By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: The boxing world certainly was shaken up with the losses of Juan Manuel Lopez and WBC champ Andre Berto. In terms of emerging stars, Golden Boy has the edge. If they handle their business right, they can produce three to four cash cows. For Arum, it might take a little longer. He has a nice stable of fighters. But as of right now, he’s riding the Pac Man until the wheels fall off.
Arum – Right now, he’s sort of in a limbo because of the Nonito Donaire situation and Juan Manuel Lopez’s loss certainly doesn’t help. A few days ago Arum stated that a Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Pacquiao fight is likely. But recently he back tracked and said that the fight would not happen. Arum can match Pacquiao against Timothy Bradley, Andre Berto (not now), the winner of the Miguel Cotto – Antonio Margarito bout or he can simply use newly signed Kermit Cintron as back drop while he moves behinds the scenes. Outside of Pacquiao, who does Arum have to really promote? Joshua Clottey? Doubt it. Cotto is a good fighter, but not a big pay per view fighter; Margarito…enough said; Donaire? Highly unlikely because of Donaire’s attempt to move to Golden Boy. Mike Jones? Not ready yet although he’s a good fighter.
Oscar De La Hoya – Even though Mayweather only fights once or twice a year, he can still bring in the bucks. We may even see a Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz fight. Even if Ortiz losses, I don’t believe it will hurt his stock at all. The bout would more than likely be a non title bout seeing how Floyd is not about paying sanctioning fees. Plus, Ortiz could make a career pay day with the bout. David Haye (who is co-promoting with Golden Boy) has a big fight with Wladimir Klitschko coming up that is going to score big. But Golden Boy is heavenly relying on these two opting to spread the love around. In the last three months, Golden Boy has produced three champs Saul Alvarez, Robert Guerrero, and Victor Ortiz. And they can make it four if Bernard Hopkins pulls off a victory against Jean Pascal. Then you add bantamweight Abner Mares, Marcos Maidana , WBA champ Amir Khan and the resurgence of Paul Malignaggi, now they have a great pot of gumbo. If Arum’s option on Nonito’s contract does not hold up, we could see him signing with Golden Boy and possibly scoring a big fight with WBA bantamweight champ Anselmo Moreno.
And you can’t forget about the veteran Marquez. He was offered a deal he said “he couldn’t refuse” from Oscar although he hasn’t signed yet. He’s obviously waiting for the outcome of the Pac/Mosley fight. But with Arum’s recent declaration, we might see wet ink going across a dotted line soon with Golden Boy. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing because Zab Judah’s name is being mentioned as a possible opponent. .
FT – With Arum putting all his eggs in Pacquiao’s basket, attention has not really been given to any of his other fighters. If Pacquiao losses or retires, it take a while for Top Rank to climb back into contention. The in house fighting is cool, but that can only last for so long before your options run out. Right now Golden Boy can do the same (in house fighting), but they have been more willing to fight outside the camp. Like I stated above, If Oscar plays his cards right, we could see Golden Boy going platinum.
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