In boxing circles, it’s a perpetual Halloween.
Inside boxing the paranoia runs deep. Inside boxing the conspiracy theorists run amok 7/24/365 and one extra day in a leap year.
Inside boxing, people leap to conclusions.
Real conspiracy theorists usually believe all conspiracies.
They believe the US government was in deep on the Kennedy assassination in Dallas 11-22-63.
They believe the so called American landing on the moon was a stage show, a slick bit of fakery likely staged just outside Vegas, around the totally off limits to all Area 51.
And they believe that the undeniable landing of UFOs, with aliens on board, was hushed up in Roswell, New Mexico. The flying saucer landed in the sagebrush in July of 1947.
I subscribe to some if not all of these theories. But now I’m skeptical about the latest conspiracy theory in boxing.
This one consists of a wicked plot against Pinoy Idol and world’s most popular fighter, Manny Pacquiao.
Let me give you the dope, the 411, on this Axis Of Evil plan to take Pacman down on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.
The undercurrent, growing louder by the minute, says that Bob Arum, head of the powerful, Las Vegas rooted Top Rank promotional concern, would prefer that Boricua Banger Miguel I’m No Angel Cotto win this mega bout.
As you know, Uncle Roberto holds paper on both sides so he sits like the fat cat he is in sort of a can’t lose situation.
But what most benefits Arum, what most behooves his company?
A Cotto victory and let me tell you why.
The reasons are many but we’ll just detail the upper case ones:
1. Beating Pacman restores Cotto to his pre-Antonio Margarito superstar glory and would put him on a starpower par with both Manny and Floyd Mayweather and above Sugar Shane Mosley who he, of course, owns a victory over anyway.
2. It also dusts off ‘Margocheato’ a bit because, if you disregard the possibility that the Tijuana Tornado had loaded handwraps when he fought Cotto, it gives him newfound stature, it would make him The Man Who Beat The Man Who Beat The Main Man Manny. As I said, we leave the “if he did not cheat” story line aside for now.
3. Gigantic rematch by say March or April of next year. Pacquiao’s superstar won’t dim greatly as he certainly won’t get beat easily or quickly. If he loses, Cotto will know he was in a scrap. This is one of those rare circumstances where the rematch would produce a bigger jackpot than the first bout.
4. A Cotto upset kicks Mayweather to the curb and leaves him scrambling for a PPV worthy opponent. It’s not likely to be Mosley who Mayweather avoids like he carries the swine flu. Uncle Bob nurses a financial grudge, never forget it, against Mayweather who kicked Top Rank to the curb.
5. A loss would knock down Manny’s market price and insure that that the Top Rank coffers swell up in the instant rematch. Not to mention that a stirring rematch with Pacman victorious sets the stage for Pacquiao-Cotto III.
