By Kristofer Williams Sr. Just recently, a boxing scribe conducted an interview with Top Rank bossman Bob Arum and asked him about potential opponents for Manny Pacquiao this coming November. Would it be a rematch with newly crowned WBO “WheelchairWeight” Champ Timothy Bradley, or a fourth match with Juan Manuel Marquez? Or would it be against undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.?
Arum responded to examiner.com, “Contrary to what some of these genius writers write, I don’t call the shots when it comes to who Manny fights next. Manny has the final say on who he wants to fight.”
This statement really makes me wonder about some things. In the past, Manny would always say he would have to speak with Bob first when it came to making the final decision on future opponents. Pacquiao would always say “we”, meaning Arum, Koncz, Roach, and Pacquiao would get together in a room and discuss their next fight and whether it would make business sense, financial sense, as well as career sense. However, Bob was adamant in saying this week that Manny had the ultimate final say in who he chooses to fight. On the other had, Bob did not say whether Manny had the complete authority to choose fighters outside of Top Rank as well as Top Rank fighters or even consider non-stable fighters per Arum’s permission. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that Manny indeed calls the shots but at the same time he is limited to choosing only Top Rank stable mates.
One other thing to consider is the fact that immediately after Pacquiao-Marquez III, Arum was completely intent on staging Pac-JMM 4 as soon as possible. Manny, however, shot that down, and after haphazard attempts to stage a fight with Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao had no recourse but to set up the Bradley fight. Maybe Arum was perturbed by Manny deciding not to fight Marquez in June. And maybe Arum senses the growing possibility that Pacquiao might bolt faster than Usain when his contract with Top Ranks ends, creating an increasing uneasiness within Arum’s veins and hence all the conspiracy theories of Arum “fixing” Bradley as the new champion in order to build him up in hopes of establishing a new breed of cash cows in the event Pacquiao leaves.
Everybody has their own theory but at the end of the day, if Manny really does call the shots like Bob says, then Manny needs to do everything in his shot-calling power to convince Arum as well as Floyd to get together in a room and seal the deal on the mega-fight.
Switching gears to Floyd Mayweather, I wonder about some things as well. Floyd loves to profess about his being his own boss, his “Money Team”, and everything else that comes with it. But what Floyd rarely talks about is how much input advisor Al Haymon really has in his career. We all know Haymon and Ellerbe are extremely close to the people at HBO. Haymon, in fact, was once quoted as saying, “If I wanted to, I could run boxing.” (More on the Haymon-Floyd story later. Stay tuned…). Floyd rarely talks about Haymon and in fact, people rarely catch a glimpse of Al Haymon in the boxing scene. Most people don’t even know what he looks like because he operates so low under radar he makes UFO sightings look silly. It is this writer’s opinion that the entire Floyd Mayweather marketing strategy was created, conceived, implemented, and executed by none other than Al “The Ghost” Haymon. Floyd believed in him, and Floyd followed him. More on this, so stay tuned for my next article.
All in all, does Floyd really call the shots? Does Manny really call the shots? At the end of the day, the promotional war in the sport of boxing isn’t about Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Emanuel Dapidran Pacquiao. This whole thing is a tug-of-war between Al Haymon and Bob Arum caused by the money making enterprise that is prizefighting in America. Richard Schaefer, Oscar Delahoya, and Golden Boy Promotions are simply stuck in the middle and in it for the ride.
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