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Philippines, 25 Jul 2025 |
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The Dwyre Chronicles: "The Book of Arum" PhilBoxing.com Wed, 24 Feb 2016  THE BOOK OF ARUM By: Bill Dwyre * Unlike many of the boxers he has promoted, Top Rank?s Bob Arum never goes down for a ten count. Last week, his prized fighter and current main meal ticket, MANNY PACQUIAO, hit Arum with one of the most vicious left hooks he has ever thrown. It was a figurative punch, certainly, as well as a possible crippling shot to a fight promotion. Arum would much rather have taken a real one, directly on the chin. Nevertheless, like everything else in his amazing 84 years on this planet and 50 years promoting boxers of varying skill and character, Arum has once again refused to stay on the canvas. The story goes as follows: Pacquiao told a TV interviewer in the Philippines that he was adamantly against gay marriage. If we had been paying close attention, we pretty much knew that. But he carried his opinion into characterization and foolishly elaborated that, because gay and lesbian people had sex with their like gender, they were ?worse than animals,? who never did that. That was wrong on so many levels that it is worth both shrugs of dismay and outbursts of anger in reaction. It is also inaccurate. There are many known species of animals that procreate with like gender. It has been a week or so now. Pacquiao has given the usual non-apology apology that people give when they say something stupid and really still don?t have a grip on what they said. So they apologize to those they may have offended. That is always nice. Much nicer would be to apologize for even harboring those thoughts and for allowing yourself to verbalize such things in such a stark and distasteful way. To be clear, Pacquiao is not a jerk. He is a decent, hard-working, rise-from-the-ashes person who is generous and caring and the last person on the face of the Earth you would expect to verbalize himself into this corner of public hell. I have covered most of his important fights, admired his patience and work ethic, even stood within feet of him that night in May of 2010, when the key precinct result came in for the Congressional spot he sought in the Philippine?s Sarangani province. He had been an urchin on the streets less than two decades before and now he was a Congressman. The look on his face that night defied description. Still does. But a life of decency and popularity is a marathon, not a sprint. And now, Manny Pacquiao will be forced to build it all back, inch by inch, mile by mile, day by day. The fallout has been, and will continue to be, incredibly complicated and incredibly unpredictable. None less so than in Arum?s role. First, you need to know that Arum?s political views are so far opposite the conservative Christian ideology that influenced Pacquiao?s outburst that they aren?t even in the same universe. To say Arum is an active, practicing liberal is to say dairy cows give milk. Arum, in some ways a father figure to Pacquiao over the years, was horrified by what Pacquiao said. And Arum said he was horrified. Publicly. One publication even interpreted his post-Pacquiao remarks with the ultimate headline of complete relationship divorce. It read: ?Arum Throws Pacquiao Under the Bus.? Currently, there is no divorce. All the things that could have happened didn?t. Arum did not rise to high personal moral ground, did not call off the April 9 match, where Pacquiao will fight his alleged swansong bout against TIM BRADLEY at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. If you were waiting for Arum to say he could no longer promote a fighter whose political and personal philosophies turn his stomach, think again. If you were waiting for Arum to demand from Pacquiao some reparations to gay and lesbian causes, think again. Damage control? Meetings with gay and lesbian leaders when Pacquiao arrives in the States to train in a few weeks? Carefully arranged meetings with the media to explain himself? Arum is leaning toward none of the above. ?Damage control?? he barks. ?Our damage control is to tell the damn truth, and keep telling it.? The damn truth, according to Arum?s view, is that Pacquiao has a right to speak his views and that he has made an honest mistake, on the subject of homosexuality, in taking the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament more seriously than the Book of Corinthians in the New Testament. ?In Leviticus, if a man sleeps with a man, he should be put to death,? Arum says. ?In Corinthians, a man sleeps with a man and he is a sinner, but is not put to death.? And so, the boxing match will not be put to death. There will be sinners, and business as usual. Thanks to the Corinthians. You knew the irrepressible Arum would find a way. You just didn?t figure it would be via the Bible. In the midst of all this, Arum also finds a way to lighten the load, ease the tension. His ability to bark and never bite is legendary. He is about as introverted as a Fourth of July fireworks show. He doesn?t rip people behind their backs, but right to their face. And then he slaps them on the back and buys them a beer. With Arum, the show always goes on. We should have known. We also should have known that he would find a way to insert some humor, even when the subject matter is far from humorous. He is already working on his lines for the pre-match press conference. ?Yes, I?ve talked to Manny,? he says. ?Got him on the phone. He was on his way out of church. I told him what he said was wrong. ?It was my sermon on the mount.? # # # * This column was not subject to the approval of Top Rank. Any editorial usage of all or part of this column is welcome but must include credit to Bill Dwyre. http://philboxing.com/news/pix/bill.dwyre.150x150.jpg Bill Dwyre will be writing a series of weekly columns on the Pacquiao vs. Bradley world championship event. Bill was sports editor of The Los Angeles Times for 25 years, ending in 2006. He was a sports columnist for 9 1/2 years at The Times, ending Nov. 25 with his retirement. Boxing was among his most frequent column topics. Bill can be contacted at BillPatDwyre@gmail.com or via Twitter at @BillDwyre. Promoted by Top Rank?, in association with MP Promotions, the Manny Pacquiao - Tim Bradley championship event will take place on Saturday, April 9, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View? beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT. The pay-per-view undercard will feature World Boxing Organization (WBO) super middleweight world champion "King" ARTHUR ABRAHAM defending his title against undefeated No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger GILBERTO "Zurdo" RAMIREZ, undefeated No. 1 WBO featherweight contender and two-time Mexican Olympian ?SCAR VALDEZ defending his NABO featherweight title against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight world champion EVGENY GRADOVICH and 2012 U.S. Olympian JOSE RAM?REZ defending his World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas super lightweight title against MANNY PEREZ. The Abraham vs. Ramirez world championship fight is co-promoted by Sauerland Event and Zapari Boxing Promotions. Remaining Tickets to Pacquiao vs. Bradley are priced at $1,204, $804, $604, $404, $254 and $154, not including applicable service fees. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets are also available for purchase at mgmgrand.com or ticketmaster.com.  |
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