They had billed this past weekend?s rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez as ‘Unfinished Business’ after they fought to a highly disputed draw back in 2004. But after Pacquiao’s razor-thin split decision win over Marquez, there seems to be a feeling that more ‘business’ needs to take place between the two in the near future.
As heated as the fight was, its intensity was seemingly heightened at the post-fight press conference. It was clear that while the ‘Cold War’ between the two promotional titans involved, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, had thawed to a point where they were back to putting on shows once again, there is clearly a creative and business tension between the companies. Like the United States and Russia, while there may be a detente between the two, at times it seems like an uneasy peace.
No, comparing Pacquiao-Marquez II to the Bay of Pigs is not applicable, but anytime these two superpowers pit their fighters against each other, it is more than just a prizefight ? it?s really a battle of ideologies and symbolic of the two companies? quest to acquire the lion?s share of the boxing marketplace. While both Top Rank and Golden Boy technically share co-promotional rights on ‘the Pac Man’ after a bitter struggle for his services the last year or so, the battle lines were drawn from the very beginning of this promotion. Pacquiao was a Top Rank fighter; Marquez Golden Boy.
And when a bout is as close and as controversial (in the eyes of some) as this was, inevitably emotions flare and the diplomatic relations are put to the test. In a press conference that was as entertaining as any in recent memory (not involving Don King), verbal volleys were fired in all directions.
It was as contentious as a Democratic debate, with of course Bob Arum playing the role of Hillary Clinton (he wouldn’t have it any other way) and Richard Schaefer playing the role of Barack Obama. Pointed comments were made in every direction and there were numerous ‘Oh, No He Didn’t!/Ahh Snap!!!/BUUUUURRRRNNN’ moments that provided quite the walkout bout for the assembled media that had an extended wait for the fighters? arrival, as they were both getting stitched up after their memorable battle.
Schaefer would address the media first by stating: “I think you can’t take anything away from either guy. We, as well as most of the media members I have talked to, believe Juan Manuel Marquez won that fight. I’m not one to cry about it, never do, you guys know me, I really don’t. We take the decisions the way they come from the judges. But I do believe strongly – very strongly – that this fight should’ve gone to the champion, to Juan Manuel Marquez.
“I find it, as well, strange, that the week before the fight, suddenly a judge is being changed and guess how this judge scored?”
That judge would be Tom Miller, who scored the bout 114-113 for Pacquiao.
Perhaps if Oscar De La Hoya himself was up here he would call for an investigation and do everything in his power to get to the bottom of this. But if Schaefer had a huge problem with this decision, what about bouts that his company promoted such as Joel Casamayor-Jose Armando Santa Cruz and Stevie Forbes-Demetrius Hopkins?
As Schaefer pushed for an immediate rematch, Arum would talk of spacing out the bouts, and putting, as he called it, ‘air’ between the fights to maximize their earning potential. His plan is for Pacquiao to face WBC lightweight titlist David Diaz on June 28th. Schaefer would make a comment that said in effect they wouldn’t be fighting for any WBC titles in the future.
To which Arum would respond: “The idea that this wouldn’t be for the WBC belt is total poppycock. We won the WBC belt. If Manny is good enough to win it against David, that’s the belt we’re going to defend. I mean, I have problems sometimes with all these sanctioning bodies, but you gotta have some order in boxing.
“And I am not satisfied with a magazine determining who champions are, I’m just not. Particularly when I don’t have any ownership in the magazine.”
(Yes, he went there, referring to Golden Boy’s acquisition of the Ring Magazine. There is a growing belief within the industry that Golden Boy didn’t so much buy the respected publication for its written word, but for its rankings and championship belts. In essence, their own sanctioning body.)
His words brought about a loud reaction from the audience, to which Schaefer would reply: “Typical Arum.” And when it was mentioned that Harold Lederman had Pacquiao up by three points, he would state that HBO’s unofficial, official,” should retire.”
As they continued the bantering about the judges and their qualifications, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, Arum would say, “Have you ever seen me up here disputing a decision? Ever? Never, never!!!”
A short time later, as Schaefer questioned the merits of a Pacquiao-Diaz pay-per-view event, Arum would respond by calling the May 31st matchup between Shane Mosley and Zab Judah a “Miguel Cotto Consolation Championship.”
