By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: I literally jumped out my seat when I read Manny Pacquaio resigned with Top Rank. I thought for sure that he was going to let his contract expire and explore his options. But there has to be more to this story than we know. He signed a two year deal that includes five fights. But given the timing of everything; Oscar De La Hoya and Bob Arum trying to bury the hatchet, and rumors swirling that Richard Schaefer might leave Golden Boy, the deal can actually work if Golden Boy and Top Rank can place nice.
I believe Arum knows his stable is thin and is going to need some help when it comes to putting on better fights. Only the hard core fans want to see Pac fight Marquez for a fifth time. Fighting, Tim Bradley, Mike Alvarado, or Brandon Rios again would hold well with the fans. I would have liked to see Manny leave Arum and do a fight by fight deal using MP Promotions. He doesn’t need Top Rank promoting him at this point.
I sternly believe that had Pac left Top Rank, then the Floyd fight happens. I support this claim by the fact that when Floyd was on Top Rank, he asked to fight Miguel Cotto, Rickey Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya. None of those fights materialized until Floyd broke free and were very lucrative I might add. But let’s take Floyd out the picture. There is Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner, Marcos Maidana, Canelo Alvarez (a long shot) just to name a few that would certainly bring in big money and pay per view buys. Pac’s new deal was with Top Rank and MP Promotions (Pac’s promotional company). So Pac is using the company, but he can use it to where the money comes straight to him. I did some research on how Manny is paid and how MP pays certain fees for his events. Pac might as well cut out the middle man (Top Rank), and he can make a lot more. There is the other side to this coin.
Oscar could be making nice with Arum because he knows (and was unaware at first) that half the fighters on Golden Boy are not signed. Those fighters are not known, but they could very well include some big names. This could leave Oscar barren of fighters so maybe he’s looking to make good fights to save his company. It all will be interesting to how it all it unfolds.
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