There has been an awful lot of Bob Arum bashing going on these last couple days on the internet and I for one am not here to defend him. Many boxing fans and writers are claiming that he is the main reason why the Pacquiao ? Mayweather fight may not take place on May 5. The Top Rank CEO has been under fire because of the statement he made a few days ago claiming, ?Manny isn?t going to be ready to fight until summertime,? indicating that he wouldn?t be able to fight until June.
Ever since this fight was announced over two years ago the blame has shifted back and forth many times. Both sides have been very vocal in taking shots at each other, claiming that it?s the other side?s fault that this fight is happening.
One person who hasn?t been extremely vocal throughout this whole process is Manny Pacquiao. On one side of the coin you have Floyd Mayweather who has claimed on more than one occasion, that he is the one who calls the shots when it comes to choosing who and when he fights. While on the other hand, you have Manny ?Ask my promoter? Pacquiao who defers to Bob Arum every time he is asked about who his next opponent will be.
I just find it very hard to believe that Pacquiao being a Filipino congressman, who is called upon to make major legislative decisions in his country regularly, can?t stand up and make his own decisions when it comes to his boxing career.
Let?s go back to the early eighties for a moment, which was considered one of the golden eras of boxing. This is when the ?Fab Four,? Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran were all fighting. These men engaged in some very memorable fights with one another. I can not recall, once, ever hearing one of these men say, ?Go ask my promoter,? at the end of a fight when asked about possible future opponents. Back in those days, once a fighter reached superstar status he called the shots. The promoter worked for him not the other way around. Those days seem to be gone now.
Bob Arum can propose any list of opponents that he wants but at the end of the day it?s up to Manny Pacquiao to sign the contract. He needs to go back and take a look at the ?Fab Four? era and take a page out of their book and realize, that he?s in the same position that they were in back then. Without fighters like them and himself, there would be no Bob Arum.
