be on his shell when he fought Manny. Now when it comes to Floyd, I really do feel that the reason why this thing is not happenning is because of the amount of money that they need to pay to Floyd and Pac. If it’s true that Floyd is asking for 50M-100M then Pac might be asking alao for the same amount or a little lower. In reality we need to understand Bob where he’s coming from. The business side of boxing eventhough it’s hard to chew is probably a bit more complicated than we are thinking.
Stop making excuses for manny people…Floyd called him out before manny took the fight with Marquez…Floyd said manny your next during the Ortiz press confrence ….y’all pactards are scAred manny gone get his ass kicked…now y’all making excuses…why Floyd calling manny out on twiiter this and that…step up and fight already ….manny got exposed In his last fight….now pactards second guessing the fight…what happen to Floyd going to get knocked out by manny…bob arum knows manny can’t beat Floyd…we all know this….pactards knows this…..manny is not good with counter-punchers…Floyd is the best at that…may 5 step up be a man…and. Fight….I don’t care about what happen two years ago…fight Floyd….PERIOD….No body gone buy a cotto rematch……
Oh wait a minute, do you really think Floyd mean it? C’mon there’s no question about how good Floyd is and I know he’s indeed the BEST but I doubt if he really wanted to share a ring with Manny. Last time I check Floyd called out Manny then few weeks after media got insulted because he’s saying that they’re putting words on his mouth, WTH?!! What he needs to do is ask his men to go find a wealthy people to guarantee his purse, go to negotiating table not on his mobile and stop twitting if he don’t really want to negotiate.
The author has error in his mind putting the shoe to the other side as he called Pacquiao of why the fight hasn’t made yet. Mr.writer have you forgotten how big floyd mouth is? If he is sincere of fighting Manny then he should act a professional businessman as he said he is his own boss. He shouldn’t use twitter for negotiation. He has TOD’s number, he knows who to call to make serious business and not shouting to people just to gain attention which is totally a childish act. It’s Floyd who needs more money now than Manny not to mention Floyd’s army of Lawyers waiting for their talent fee. Manny is the real money, so come on Floyd come and get it MAN UP! stop acting a stupid one.
Its funny how pac fans are no longer sayin floyed will get his ass kicked anymor… I dont care for the politicin goin on with either side at this point but i will say pac got hit more in 3 fights with Jmm than floyed got hit in his whole career… We all know pac has nothin for floyd… Pac knows it, floyd knows it, I know it and u know it… Peace
Pacman will kick Gayweather ash.
wanna hear it dude? pac will kick gaysweather’s very black ass
marquez style very good for pac but that doesnt mean pac is diminished as the experts says STYLE MAKES THE FIGHT, ali fraiser, foreman fraiser, ali foreman, educate ur ass dude
Arum’s flawed strategy? Not according to Bob. Bob Arum is a genius in my view. At 80 he is still here. For boxing writers, the Manny vs Money saga provides fireworks and spice up their article. It’s good business. For the fighters, they always want to take advantage of the opponent. It makes good business sense.
As you can see, it’s all about business. The more it heats up, the more excitement, and the more $ the fans will pay. It’s just good business practice.
AT THE END OF THE DAY. this Mr. Fraud cant fool us.
1. his name is MONEY. out of his anal mouth says HE FIGHTS FOR MONEY and not the FANS.
2. he use Manny’s name to PROMOTE all his fights during MANNY FIGHT WEEK.
3. he cant fool us by not wanting to fight ONLY on May 5th in MGM 16,000 seats instead of a bigger arena to earn 40,000,000.00 MILLION MORE.
4. he has not even cherry pick MANNY by sending REAL PROPOSALs.
5. he always say he is willing to fight but as himself the boss, has never setup the NEGOTIATING TABLE.
6. it has always been MANNY’s team reaching out to MR. FRAUD trying to negotiate.
7. LASTLY if he really wants to fight, he can BREACH his so called CONTRACT with MGM and still earn tons of more money in the bigger ARENA how BOB wants to do it.
8. HE HAS A PATTERN OF ALWAYS TRYING TO MAKE MANNY LOOK BAD.
9. HE IS A PUSSY.
10. HE ADMIT IT IN COURT HE ONLY BOX WOMENS.
HE NEVER NEGOTIATE to make the fight with MANNY on MAY 5TH 2012? IT WAS JUST RUBBING LIKE TWEETING TO PUNK MANNY AROUND.
BLABABABABABABAB, MANNY IS NEXT. THEN NEXT DAY, I NEVER SAID THAT
@Luis. LOL, seems like your referring the last sentence of your comment to Rich Thomas. But I agree with you 100%.