Promoting the Nov. 14 welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto at MGM Grand in Las Vegas appears to be a win-win situation for Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters.
If Cotto wins, he could become the most popular fighter ever from Puerto Rico. And it would do little to hurt Pacquiao, a world-renown figure who is worshipped in his beloved Philippines.
A Pacquiao win would only further cement his legacy as one of the great fighters of the past 50 years, and Arum’s biggest cash cow would give even more milk.
Cotto’s career would only be tremendously hurt if he were to go down without a fight, and we all know that won’t happen.
We spoke with Bob Arum from Cotto’s training camp in Tampa, Fla., on Monday. He had his own reasons for considering this a win-win situation.
“I agree with that somewhat,” Arum said via telephone. “What I really believe is that this will be one of the greatest fights in history and there won’t be a loser in the fight. Even if a guy gets stopped or loses a decision, he won’t be a loser.
“This fight will enhance the reputations of both guys. That is what I believe will happen. That is why I believe it will be a win-win situation.”
Arum animatedly detailed his reasoning for believing this is a can’t-miss barnburner in waiting.
“It’s the styles of these fighters,” he said. “You can match two fighters with big names and you don’t necessarily get a great fight. Like (Floyd) Mayweather and (Juan Manuel) Marquez, because of the styles. Marquez is a counterpuncher and Mayweather is a defensive fighter and it forced Marquez into being an aggressive fighter, a come-forward fighter and he never was that.
“So it figured not to be a particularly great fight. But this fight, their styles blend so perfectly. Pacquiao is a fighter who is lightning fast who goes one side, then the other and hits you with a million punches. And Cotto is only successful when he’s aggressive.”
Of course, it will also be a financial win-win situation for Arum because he doesn’t have to split the proceeds with another promoter.
(It Could Be a Long Hour)
The money issue aside, Arum suggested he will be on pins and needles during the fight.
“I don’t like to see my guys get hit and in this fight my guys are going to get hit – both of them. So, that doesn’t thrill me because I like to root for my guys,” he said. “It is very easy to promote, but it is very hard to watch.
“The only part that will be uncomfortable for me will be the less-than-an-hour they will be engaging each other. I know I will have done my job and I will be happy giving out the checks. But during the fight it is going to be an anxious time.”
(Weight issues For Linares)
There was a lot of talk about Jorge Linares at last Saturday’s Israel Vazquez-Angel Priolo fight in Los Angeles. Linares shockingly lost his super featherweight world title via first-round technical knockout to Juan Carlos Salgado on Friday (Saturday in Japan) in Tokyo, Japan.
Linares only last month signed a promotional contract with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, was asked what his first thoughts were upon hearing of Linares’ surprising blowout loss.
“Well, two things crossed my mind,” Schaefer said. “Weight. He’s a very big kid (5-foot-8 1/2) and I knew going into the fight that he had problems making the weight. He really drained himself.”
Schaefer said he spoke to De La Hoya on Saturday morning, and that De La Hoya’s first thoughts were the same thing, that Linares had struggled to make the 130-pound limit; he weighed 129 3/4.
“Everybody seems to think the same, that he had problems making the weight,” Schaefer said. “He was dehydrated. And you saw what happened with Oscar when he fought Pacquiao and I think we saw the same here.”
A couple of hours before Schaefer talked about Linares, Eric Gomez, another Golden Boy executive, said Linares should try to get an immediate rematch to prove he is still the type of fighter most believe him to be.
Therein lies Schaefer’s other thought: Linares may very well have to move up in weight to 135.
“I think he’s going to have no choice than to move up,” Schaefer said.
Then again, Schaefer did say that Akihiko Honda, who co-promotes Linares out of Japan, has options on Salgado, meaning a rematch is not out of the question.
“We’ll see what Jorge wants to do and what Honda wants to do and then we’ll decide what’s next,” Schaefer said. “But maybe the best course of action is for Linares to move up if in fact he does have problems making weight.”
(Golden Boy Cursed?)
The Linares loss is another in a long line of recent negative occurrences in the life of Golden Boy. One has to wonder if there isn’t a De La Hoya doll with needles in it somewhere. But Arum scoffed when he was asked if it seems like De La Hoya’s company is cursed.
“That is ridiculous,” said Arum, who twice saw De La Hoya break promotional ties with him. “These things happen. Right now it looks like they are cursed, but what will usually happen is it’ll change and the bad luck will become good luck.
“Sometimes, they’re responsible. When they put (Victor) Ortiz in with (Marcos) Maidana, that was just stupid matchmaking. But this Linares thing has nothing to do with that. It’s bad luck. … But their luck will change. That has always been the way.”
