Boxingconfidential.com has learned exclusively that the Manny Pacquaio-David Diaz promotion, trying to pick up steam in terms of the live gate and PPV TV action, is going to become a real menagerie.
?We will have more animals than Noah?s Ark by Saturday night,? promoter Bob Arum said. ?Billy The Goat was just the beginning for us. We?re mixing the Sweet Science of boxing with some animal husbandry although I?m not sure if Billy is married.?
Billy, who horned his way into Monday?s seaside presser in Santa Monica, apparently was about to get the last rites at a Monterrey, Mexico, cabrito slaughterhouse when a call came in from the Casting Department at Top Rank?s Las Vegas office.
?I had to be careful as to what type of animal we picked,? one Top Rank official said. ?They had great prices on a mule but, if we bring him in, Michael Marley is likely to write a caption referring to the ?donkey? standing next to the burro. You know, like Mr. Arum has made an ass of himself. Or maybe that there were two donkeys braying, Arum was the one with the suite and tie.
?Also we rejected the idea of a sheep because we don?t want anyone saying we?re trying to fleece the boxing public. Or that this fight is a mismatch and that we?re just trying to pull the wool over people?s eyes. Chickens have a bad connotation in boxing so they were out. We thought of a giraffe but they are such gentle souls and vegetarians to boot.”
Arum said he hopes the barnyard sideshow does not detract from the fight. The promoter has a strict rule against turning a samll circus into a bigger circus.
?Don?t think that either David or Manny are horsing around. Billy The Goat is environmentally friendly in that we feed him empty tin cans. And he comes cheap which I always like. We thought of a more lively animal, one that would be jumping around but there?s enough monkey business going on in boxing anyway. I like to think of this as Cirque du Arum.”
A rival matchmaker took a pointed jab at the Pacquiao-Diaz undercard.
?They have a bunch of tomato cans on the undercard,? the matchmaker said, ?so I suppose that will be lunch or dinner for Billy.?
Leave it to Uncle Bob, age 77 and still rolling hard, to bring another innovation to his promotions.
One source told us there?s more to come.
?Wait until you see Cameron Dunkin ands his amazing chimpanzees,? the source said. ?They speak fluent French and play high level chess with each other. The chimps, that is, not Dunkin.
?And someone said they saw Lee Samuels in an organ grinder?s outfit the other day which brings up the old saw about why talk to the monkey when you can speak to the organ grinder.?
?Grind? seems to be the key word as this promotion chugs into Vegas.
Or maybe ?zoo? should be the key word.
I hear Billy The Goat is getting a suite comped at Mandalay Bay, RFB. I just hope they keep him away from the MGM?s Grand Garden.
Bob Arum and his Amazing Animals, next on Leno or Letterman.
