Pac’s 140 return plan is in place

By Boxing News - 11/24/2014 - Comments

pacquiao7Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: You’ve seen the set up before. In fact we’ve all seen it for four years now. Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao have traded barbs in the media about wanting the mega fight. But when it comes to really trying to sway the public about the fight everyone wants to see happen, Top CEO, Bob Arum lays it on thick. He names people, specific names at networks, specific names when it comes to investors, and is constantly in the news about how things are moving along concerning negotiations.

But before any of this comes into play, Arum lays an original plan. But the original plan is slipped into the media once, then a little more in the middle, and then carries it out at the end. For the sake of time I won’t go into detail but research back in 2010 when Pac and Margarito were set to face each other for Manny’s eight divisional title.

Arum, Pacquiao and Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach have been a three-man campaign in promoting the possible mega fight. One of the reasons I believe they spoke so much about it was because Pac’s fight with Chris Algieri was not generating a buzz. And what better to generate a buzz for the fight than to bring up Floyd’s name.

But what has been lost in all of this; somewhat; is it has been confirmed that Manny will be returning to 140 to finish his career. Roach has mentioned it, Jessie Vargas has been quoted that he has been promised a fight if he looked good against Antonio De’Marco, and even Terrence Crawford has gotten in on the act. Vargas’s comments to me do not go unheard. The last time this happened was in 2012 when Tim got his crack at Pac. Bradley was with Gary Shaw and was clamoring for a Pac fight. Upon Bradley’s contract expiring, he signed with Top Rank and, was placed on the undercard of Pac/Marquez 3 against Joel Casamayoer and got his shot at Pac. But Vargas is already signed to Top Rank so the fight should be easy to make. Meanwhile, Arum has continued to pour it on thick. He told Dan Rafeal on November 19th of this year that CBS president Leslie Moonves and HBO CEO Richard Plepter were in heavy talks. Arum said that “he was under agreement not say anything about anything”. So the question beckons. Why is Arum consistently talking and more specifically naming names? Why are Pacquiao talking negotiations are going on? Shouldn’t Arum be responsible enough to ask Pac and Roach to keep silent and let those who are running the show release information?

The answer is very simple. You throw names around and give just enough details to add more fuel to the fire. You give possible locations as Arum has done with naming Cowboy stadium as a possible site for the fight. What Arum has done is deny that a 40 million dollar offer with a 35% upside of the revenue was offered. Arum said on another boxing site (because of legal matters I can’t name the site) that he will be waiting by the phone and they are ready to make the fight. Think about the phrase “ready to make the fight” in terms of an Olympic runner. The guy yells “ready”. That means nothing has happened yet. The runner is simply positioning himself to take off at the sound of the gun. But Arum and Pac have said negotiations are already taking place so why is Arum waiting by the phone “ready to make the fight”? To add another wrinkle to the plan is Roach has even cited a possible fight with 140 pound champ Danny Swift Garcia if the Floyd fight does not come through. This would seemingly give Top Rank an advantage with the public. But doesn’t Roach know that Garcia is advised by Al Haymon the same as Mayweather? So Haymon and Top Rank can come together for a Garcia fight but not a Mayweather fight? That doesn’t make any sense at all. And with Mayweather not saying a word it gives Top Rank that gives Top Rank more credibility to what he’s saying. So this is how I see things playing out. If I’m wrong I will write an article title “They finally got it right”.

Top Rank will come out and say the networks couldn’t come to an agreement and that Mayweather wanted too much money. Floyd will say that he was unaware of negotiations and the public will further turn on him. Meanwhile, the original return to 140 plan will be fully fortified by the time all this blows up and we will see Pac in the ring against Jessie Vargas in March or April of next year. You heard it here first. I would say Pac vs Mickey Garcia but Garcia is trying to get out of his contract with Top Rank although he has vacated his title at 135 and is talking about moving up to 140. Pac vs. Vargas coming soon.



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