?The revenue from that fight was well over half a billion US dollars. It just shows the popularity of boxing is still there??
If they can play soccer in Qatar, who?s to say they shouldn?t box in Dubai?
Broken wing or not, Manny Pacquiao embarrassed himself, and boxing, in losing to Floyd Mayweather. His reputation may have taken a hit, but he has no intention of filling his saddlebags and riding off into the sunset.
According to Emirates 24/7, Top Rank?s Bob Arum, assisted by Akbar Muhammad of Akbar Productions, LLC, is attempting to bring Pacquiao to the Middle East to fight Amir Khan in the not too distant future. In the spirit of having brought boxing to apartheid South Africa, in the spirit of having brought boxing to China, Dubai is the next stop on Arum?s global merry-go-round, and it will not be on free TV.
?I?ve been intrigued since the only time I came to Dubai was when Sol Kerzner when the Atlantis Hotel was opened,? said Arum. ?I?m not unfamiliar with the city. I was blown away with the hotels, restaurants, the amenities in Dubai and I really look forward to interesting the people in big time boxing.?
Presumably the people Arum is hoping to interest in big time boxing are not the foreign workers living in slave labor camps.
?Right now we are planning November event. Hopefully Manny will come to it as a guest. We will have three of four title fights on the same night. It will be a spectacular event. If it is successful we will look forward to doing a Pacquiao fight in Dubai next year.?
Arum, whose business acumen is a given if not beyond reproach, was allegedly inspired by Muhammad Ali to bring boxing to the world.
?Boxing is not like American Football,? he said, ?which is hard for people who are not Americans to understand. Boxing is not like cricket or other sports where some people like it or some people know nothing about it. Boxing is a sport which everybody can understand. It is one man against one man. It makes for a great spectacle.
?Boxing is a sport which can move around and be shown in front of different populations. When I started with Muhammad Ali he had that whole idea of taking boxing, taking himself and going from place to place. Ali fought in addition to the United States, in England, Germany, Malaysia, Philippines, Zaire, Japan and Indonesia. He taught me that boxing lent itself by putting on shows in different places. That has stayed with me throughout my 50 year boxing career.?
Boxing is universal, since there?s nowhere in the universe where men do not fight. Ali fought everywhere, and Ali, like Pacquiao, whatever revisionist history applies to them now, was a man of the people, just so long as the people didn?t include Joe Frazier.
?I look always to see where I can take boxing to new places, new venues, to different people,? continued Arum. ?For example, the last few years I?ve been very active in promoting in China. I?ve done eight fight shows in China including two with Manny Pacquiao. I?m doing another one in Macau on July 18. I?ve done fight shows with my clients, partners in Shanghai and Beijing. We have a weekly magazine boxing show for one hour on Chinese television which has very good rating.
?I?ve been able in last three years or so to take boxing to China where it had been banned for decades under Mao Tse Tung and make it a very popular sport in China. That is something to me a greater accomplishment than going back to the same old places in Las Vegas. That?s great too but you just don?t want to limit yourself to that.?
I?m not longer sure how many people in Vegas are eager to see Manny fight again. There has been talk of him and Floyd doing it a second time?Freddie Roach says that this time Pacquiao will knock him out (which is exactly what he said last time)?but enthusiasm for a rematch is thus far muted, if not nonexistent.
?What my company has done is a testament to how boxing can be popularized in the largest country in the world. And I think with this event in Dubai, boxing will reach new levels of popularity in Dubai. The indigenous population in Dubai will take to the spectacle. And then I know thousands and thousands of Filipinos who are among the greatest boxing fans in the world. I have done lot of fights in the Philippines. I know the Philippines market overseas because of my years promoting Pacquiao [and he] has always talked to me about fighting in Dubai. He had visited Dubai. You got to understand so many Filipinos work in that area, so he feels at home being over there.?
For those with short memories, Arum said, ?I was one of the promoters of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. That fight had tremendous interest all over the world. The revenue from that fight was well over half a billion US dollars. It just shows the popularity of boxing is still there. I think once the people in the Middle East get a taste of big time championship boxing, it will be just be the start. There will be events in the future if this one is successful which I?m sure it will be?not only in Dubai but Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
?Yeah, I think this is a great start.?