To which Schaefer would fire back: “I feel that one is going to do more than yours did with Pavlik and Taylor,” bringing about laughter. Arum would actually agree with that jab and point out that was exactly the reason why Pacquiao-Marquez III should wait. Schaefer then reminded him of his numbers for Pacquiao’s pay-per-view show versus Jorge Solis. The only response Arum could muster up was, “That’s good, too.”
But writers themselves weren’t safe from the shrapnel from Arum’s mouth. As Kevin Iole pressed for the third fight to take place next, Arum would blurt out, “Kevin, write for your website, yahoo.com; don’t tell me how to promote. I’m telling you, you can’t make money doing immediate rematches.”
Marquez would be the first boxer to arrive. Obviously disappointed, he expressed great frustration at the result. It’s difficult to fault a fighter for having such emotions. With all the physical and mental sacrifices they make, to put yourself through hell and have something taken from you can’t be easy. It’s been an especially tough month for the Marquez family. At this time last year they both scored big victories. 12 months later, they lose two heart-wrenching decisions by a single, solitary point, in fight-of-the-year candidates. He made it very clear that he is willing to face Pacquiao at any weight the third time around.
Later on, Robert Morales of the Los Angeles Daily News would state that perhaps what hurts boxing more than dubious decisions is the constant complaining and bellyaching from those that lose close fights.
He has a point.
“I haven’t lived up to what I’m saying and I’ve been one of the culprits, we have to live with close decisions. It’s the truth,” admitted Arum, who has had more Chicken Little moments than any promoter throughout the years when things didn’t go his way. “Three judges score the fight, one score it one way, two score it the other way, the media is all mixed, HBO goes one way. Y’know, people see fights the way they see it. One thing everybody can agree on, it was a damn close fight, period.”
Which then brought about this exchange, as Arum explained the late insertion of Miller into the fight in place of Dick Flaherty.
Arum: “Freddie (Roach) said, ‘That’s not right because Flaherty is a personal friend of my family. He goes out to dinner with my mother,’ and when he told me that, we reported that to the commission and the commission decided to make a change to switch Tom Miller, who was working the Luevano fight, to this fight and to put Flaherty in the Luevano fight. The commission did the right thing and Freddie Roach is to be commended for being a damn honest guy and revealing it.”
Schaefer: “I’m not going to repeat the kind of comments Bob Arum made to me during the fight about judge Flaherty. I’m going to leave it at that.”
Arum: “Flaherty wasn’t doing the fight.”
Schaefer: “You know what you told me, Bob.”
Things would reach a boiling point as Marquez’s trainer Nacho Beristain would state through Jaime Quintana that what took place was a shame for boxing.
Arum would go nuclear.
“WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!!! YOU’RE ENTITLED TO YOUR OPINION, THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH BOXING. PEOPLE JUDGE, THEY JUDGE FAIRLY, SOME JUDGE FOR YOU, SOME JUDGE AGAINST YOU. BE MAN ENOUGH TO ACCEPT THE VERDICT OF THE JUDGES, GOD DAMMIT!!!”
Now, if you know anything about the history between the Hall-of-Fame trainer and Hall-of-Fame promoter, you just have to believe Arum has been wanting to say that to Beristain for years. Bottom line, both men hate each other?s guts.
“I thought you were more educated, Bob,” Quintana would respond to the graduate of Harvard. “I’m talking and people deserve to listen to what Nacho said.”
After a terse exchange, Arum would add, “He’s not respectful to the sport, he’s not respectful to the audience. Everybody is out there, some guys had Marquez winning by a point, some guys had Pacquiao winning by a point. One judge had Marquez winning by three. One guy had Pacquiao winning by three points. They saw it, they called it. And if you don’t like the decision – IT’S TOO DARNED BAD!”
Marquez would then grab the mic and left with this parting shot.
“Thank you everybody, now, once again, we proved to Bob Arum that Juan Manuel Marquez is a lot better. And now we can say we won more by losing than by winning. They should be ashamed of what they do.”
Which brought about some boos from those associated with Pacquiao that had filtered into the press conference.
