By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum isn’t interested in putting together Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito again in a rematch, even if Margarito comes out on top. Speaking with Gma news, Arum says “No rematch clause. I don’t believe in rematch. Pacquiao prevailing by a mile over the heavy underdog Margarito would no longer be attractive to boxing fans. If the fight turns out to be one-sided [in favor of Manny[, a rematch wouldn’t be saleable.” By the same token, Arum says he wouldn’t want to put Pacquiao through another bout with Margarito if Manny turns out the one that gets dominated in this fight.
This would sort of explain why Arum hasn’t matched Pacquiao back up with Juan Manuel Marquez after fighting to a draw in their first fight in 2004, and then winning a controversial 12 round split decision in 2008 in a fight that many boxing fans, this writer included, felt that Marquez should have won. What seems bizarre is that Arum says he wouldn’t want to match Pacquiao back up with Margarito if Pacquiao wins in a dominant fashion due to the rematch not being saleable, yet Arum is almost surely going to put Pacquiao back in with Miguel Cotto for a rematch next year.
I don’t know about you, but I saw the Pacquiao-Cotto fight as horribly one-sided affair. If Arum isn’t interested in putting Pacquiao back in with Margarito in a rematch no matter what, then he should at least follow his own point of view about one-sided fights not being saleable for rematches by sparring boxing fans from having to see Pacquiao beat up on Cotto again next year. I don’t want to see Pacquiao ever fight Cotto again. That fight was so one-sided that even if they fought 10 years form now, it would be too soon for me.
Comments are closed.