Arum not interested in matching Pacquiao against Marquez, prefers Mosley instead

By Boxing News - 11/29/2010 - Comments

Image: Arum not interested in matching Pacquiao against Marquez, prefers Mosley insteadBy Chris Williams: If you were hoping that Juan Manuel Marquez’s win over Michael Katsidis was reason enough for Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum to finally match Pacquiao back up with Marquez in a long-awaited rematch, I’m afraid I’ve got bad news for you. Arum appears to have no interest in putting Pacquiao back in with Marquez, according to examiner.com. Arum doesn’t see Marquez as being popular enough with the average casual boxing fans in the U.S., compared to 39-year-old, badly fading star Shane Mosley. Arum likes Mosley as Pacquiao’s next opponent rather than Marquez, whom he feels isn’t a star in the U.S. nor in his home country of Mexico.

Arum’s first pick for Pacquiao is Floyd Mayweather Jr. That’s the fight that Arum, Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach want most of all. It’s the fight that will make the most money. However, they’ve been unable to make contact with Mayweather by phone and they’re running out of time to select their next opponent. This means that Arum will have to choose his back-up plan, and that’s where the faded Mosley comes in to play.

Arum sees Mosley as better known than Marquez and well respected by Hispanic fans in the U.S. Mosley is probably better known than Marquez due to his big fights with Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Winky Wright, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. However, there’s no getting away from the fact that Mosley is looking horrible lately and what good is it to put Pacquiao in with someone that’s fight good when he’s been matched against a series of fighters that haven’t been fighting good at the time he fought them in the past two years. Wouldn’t Arum rather give boxing fans a better deal in terms of excitement rather than a better known fighter but one that looks too be totally shot? For me, I think it’s about putting on the best fight because boxing fans are being asked to pay $49 to $55 to watch Pacquiao’s fights.

By giving fans a bad product with fights against guys that are fighting poorly or coming off of recent terrible beatings like Pacquiao’s past opponents Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, De la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, it puts fans in the position where their not getting the best fights the way I see it. This is a bad economy and you’re asking fans to pay top dollar for a blowout fight. Wouldn’t it be better to put on a good fight, win new fans, and not turn away fans from the sport by putting on a blowout fight like Pacquiao-Mosley? From where I’m from in the U.S, you have to give people what they want in order for them to keep coming back. If you give them a bad deal, they’re often gone forever. So why would Arum want to put Pacquiao in with another apparent mismatch rather than one against Marquez, that promises to be much more competitive.



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