Rob Peters, head of American security for Manny Pacquiao, is feeling an awful lot like the Maytag repairman recently. Whenever ‘the Pac Man’ arrives at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California, it’s his job to make sure there is a secured parking spot for his vehicle and then to clear out the gym of anyone who didn’t have prior clearance to stick around.
As he bellows out,’ It’s Packyyyowww Tiiiimme!!!’ that means the gym must be cleared out. You may not know where you’re going, but you gotta get the hell outta here.
However, he hasn’t had much to do lately as he – along with everyone else – awaits Pacquiao’s arrival to begin preparations for his April 14th assignment against Jorge Solis in San Antonio, Texas.
He was expected to be in Southern California by this time. Many were led to believe that he would arrive this Tuesday to the Wild Card. But, as of now, he’s still a no-show.
Where the hell is Manny Pacquiao?
“Where the hell is Manny? It’s the 64-thousand dollar question,” said Justin Fortune, who in place of Freddie Roach (who is busy in Puerto Rico with Oscar De La Hoya) will be working with Pacquiao for this upcoming bout. “He comes in on Friday the 16th, I think. He’s coming to watch Gerry Penalosa’s fight, so he’ll be there for that fight. Then we start training Monday.”
Well, he hopes.
“This is the plan, I’m not sure about it because I haven’t spoken to him,” admitted Fortune. The delays in his arrival do bother him. “Just a little bit,” he admits with a smirk.
With all the usual drama surrounding his life, you wonder about Pacquiao’s focus coming in against a relatively unknown – yet unbeaten – foe.
“Solis is 32-0 with 23 knockouts,” Fortune points out. “Even though he might be knocking out nobody, he can still punch. Everybody lifts their game to fight Manny Pacquiao. So I hope he’s doing some work because he’s not working with us.”
Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao (at least for now, he does) doesn’t believe that he’ll forget the Alamo(dome).
“We always knew that he would be coming in on the 14th of March,” said Arum, perhaps knowing a bit more about his itinerary than Fortune. “He signed a contract, he’s taken an advance and he’s working very hard according to reports in the Philippines.”
Of course, hasn’t Pacquiao signed contracts before and taken advances only to sign another contract and take upfront money from other promoters?
Hmmm, any chance that Pacquiao was again intercepted at LAX and lured with another ‘golden briefcase’?
“No, no, no, they wouldn’t dare,” said Arum. “There’s legal things going on and we’re very confident in our legal position.” The veteran promoter finds it highly ironic that his rival company, Golden Boy Promotions, who preached about changing the business, employed a very Don King-like tactic. “I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t believe it. I mean we heard about it first from Manny and from the lawyer Jeng (Gacal) and we thought ‘this can’t be. Something’s gotta be wrong.’ And then Freddie Roach, in his deposition, confirmed it.”
It’s not only ironic, but it seems hypocritical, to a great degree.
“Absolutely,” said Arum. “You know what they are, I know what they are. All this is lip-service.”
But Arum, who is in San Antonio as we speak, is expecting a packed house on a night when not only Pacquiao performs, but Jorge Arce faces WBC 115-pound champion Cristian Mijares.
“The arena holds 20,000, and we think we’re going to sell it out.”
THE GHOST VS PANTERA?
Look for a summertime showdown between middleweights Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda, who defeated Allan Green this past weekend in Puerto Rico.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, Leon Margules and Kathy Duva were at HBO today and I was on the phone with them and we’re negotiating with HBO for a fight on July 28th,” said Arum.
And all systems are go for Miguel Cotto’s pay-per-view outing against Zab Judah on June 9th at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“We want to get a really good undercard that puts together some west coast interest,” said the veteran promoter.
Which is a coded phrase for: We’re gonna load it with Mexicans.
IN THE BALLPARK
I’ve been told by a very good source that the Jermain Taylor-Sergio Mora fight could be taking place on June 2nd at a major league ballpark on the west coast.
If it can happen, I love the idea. It’s a throwback to a time when boxing mattered. And it sure beats having the same, stale casino crowd. Venues like this can help cultivate new boxing fans.
HUH?
Did anyone happen to catch the quotes from Juan Gonzalez, a boxing operations member of Don King Productions, who I believe worked the corner for Victor Burgos this past weekend against Vic Darchinyan?
He would tell Lance Pugmire of the L.A. Times that allowing the fight to continue was, “maybe a good sign.”
Pugmire would write that Burgos had planned to be driven back to Tijuana immediately after the fight.
“Imagine if they stop the fight in the 10th, and he leaves with that (clot) in his head. Maybe he dies on the car ride to Tijuana.”
Alright, is it just me, or is this line of ‘logic’ just ass-backward? To quote one John McEnroe: YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!
Another Gonzalez gem, regarding that fateful fight: “This is boxing, man. There’s nobody to blame. They knew what they were getting into, that they can get hurt like that.”
Excuse me, I think Burgos knew he was getting into professional prizefighting, not human cockfighting. There’s a stark difference. Or at least, I would hope there is.
C@C HIT FACTORY
No official venue for Diego Corrales’ return against Joshua Clottey has been found, but I hear that some Indian reservation in Louisiana is showing some interest.
