‘Poker Faced’ Pacquiao needs to give Arum a dose of his own medicine

By Boxing News - 07/03/2012 - Comments

Image: ‘Poker Faced’ Pacquiao needs to give Arum a dose of his own medicineBy: Kristofer Williams Sr. While much debate continues among boxing fans as to who is ultimately responsible for the mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr not being made, one thing is certain: Father Time is undefeated, and Manny and Floyd aren’t getting any younger, faster, or stronger.

Floyd and Manny should have fought in 2010. As far as reasons and/or excuses from both camps are concerned as to why the super-fight was never made, I’ll leave it up to the readers to comment below. But please, no profanity and no racial insults. This is just a blog, and neither you nor the keyboard warrior who lives a thousand miles from you has anything invested in this fight. In other words, you are paying to watch them, not vice versa.

Pacquiao met with his go-to guy Bob Arum last week in Los Angeles to discuss his next opponent. The only thing coming out of the meeting wasn’t anything we already hadn’t known. Arum pitched Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley, and Miguel Cotto. Manny listened, Manny stayed quiet about his plans, Manny did not give Arum an answer, and Manny thought in his mind why two weeks ago Arum told the press that Manny is actually the one who “calls the shots.”

I wrote about this previously, and my opinion stands firm. Yes, Manny calls the shots, but he calls the shots ONLY on the opponents that Arum gives him. Arum gives Pac options, and Pacquiao picks and chooses who he wants to fight based on risk, financial reward, and name recognition. So in reality, Arum is still the boss.

In my opinion, it seems as though Manny has had enough. He just won’t show it.

In this ruthless sport, one thing I’ve learned over three and a half decades of seeing promoters do their thing is that the business of boxing first and foremost serves the best interests of the promoters, not the fighters. Just like any other pro athlete, fighters are treated as commodities. But what makes it worse in boxing is that it lacks a single unified entity to control every aspect of the sport. This is why a couple senators have recently proposed The United States Boxing Commission. Only time will tell if this comes to fruition.

Most people will think Manny is nothing but a pawn in all of this, but don’t let Manny’s silence or lack of public disclosure about his true feelings fool you. There is a reason why Manny sported a “poker face” when he met with Arum. And the great thing about this is that Arum has no idea why. For once, Arum can’t read his client. He thinks Manny will fight in November. Or will he?

As much as we’d all love to see Pacquiao smash Timothy Bradley in a rematch, it doesn’t make sense to pit these two bulldogs against each other considering the June bout drew less than a million PPV, something which hasn’t happened to a Pacquiao card since the Joshua Clottey fight. Bradley didn’t earn the title, and fighting him again would only lend credence to the notion that Pacquiao could have been involved in “the fix.” A Pacquiao-Bradley rematch would also seem to justify the impaired decision that resulted from “the scorecard heard ‘round the world,” and would ultimately send the wrong message to fans.

As much as we’d all love to see Pacquiao and Marquez go at it for a fourth time, and as much as Arum would love to collect revenue from a fight that would probably generate over 1.5 million PPV, it doesn’t make sense to stage another re-run of the previous three fights between the two superstars. If Pacquiao and Marquez fought 100 times, we’d get the exact same result a hundred times out of a hundred. Plus Marquez is the champion at 140 lbs, and considering Pacquiao has no plans to win a belt at junior welterweight, it becomes apparent that Pacquiao would have very little, if not nothing, to fight for.

What about Cotto? Wouldn’t a rematch at 154 lbs be somewhat appealing? Wouldn’t Arum love to see if Pac-Cotto II could outdraw Cotto-Mayweather in PPV sales and gate receipts? Yes. And yes. But the problem here is that neither Cotto nor Pacquiao are currently donning title straps. It would be a non-title bout, and the only person that benefits from this fight is, you guessed it, Bob Arum.

Manny has to turn the tide and give Arum a dose of his own medicine. I’m sure Manny is well off financially. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t be buying a helicopter with his name sprawled all across the side. I’m sure he wouldn’t have a problem taking some time off either. This serves two purposes. One, it prevents Arum from capitalizing on Manny’s name and thereby disrupts any fiscal rhythm Arum generated over the last 7 years consistently staging Pacquiao bouts twice, sometimes three times, per year. Two, it will allow Pacquiao to rest his aging body and give him some time to get away from the sport to re-evaluate things. By doing this, Pacquiao will surely miss the sport he loves, and he will re-dedicate himself and come back stronger than ever. It happened to Floyd in 2007, 2009, and 2010. It can happen to Pacquiao in 2012.

I’m not saying Pacquiao should retire. He should simply take time off until May or June 2013 and in doing so, he will also show Arum what he’d be missing. I’m almost positive that if Pacquiao doesn’t fight in November, Arum will be pressured to overachieve in PPV numbers with his current crop of number two options – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Brandon Rios, Nonito Donaire, and Marquez – in the upcoming months.

Maybe Pacquiao is thinking about this. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise that he’s in Europe with his family on an extended vacation so he can mull over the immediate future of his career. Maybe it’s time that Pacquiao show Bob a thing or two about being a businessman and show his promoter what he’d be missing if he doesn’t make the fight that Manny wants.

Manny has made it clear he wants Mayweather, but Arum isn’t acting on it. Bob will take two steps forward with Manny then take one step back, making the fans want more and more while milking them at the same time. This has to stop, and Manny seems like he’s finally taking notice.

Bob’s bluff is no longer working, and Manny’s “poker face” is a sign that Pacquiao is doing it his way this time around. The Pacman is taking a stand.



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