“BOO, BOO, BOO’EM!!!,” exhorted Arum, who?s still full of piss-and-vinegar. “Look, I don’t know how you scored the fight, but let them know what they’ve done is not right. Now, I’ve been guilty of this, I’ve been guilty of this on other occasions. So I know how stupid I must’ve sounded.”
A few minutes later, Pacquiao arrived and by that time a cease fire was in place.
But you just know that between the two co-promoters of Pacquiao that the bullets will be flying again soon enough.
JMM PLANS?
It’s clear that Arum will not make Pacquiao-Marquez III immediately. If Pacquiao is medically cleared, he will face David Diaz on June 28th. So what about Marquez?
“We’re just going to move on and make our plans,” said Schaefer after all the fireworks. “I think the Mexicans are more than ever behind Juan Manuel Marquez, because if you compare the Morales fights, the Barrera fights, and then this, there’s really no question who is the best Mexican. The way he fought him is unbelievable.”
Schaefer is of the belief that there should be some separation between the second and third fights.
“I think what should happen is he takes a fight, we take a fight and then we go and fight each other again because that is the fight people want to see. And if Manny is going to keep on moving up and moving around, who gives a s**t? Let’s face it, the fight that fans want to see is that fight again.”
MY SCORE?
I had it just like Duane Ford, 115-112 Pacquiao. Just my opinion, but I thought he landed the harder, cleaner punches and his strength and power were the difference down the stretch.
I have no problems with anyone who had Marquez. But for those calling it a robbery or controversial, in the words of Arum: SHUT THE HELL UP!!!
No, but seriously, it was a close fight that could’ve gone either way. Close does not necessarily mean controversial or corrupt. It means just that, it was close. In my highly unofficial score book, I have both men winning a fight in this magnificent rivalry. I think by at least the end of the year, a third fight should be consummated.
ADMITTING
When Arum was pressed about his behavior after some close decisions didn’t go Oscar De La Hoya’s way while ?The Golden Boy? was still under the Top Rank banner, notably the rematch with Shane Mosley in 2003, Arum would fess up.
“I was stupid, I admit that.”
FIT TO BE TYE’D
The last telecast on the Versus Network was so bad that even their own announcers Nick Charles and Wally Mathews had to be critical of what they had just witnessed.
Their two co-features were first round KO’s. But you could at least say that Urbano Antillon’s blowout of Bobby Pacquiao was an impressive performance coming from an ever-improving young contender that is coming into his own. That happens quite a bit and you enjoy watching the development of a boxer.
But just how many Tye Fields main events are we going to be subjected to? I actually got a good chuckle at the shameless shilling Arum was doing on behalf of his fighter. Hey, that’s his job, I understand, but with Top Rank’s deep stable of world champions, solid contenders and promising prospects, we should all expect better from them.
And it’s not like they are working on an ESPN2 budget. They get at least twice the license fee of Telefutura and ShoBox, yet they are giving us Butterbean without the novelty.
SHOBOX
Speaking of that series, on April 11th their main event will feature Josesito Lopez against Edgar Santana and Buddy McGirt Jr. facing Carlos De Leon Jr.
Then on May 2nd, the featured bout is Andre Dirrell against Anthony Hanshaw.
FINAL FLURRIES
OK, so far best three fights of the year, 1) Vazquez-Marquez III, 2) Pacquiao-Marquez II, 3) Pacquiao-Marquez II post-fight presser…..Anyone else remember Don King after the Trinidad-De La Hoya fight? He was rubbing it in so bad that the Top Rank staff actually cut off his mike. VIVA PUERTO RIIIICCCOOOOOO!!!!!….The Mosley-Judah fight?s official name is ‘High Stakes’ and it takes place on May 31st at the Mandalay Bay….Jorge Barrios and Rocky Juarez will duke it out on that undercard….Is Terdsak Jandaeng tough or what? Steven Luevano grew up a bit in facing him…..UNC, Georgetown, Texas and UCLA are my Final Four picks…..Are the Lakers cursed? This team is more fragile than fine china….There is no atmosphere as good in boxing, right now, as a Pacquiao fight against a Mexican fighter with a following of his own…..
