If only David Diaz could be cloned and fight under a different name?
I?ve spent a few days trying to climb into the always active mind of Uncle Bob Arum and trying to figure out who his ?safety? opponent for Manny Pacquiao will be in October.
It’s a parlor game, a guessing contest, for fight scribes and scribettes…and it’s such fun to play. You fans can even try it at home or work…
Analyzing the Top Rank Top Dog isn?t easy as he could teach Machiavelli a few tricks. The man is a grandmaster when it comes to playing the hidden next opponent game.
But I?ve been observing Arum from the start, from his first show and the first fight card he ever attended, the George Chuvalo-Muhammad Ali bout at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
The year was, let?s call it XYZ, a long time ago. It?s interesting to note that, for all his achievements and riches earned in big time boxing, Arum was never a paying fan.
But he does try to put himself into the mind of the cash customers.
I?m just not buying into Pacman facing Miguel Cotto this autumn no matter how he fares against Joshua Clottey in three weeks at Madison Square Garden. And it?s not because of Coach Roach?s weight limitation demands on the Puerto Rican.
I just think Arum is dangling a Pacman jackpot at Cotto to keep the Boricua hero on the reservation. Cotto?s contract runs out at the end of the year and who knows which way the fighter will go with the turmoil in his camp involving both his father and his uncle who is now his former trainer.
Drumbeats from the island keep beating out a tune of Cotto going the fashionable I promote myself route that began with Oscar De La Hoya and continued with Joe Calzaghe and others.
Top Rank flack Ricardo Jimenez, always a solid conduit of info, sends along this quote which indicates that Cotto has Clottey and only Clottey on his mind now, the way it should be.
All I am thinking about is Clottey right now. That’s the fight at hand and I cannot get side-tracked thinking about other fights or fighters. I know the fight is out there (with Pacquiao) and is something that might be possible, but for now all I can think about is June 13 at the Garden.”
I go back and forth on this but my nominee for Manny next is Brooklyn?s quote machine and powder puff puncher Paulie Malignaggi. Sure, Packy is the big draw but having a well-liked Italian-American foe from the BK can?t hurt the gate or the TV side.
Maliganggi has to hurdle Denver?s tough Mike Alvarado (26-0, 18 KOs) first though. Pacquiao and Arum may not want to wait on that June 27 outcome.
So, round up the usual suspects and?I will reverse direction here?Now I am starting to think Arum?s in house sacrificial lamb will be Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
They could fight at 147 pounds or thereabouts. I don?t think losing to Pound For Pound king Pacquaio will ruin the Son of the Mexican Icon as the magnet for Arum?s ?Latin Fury? PPV shows.
In fact, a gutsy albeit losing performance by young Chavez would enchance his now limited credibility.
JC Jr. gets love from his compadres because of the family name. The Chavez name is to Mexican boxing what the Kennedy name is to American politics, solid gold.
Will his Pops approve the fight? Stack the dinero high enough and the answer will be hell, yeah.
If Chavez gets the Manny nod, Arum will forget Manhattan and reach out for familiar Vegas turf.
Chavez-Pacquiao. Mexico-Philippines.
Need I say more?
Michael is a former sports columnist at the New York Post. He was a criminal defense attorney and worked for sports legends Howard Cosell and Don King. Marley also operates BoxingConfidential.com. Email him your thoughts. He makes it a practice to always recommend Pacland and Philboxing.
