GL: Can you give us some thoughts on Manny Pacquiao’s performance?
“I give him an A. It was a terrific performance. There’s two things that account for that performance. One, he didn’t have to deplete himself to make weight. At 130 he was really struggling. When you struggle to make weight, it’s hard to concentrate on what you’re doing in the gym and it’s very hard to replenish yourself in 24 hours. At 135 no problem, that’s his best weight and that’s the weight he’ll remain at. The second thing is, Manny has so many different things going, that even when he comes to LA, he’s distracted. But he stuck to his business, he listened to Freddie and he didn’t go to the Casinos in Los Angeles, he just went home at night and conducted himself the way a world class fighter should and the results were apparent on Saturday night.”
GL: Did you ever expect Pacquiao to dominate as he did?
Bob Arum: “No. I looked at Pacquiao as a great left handed fighter with very, very limited ability in his right hand. But now his right looked stronger and more effective than the left. Now that he’s a two handed fighter, I don’t know he’s going to be able to lick him.”
GL: Do you like his chances against any of the top lightweights out there?
BA: “I sure do. As soon as they get themselves sorted out a little bit that’s what we’re going to go. We would look at the Campbell-Guzman winner, or Juan Diaz with the Greek [Michael Katsidis] or maybe even Julio Diaz.”
GL: Who will Kelly Pavlik be fighting next?
BA: “That’s what we’re working on right now. We tried to make something with John Duddy, but he’s going to be fighting Verno Phillips…
GL: (cutting in) Who told you that?
BA: “Jim Borzell, but like I was saying. Duddy is going in another direction, the Mora people overpriced themselves and we’re just looking as we speak.”
GL: I heard you made a low ball offer to Winky Wright, an offer they had to refuse Bobfather.
BA: “That is relative. Pavlik-Winky Wright fight is not a PPV fight. It wouldn’t do well on PPV, at least it wouldn’t with my money. For that to happen it would have to happen under HBO. With the amount of money that HBO is offering, what I proposed to Winky as his purse, seemed to be very fair to me, but everybody has to make their own decisions. In other words, he might think he’s worth a lot more, but the pie is only so big and I can only offer him a fair shar of the pie, which I did. If he thinks the fight should be bigger, let him go and talk to HBO himself.”
GL: Does Pavlik have a date locked in yet?
BA: “It’s either going to be September 27 or October 18!”
GL: How confident are you that the Cotto-Margarito winner will fight De La Hoya?
BA: “First of all, they made it very clear to me that Oscar has no interest in fighting Richard. Whether Oscar ends up fighting Cotto or not. I don’t know. If Cotto beats Margarito, will they fight him? They’ve made noises like they would, but I would be really shocked if they did. I think he will be looking for a softer touch, maybe John Duddy after he beats your guy. Maybe that’s the reason Duddy is going to down to 154, because that sets up a match with Oscar I guess. They’ve talked to me about Pacquiao fighting Oscar after Pacquiao beat Diaz. But for Manny to give up 20 pounds it doesn’t seem like the right thing to do if you’re trying to handle Manny properly. Money is one thing, but Oscar is just too big.”
GL: Would you make the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight at 147?
BA: “Yeah, but not at 154.”
GL: Would you make Pacquiao-Mayweather at 147?
BA: “I don’t want to talk about retired fighters.”
GL: What if he unretired?
BA: “Then we could talk about it, but I don’t want to go hypothetical. I wouldn’t even discuss Manny with Sugar Ray Leonard, because Leonard is retired.”
GL: Closing thoughts?
BA: “Working hard to make good matches. I’m very excited about Cotto-Margarito and I’m very excited about putting together Cotto’s next fight. Hopefully we’ll have something solid for Pavlik next week. Right the guy it looks like it’s going to be is Randy Griffin.”