(Speaking of Weighty Issues)
Arum also spoke about last Saturday’s card at Madison Square Garden that featured Juan Manuel Lopez against Rogers Mtagwa. Lopez defended his junior featherweight belt. But it wasn’t easy as the scores – 116-111, 115-111, 114-113 – attest. That’s not to mention that Lopez was in deep trouble in the 12th round. Well, we may have seen Lopez at 122 pounds for the last time.
“Juanma was winning the fight clearly and ran out of gas in the 11th round,” Arum said. “But we are going to work on that and see why that happened. We are going to take him to a personal velocity trainer in California and let him evaluate.
“That’s what they did with Cotto. That’s when we moved him up to 147. Those few pounds made a world of difference.”
(Arum High on Solis)
Odlanier Solis, of Cuba, fought on the undercard of Lopez-Mtagwa and stopped Monte Barrett in the second round. Arum sang his praises.
“The Cuban heavyweight is really something,” Arum said. “He is the quickest heavyweight with his hands.”
Solis, 29, is 15-0 with 11 knockouts.
(Vazquez Defensive)
Vazquez did stop Priolo in the ninth round of their featherweight fight Saturday. But let’s take a look at that: Vazquez took nine rounds to dispatch a fighter who had lost six consecutive fights – five by knockout – and one who had never fought at higher than 118 pounds.
Moreover, Priolo is 35, which is very old for a small fighter. On top of that, Priolo was even on two of the scorecards heading into the ninth; the other judge, Jose Cobian, somehow had Vazquez ahead by four points.
Yes, it is understandable that Vazquez did not look terrific. After all, he had not fought in 19 months and during that layoff he had three surgeries to repair a detached retina in his right eye after three brutal fights against Rafael Marquez.
But when he was pressed by reporters after Saturday’s fight, he couldn’t seem to understand the totality of having such a difficult time with a washed-up opponent.
“Priolo came with everything,” said Vazquez, the former super bantamweight (122 pounds) champion who fought for the first time at featherweight (126). “He had nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
The thing is Priolo didn’t have anything in his previous six fights. Yet, he left Vazquez’s face looking like he had just been in a fourth fight with Marquez. According to Schaefer, layers of stitches were applied to the left cut over Vazquez’s eye.
“I knew the fight was close,” Vazquez said, “but I brought my signature – the drama.”
Vazquez’s trainer, Rudy Perez, started to get perturbed at the toughness of the post-fight interview with a circle of reporters.
“You guys act as if he was losing,” Perez said. “He wasn’t losing. I had Israel ahead by two points.”
One reporter had the temerity to ask Vazquez if he thinks he will ever be as good as he once was.
“Yes, definitely,” Vazquez said. “I didn’t have an easy opponent tonight. What are you talking about?”
Vazquez did admit that he was rusty, and that he did not look all that great until the knockout. But he didn’t seem to get the idea that he struggled against someone he should not have struggled against – the layoff notwithstanding. That was evident when he was asked if he would rather bypass another tune-up fight and go directly to another fight with a mean hombre.
“I’m ready now,” Vazquez said.
(Espinoza’s Take)
Sitting ringside watching Vazquez struggle was his manager, Frank Espinoza. As most reporters were finishing up with Vazquez, we took Espinoza aside to ask him what he really thought of his man’s performance.
“Well, listen, I’m a realist,” Espinoza said. “Inactivity, I don’t see anybody that’s been out of the ring almost two years that’s going to look great. I think everybody thought he would go over (Priolo) like a Mack truck. Anybody who fights Israel Vazquez is going to train hard to fight a guy like Vazquez.
“Priolo came in shape and, yeah, there’s some rust in Vazquez. But I think this all makes him better now. I think the first few rounds he looked kind of slow and then all of a sudden the cut came in; there was more drama that it was going to be stopped.”
Espinoza said he liked the idea that once Vazquez scored the first of his three knockdowns in the ninth, he finished off Priolo.
“Suddenly,” Espinoza said, “when he hurt him, then you saw the Vazquez that everybody else remembered and he went after him.”
Well, getting the aforementioned parties to say they were disappointed in what took place might be a bit much to ask. Rarely do we get admissions like that in this sport.
But this is not just any sport. It’s a life-and-death proposition and Espinoza, Vazquez and Golden Boy need to make sure Vazquez is ready for another killer before putting him in with one. The feeling here is another fight with someone better than Priolo, but perhaps not quite world-class, would be a wise choice for Vazquez’s next fight.
At one point during the post-fight interview, Schaefer was standing behind Vazquez, declaring, “Israel Vazquez is back.”
They better hope so.
