It was breakfast time in Metro Manila and 79 year old Bob Arum was not in a fighting mood.
Arum, who with wife Lovee and stepdaughter Dena will be among the VIP guests at Manny Pacquio’s swinging soiree (32nd birthday bash) Friday night at the General Santos City Convention Center, did not have much to say about whether the Pacman-Sugar Shane Mosley has been “put to bed” for April 16 or May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Tight lips sink ships, I suppose, and Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Berto are technically supposed to still be viable candidates to fight the Congressman until he makes his final call.
“I’m confident that we have the situation in hand,” Arum said from the swanky Shangri-La Hotel in Makata. “I don’t to say more until Manny makes his decision official. We sat and talked Tuesday night here. I think we’ll know in a day or two, probably when we get to Gensan.”
Arum did say there were no 11th hour communiques from Golden Boy as to Juan Ma’s purse demand (which Arum deemed excessive) or from Lou DiBella (“reasonable,” Arum said) as to Berto’s financial request.
No need to mention that the 39 year old Mosley wears the TR Varsity Sweater these days, a piece of apparel neither the Mexican or the Haitian-American boxers owns.
Arum said he thought the 4/16 date may turn into 5/7 because of Pacquiao’s Congressional schedule.
And the lack of his fighting mood? I would not attribute it to jet lag. My impression is Uncle Bob is weary of the back and forth, the invective and insults being swapped between he and the Golden Boy tandem of De La Hoya and Schaefer. Can there be an extension of the olive branch or a hatchet burial between the rivals?
“That would be fine with me,” Arum said. “A lot of what I do is just reactive to them. A lot of it is they said and then I said. I resent remarks (made by Oscar) about my being a little older now. I resent that a lot.
“I’m not a guy who backs down. I didn’t appreicate those comments from him. I’m not the kind of guy to back down or just take it without firing back. If I get it, I’ll give it back.”
Anybody got a white flag handy for a possible truce or even a temporary cease-fire?
Arum thinks that Golden Boy is wasting time and energy complaining about how Mosley, a vice president with the company, walked out. There no was no contract to impede Shane’s flight.
“It makes no sense (to complain),” Arum said. “Oscar left me, after great years, to go to the great guru, Jerry Perenchio, who had Univision. Isn’t that the same thing? We kept hearing rumors that neither Shane nor Bernard Hopkins had promotional contracts tieing them to Golden Boy.”
I asked who the source of said rumors could have been.
“Hopkins because, well, because Bernard could not keep his big mouth shut. So I can’t say I was surprised Shane came around looking to fight Manny,” Arum said.
Arum and his family have a Wednesday night dinner to attend hosted by George Araneta, owner of the sporting facility Araneta Coliseum.
If it’s Friday, then it must Gensan and party time for the Arums and the Pacquiaos. Gov. Chavit Singson is flying the Arums to Manny’s old hometown (he resides officially in Sarangani, ahem, for political reasons).
Although some critics have said Pacman should not, as a public servant, be having a party with a “Godfather” theme, Arum said he doesn’t know anything about it.
“Manny hasn’t mentioned any Godfather theme party to me.”
Come to think of it, Mosley will be partying the same night, I think.
