For Manny Pacquiao, it wasn’t a post-fight press conference.
It was an interrogation.
The questions kept coming, one after the other.
Why don’t you fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Can this fight happen?
Not even Pacquiao’s mother, who was seemingly trying to put a hex on Tim Bradley during their fight on Saturday night, could have seen this coming.
“Does it bring boxing down that you’re not able to face the best in the sport?” Pacquiao was asked. “Why are we not seeing you fight Floyd Mayweather?”
Pacquiao, who had just won a tough unanimous decision against Bradley for the WBO welterweight title, turned to his promoter, Bob Arum, and either was unable to field an answer or exasperated by the inquiry because he remained silent. Arum leaned into the microphone and fired away in Pacquiao’s defense.
“Look, we’ve been over this before a million times,” said the 82-year-old, who earlier urged fans to boycott Mayweather’s May 3 bout with Marcos Maidana. “The lines are open,” he went on. “If he wants a fight, sit down like a normal human being at a conference table and negotiate a freagin deal.”
And with that, the two left stage right, disappearing out the doors of the media center at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It was a drop the mic moment. But really, there wasn’t much else to say. Arum and Pacquiao were asked earlier who they would fight next. Arum objected to that question, too, saying it was premature, since it was too soon after the fight. But this is normal in boxing. Fans and media want to know what’s next and eventually, Arum spilled the name Juan Manuel Marquez, who will face Mike Alvarado on May 17. There was a collective shrug amongst the media. If that happens, it will be the fifth time that Pacquiao (56-5-2) and Marquez have fought (Pacquiao is 2-1-1 after he was knocked out in the sixth round in 2012 by Marquez).
“I have no problem fighting Marquez again,” said Pacquiao, who avenged a controversial loss to Bradley in 2012. “But it’s up to my promoter.”
But the public may have an issue with the match-up since it seems redundant. Then again, what choice do they have? The sport is being held hostage because of a cold war that exists between rival promoters Top Rank (Arum) and Golden Boy. Thus, the options are limited for Pacquiao.
Top Rank and Golden Boy refuse to do business with each other. With Mayweather working with Golden Boy it’s unlikely a fight with Pacquiao will happen. But Mayweather isn’t the only inviting opponent for Pacquiao. Golden Boy also promotes talented fighters such as Danny Garcia, Amir Khan and Maidana. They would all be intriguing match-ups for Pacquiao. But those fighters are unavailable because of the ongoing turf war. So it’s probably the winner of Alvarado-Marquez for Pacquiao.
Arum was left grasping at straws at the post-fight presser on Saturday, tossing up wild ideas for how to make a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather a reality. His latest strategy was to urge fans to boycott Mayweather’s bout with Maidana, to basically shame Mayweather into acquiescing to face Pacquiao.
Pacquiao showed up at the news conference with a smile and 32 new stitches, the result of a vicious unintentional head butt from Bradley in the 12th round that left a deep gash 2 ? centimeters wide. The talk coming into the fight was whether Pacquiao, at 35, still had the fire in his belly to beat a tough-as-nails competitor like Bradley, who suffered his first loss and is now 31-1. Bradley said he injured his right calf early in the fight but didn’t use it as an excuse.
Pacquiao fought with energy and passion and skill, though he provided little evidence of the razing punching power he once possessed.
“The only people that can make Floyd Mayweather fight Manny is the public, if they boycott the nonsense on May 3,” Arum said. “That’s what the public should do. [If the media doesn’t] want that fight, tell the public not to buy the Pay-Per-View and not to buy the tickets. There is no other [STRATEGY]. We are prepared tomorrow to sit down at the table with his people?to work out the conditions for the fight.”
But the public has heard that song and dance before. Just as they’ve seen Pacquiao face Marquez four previous times. At this point, the sport may need something new.
