Arum wants Pacquiao’s next fight in Macao; Roach wants it in Mexico

By Boxing News - 04/05/2013 - Comments

arum33By Chris Williams: If Bob Arum of Top Rank gets his way, Manny Pacquiao’s next fight will be in Macao, China rather than the United States. Arum had previously said he’d entertain the idea of Pacquiao’s next fight taking place in Mexico, but now Arum seems to have his teeth sunk into the idea of Pacquiao fighting in Macao.

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach says he wants the fight to take place in Mexico, but he doesn’t have the say so about where it’ll take place. That’s up to Arum. The one thing Roach and Arum do agree on is who they want Pacquiao to face next.

They both want him to fight the soon to be 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez due to the big money that could come from a fifth fight between him and Pacquiao.

While it may look like Arum isn’t doing Pacquiao any favors by putting him back in with a guy that has been getting the better of him since the first time they fought in 2004, Arum likely thinks Pacquiao can beat Marquez because we likely wouldn’t see this fight if Arum thought Pacquiao would lose.

Perhaps an example of a fight that Arum possibly thinks Pacquiao would lose is a bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr., and not surprisingly the fight has never been put together despite Mayweather’s attempts on two occasions to make the fight happen.

Arum doesn’t seem to realize that Pacquiao is doing worse with each fight he has with Marquez. Pacquiao appeared to lose the 2008 fight with Marquez, and he really appeared to lose in their 2011 fight, and we just saw Pacquiao get knocked out by Marquez last December.

Arum might not be aware of how much his fighter Pacquiao has deteriorated, and he probably thinks he can beat Marquez like he beat him in 2008 and 2011 with a nice controversial decision.

Macao is a major market for Arum and his Top Rank promotional team. If he can’t have Pacquiao fighting there for the remainder of what’s left his disintegrating career, Arum could make a bundle from pay-per-view if he can get the fights to be televised across China for money.

They’re already doing well just having the fight staged there to avoid taxes for Pacquiao and Marquez, if he agrees to the fight. But if Arum can have Pacquiao and his other Top Rank stable fighters’ bouts to be PPV fights in China, Arum and his guys will be making money hand over fist.



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