HE is not saying it, but hints of it are aplenty. And that?s not even a surprise. Everybody knows about it. Open book. Bob Arum is for Manny Pacquiao.
There is a plethora of reasons for that. But two will stand out.
One, the American has been Pacquiao?s promoter for close to 10 years now.
Two, Arum hates Floyd Mayweather Jr. the way the Binays would Trillanes.
Ever since Arum snatched Pacquiao from Oscar de La Hoya?s seemingly vise-like grip in 2006, PacMan has since been virtually manacled to the Hardvard-educated lawyer.
For good reason.
In 2006, Pacquiao pocketed half a million dollars without a sweat.
After knocking out Erik Morales in the third round to make it a historic 2-1 ending in their Las Vegas trilogy, Pacquiao got himself collared in his own Wynn suite by Arum.
?Open that,? Arum said to Pacquiao, slipping an envelope into PacMan?s hands that contained a million bucks.
?What?s this for?? asked Pacquiao.
?Half of that is yours,? said Arum. ?The rest, give it to De La Hoya.?
?But I just signed a contract making him my manager,? Pacquiao said.
?Forget it,? said Arum. ?Just return his money and I?ll take care of the rest.?
Pacquiao obeyed Arum. The rest is history.
Oops! A footnote: For half a million dollars, De La Hoya had Pacquiao sign a contract naming Oscar his manager on board a limo from the airport to the hotel days before PacMan kayoed Morales. De La Hoya would next sue Pacquiao for breach of contract and wound up with an out-of-court settlement, thanks to Arum?s brilliant-as-usual legal expertise.
Two years later, Pacquiao would stop De La Hoya after eight rounds, when Oscar quit from his stool entering the ninth. De La Hoya, old and fagged out, laughed his way to the bank clutching a $20M check after the carnage.
I said then that De La Hoya did not have an Oscar performance, whether by choice or not he?ll take the answer to his grave.
But Arum says now as he said then that, Pacquiao will do to Mayweather what he did to De La Hoya close to a decade back.
When all Arum was hearing then was, ?Manny could get killed by Oscar,? Pacquiao tells him, ?Bob, don?t worry. I?m going to beat him.?
Said Arum only last Friday: ?And that?s what Pacquiao?s saying now.?
It?s May Day! May Day! on May 3 for Mayweather?
