Flashback; November, Macao, Manny Pacquiao?s hand was raised at center ring, the winner by unanimous over Brandon Rios. The cycle of hype and illusion began again on whether Floyd and Manny would finally face off.
We?ve been around this game long enough to look beyond the storyline, not needing a reminder that Rios and Pacquiao faced off for the WBO International title.
With a dozen sanctioning bodies all looking for the big fight, the big fee, with Pacquiao being celebrity enough to not need a title to produce cash for Top Rank, why then would Rios and Pacquiao fight for a WBO title.
Simply put, Bradley was the plan from the start and it is the standard Arum business plan. Hedge your bets to keep the money in house (and thus the accounting).
If by some sleight of hand ?Bam Bam? had made Manny go ?Boom Boom?, and then Rios was spring boarded into the WBO rankings for a Bradley bout, Top Rank was covered and the illusion continues.
Timothy Bradley is Bob Arum?s five year plan, his hedge against a Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, and yes even a Floyd Mayweather Jr. retirement.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has sold more tickets to a Top Ranked event for Arum than most of Arums fighters have. It?s a guarantee that Floyd will sell more tickets to ?The Sequel? than Bradley will.
With the simple wave of a Mayweather wand, the hint of a long awaited Pacquiao fight will continue to sell tickets time and again to uninteresting, redundant Pacquiao fights.
Arum appears to be well aware of it, which is why reports of charity fights or negotiations with Mayweather continue to magically appear after every Pac-man event, even though both Mayweather and Arum have stated several times they wouldn?t deal with the other.
If history repeats itself, we will see another trilogy come about with Bradley and Manny, perhaps the mystery judge will be used this time, conjuring up some lopsided score to break the tie and award a split decision. Perhaps it will be another full- on controversy tilted the opposite way.
No doubt that Mayweather Jr. will come out with some misdirection shortly before ?The Sequel? fight with a carrot dangling in front of the boxing community, hinting at the final showdown with Pacquiao. It?s all a grand illusion or ?ACT?.
An act is a series of magic routines that have been compiled into a show. Sometimes, an act can refer to the character of a magician who is performing, for example, “comedy act” or “con man act.”
Arum, Mayweather, and Pacquiao have all spent enough time in Vegas to know what an ?Act? is. The three continue to run the con on the boxing public, and they run it all the way to the bank.
They ran the ?ACT? on us with Marquez and now they will run it with us with ?Bradley?, all the while promising of better things, more build up with illusions of the Grand Finale or Grand Finally or Floyd and Manny!
Mayweather keeps the Pacquiao fight alive to sell tickets and PPV buys to his events, Arum and Pacquiao keep the Mayweather fight alive to sell tickets to theirs, and the sanctioning bodies, writers, and commissions just collect a check, really not caring if it ever happens.
If this fight is to ever come off it will be at the end of both of these fighter?s careers when the new ?ACT? will put the largest amount of money in the bank.
Right now Arum continues to run the three card monte , with Bradley being the new Marquez for Pacquiao, and Mayweather is always the carrot for the sport. For Top Rank it doesn?t matter who wins because all bets are hedged.
Mayweather or Pacquiao are always the ?Burn? the distraction that sells the tickets to Arum?s stable of fighters and always the three come out ?Clean? ready to play the same ?Act? on the sport a year or six months later.
?Burn? means that spectators are closely watching the movements and hands of a magician and won?t allow themselves to take their gaze away.
?Clean? the state at a trick’s end, where there is no trace of the secret for fans to find. If there are hints remaining, the people may examine them and there will be no way for them to discover the secret. For example, if a magician has caused a handkerchief to disappear in a box, his spectators may examine the box at the trick’s conclusion and they will discover no secrets. The secret lies elsewhere, or the box hides a secret that spectators will never find.
We have even seen Arum, Manny , and Floyd use ?Gospel Magic?( A branch of magic that uses magic effects to present and reinforce Christian concepts.) to sell tickets and continue the ?ACT?
We were all subjected to the spiritual Manny effect for over a year until tax problems set that ?con? on the back burner!
What has happened to the ?I fight for God? flourishes?
The only way Boxing can change the ?Effect? of the three montes (Arum , Mayweather , and Pacquiao) is to stop falling for the ?ACT? and don?t buy a ticket or the PPV of any of them.
Stop falling for the ?Flourishes? (flashy, attention-getting moves) like charity bouts or winner takes all offers or ?Misdirection like blood tests, etc.
This bout will only come off when the boxing community has been fully milked of expendable income, and when all three montes are ready for their next ?ACT?
