LAS VEGAS?This blast of revelatory humor came when Uncle Bob Arum was getting frustraed, his squirrelly cheeks reddening as he kept sparring with reporters inquiring about if and when Manny Pacquaio would grant a third bout to sore decision loser Juan Manuel Marquez.
Certainly, no one could every deny that the Mexican ringmaster deserves uno mas, a final chance to underline and put an exclamation point on his claim to be the superior boxer of the two.
Arum kept blabbering about a third bout needding ?air,? meaning time and space to grow commercially. He mentioned the gaps in the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier trilogy, which ran from 1971 to 1975 and how Mo and Joe fought others in between their savage series.
It all seemed unfair to Team Marquez, age 34, and overly protective of Pacman,. who is 29, so I asked Arum if he would want time and ?air? if his hands were in the pocket of the older fighter.
Marquez will turns 35 on August 23.
?I?d like to wait until he?s 40,? Arum said, cackling. ?Then I would be absolutely sure that Manny would beat him again.?
It was a funny line in the midst of a slagging contest between Arum and Golden Boy?s Richard Scahefer (who gave as good he got).
It might?ve left both Manny and Juan Ma in stitches?but they already were sitting in their dressing rooms?
In stitches?a result of how brilliantly the two gallant warriors fought.
You might want to rip Arum for Mother Hen-ning Pacquaio but that is part of his job.
And never lose sight of this, although we call it the fight game, you play baseball, football, basketball, tennis and golf?but you don?t play boxing.
It?s a business, really, not a sport. And Arum is entitled to shield his MVA as he best sees fit.
Oh, MVA? Pacquiao, Top Rank?s Most Valuable Asset.
