With HBO refusing to give Arum what he wants, he has reached out to Showtime, ESPN, and Turner Sports as possible alternatives?
Top Rank?s Bob Arum is not a happy camper. His cash cow Manny Pacquiao is scheduled to fight WBO welterweight champion Jesse Vargas on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas and HBO, whose commitment to boxing has waned in recent years, has elected to not distribute the pay-per-view fight ?after sucking him (Pacquiao) dry for 10 years,? according to Arum.
Those are fighting words, which are appropriate for the fight game, but sympathy for Arum and his plight is in short supply.
?In my opinion,? Arum told the Los Angeles Times, ?they have an obligation to distribute this fight.?
An obligation is one thing, a contract another, and it?s not clear which is which and what is what.
The one thing that is clear is that loyalty is for saps.
?The fact that they passed means the contract is over,? Arum said. ?They can?t pick and choose which fights they are going to distribute. They?re either in breach of contract or they?ve ended the contract. My feeling is, based my legal background, is that the contract is terminated.?
If the ?contract is terminated,? as Arum alleges, he is free to take Pacquiao-Vargas elsewhere or to distribute it himself.
HBO said that it ?has an agreement with Top Rank and Manny Pacquiao,? but agreements in boxing rarely take precedence over the bottom line and Arum knows that as well as anyone.
The cable giant has not slammed the door in Arum?s face. HBO has explained their refusal and offered an alternative date, October 29, which will not interfere with the November 19 pay-per-view fight between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward or the Fury-Klitschko rematch on November 28.
But Arum wants what he wants and isn?t buying it.
?Don?t they understand his schedule is based on the [Philippine] Senate?? Arum asked, based on the assumption that Manny?s political duties are of any concern to HBO. ?And somebody should remind them how many Philippine American subscribers they have?who aren?t going to take kindly to this.?
What are those Philippine American subscribers going to do? Will they riot? Will they storm the gates? Not likely. Manny?s fans will follow him to the ends of the earth, so following him to another distributer is a short trip in comparison.
According to Lance Pugmire, HBO is concerned that trifles like college football, pro basketball and hockey, as well as the upcoming presidential election between two people whose names escape me, will prove too much of a distraction for fight fans to focus on a fight for which there?s a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
Arum isn?t buying that either.
?Who are they to say it?s an awful date? It?s my money,? Arum said. ?They have no risk on this. I think it?s a good date. The presidential date is irrelevant, and the college football schedule on November 5 is less important than November 19.?
With HBO refusing to give Arum what he wants, he has reached out to Showtime, ESPN, and Turner Sports as possible alternatives.
There is also a possibility of Top Rank distributing the fight, without having to deal with a middleman.
?We have an interest in distributing it ourselves,? Arum said. ?Why pay a distributor 7.5% if I don?t have to? There?s people out there who know how to distribute a pay-per-view. How many people does it take??
The same number of angels it takes to dance on the head of a pin.
?We could do it,? added Arum, ?and it?s definitely one of the options.
?We?ll do what we have to do.?
Okay then. That?s that.
Just do it.
