BOB ARUM was forced to postpone a luncheon press conference set for Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) after his star boxer Manny Pacquiao failed to board his plane bound for the US the other night because of reported domestic problems.
Pacquiao flew instead to Cebu to rendezvous with his wife Jinky who left for the province in a huff after reportedly showing displeasure over her husband’s “extra curricular activities.”
Sources within the Pacquiao camp did not say what these activities were, but it must be serious enough for Pacquiao to cancel his trip to the US which has been postponed four times now.
Pacquiao, who spent millions in an unsuccessful bid to win a congressional seat in his hometown in General Santos City, is reported to be a compulsive gambler and is known to bet hundreds of thousands in casinos, cockfighting and billiards.
Arum had set the press conference at the Rodeo Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles where they would formally announce the Oct. 6 rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera.
Less than a day before the event, Arum, whose promotional outfit Top Rank is staging the fight in partnership with Golden Boy Promotions and in association with Mandalay Bay, was compelled to issue an advisory through the Internet with the help of publicity chief Lee Samuels and press relations expert Fred Sternburg.
Taking a page from Shakespearean drama, Arum told the long distance caller from the Philippines that “we cannot run the show without Hamlet.”
Pacquiao’s tight schedule was cited by Top Rank as the reason behind the postponement and the Filipino fighter’s spur-of-the-moment trip to Cebu yesterday afternoon is testament to this.
Still, Arum has penciled Aug. 9 as the new date for the press conference although Pacquiao is expected to leave for the States on Aug. 1, hopefully, with training assistants Buboy Fernandez and Nonoy Neri and lawyer Franklin Gacal.
“(Pacquiao trainer) Freddie (Roach) wants Manny here next week so they could start training together,” said Arum, who will instead have lunch with the media together with GBP Chief Executive Officer Richard Schaefer to discuss other pertinent details in relation to the Pacquiao-Barrera headliner at the 12,000-seat Events Center inside Mandalay Bay.
