Arum: Maybe May 5th isn’t a good date for Pacquiao-Mayweather; Pacquiao has a serious cut

By Boxing News - 12/05/2011 - Comments

Image: Arum: Maybe May 5th isn't a good date for Pacquiao-Mayweather; Pacquiao has a serious cutBy Chris Williams: It looks like Bob Arum is already trying to get out of matching his cash cow fighter Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5th, because Pacquiao sustained a bad cut in his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez. Is Arum stalling for time? As soon as Mayweather beats Pacquiao the gravy train is going to come to a screeching halt. I smell fear.

Arum said “It doesn’t have to happen on May 5. If Floyd wants to fight Pacquiao, maybe another date is preferable given the fact that Pacquiao had a serious cut in his last fight. So there’s no magic in May 5 as far as we’re concerned. There is magic in a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.”

Isn’t six months enough time for Pacquiao’s cut to be healed? Why would he need even more time? I saw close ups of the cut and it didn’t look like a cut that needed six or more months for it to heal. Is Arum looking to get out of the fight so he can continue matching Pacquiao up with his Top Rank stable fighters? We’ve already seen Pacquiao fight Top Rank stable fighters Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto.

Do we need another delay in the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight for Pacquiao to fight another one of them?

Mayweather Jr. said he wants to fight on May 5th, so Arum needs to try as hard as he can to make the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao. Arum can work quickly when he wants to. He arranged the Pacquiao-Clottey fight practically overnight. But that was after they gave up on the Mayweather fight due to Pacquiao not agreeing to the cutoff date that Mayweather wanted for blood tests for performance enhancing drugs.

I’d hate to see Arum put off the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight even longer and risk Pacquiao getting beaten by someone. He’s clearly slipped a notch as a fighter, and I can see him getting beaten by one of these guys sooner or later unless Arum matches him up with some soft targets.



Comments are closed.