LAS VEGAS ? Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, a Harvard graduate, indirectly went to bat for US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama when he took a swipe at the Republican party for bungling the American economy in a press conference after Manny Pacquiao knocked out David Diaz for the WBC lightweight title here Saturday night.
Arum announced an attendance of only 8,362 which wasn?t close to a sellout in the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center and blamed President George Bush for keeping the fans away.
When Pacquiao outpointed Juan Manuel Marquez in the same venue last March, the attendance was a sellout.
But the difference was Marquez enjoyed widespread Mexican support and Diaz didn?t.
Diaz was born in Chicago to Mexican parents and represented the US, not Mexico, in the 1996 Olympics. Like Oscar de la Hoya who seems more American than Mexican, Diaz has no solid support from South of the Border.
In an attempt to woo Mexican fans, Diaz dedicated the fight to his parents? homeland, saying, ?I want to give this fight to Mexico ? I know Manny doesn?t like it but he?s been beating up on a lot of my countrymen.?
Diaz, the youngest of nine children, is the only sibling born in the US.
?My dad (Anselmo) has been coming to the US since 1950,? said Diaz. ?Our family was from the state of Guerrero. My mother is from a little town that you can only get there by boat. It?s called Acatlan. My dad is from Las Mesitas, a town that probably doesn?t exist anymore. My father used to stay in Sacramento, working the fields like any other Mexican immigrant who came to work. Then he finally settled in Chicago and he brought over my mom and a year later, my brothers and sisters came.?
It was obvious the Mexican legion was absent Saturday night. The arena was packed with Filipino partisans. The Mexican national anthem wasn?t even sung.
Still, Arum chose to point the finger at Bush even as the attendance wasn?t really that poor.
The confirmed attendance put to doubt Top Rank?s pronouncement that on the first day of box office sales last month, 7,000 tickets were gobbled up. There was no indication as to the rate of pay-per-view subscriptions.
?There?s one guy you can blame and that?s George Bush,? said Arum. ?With gasoline prices the way they are, people just can?t afford to come in from California.?
Arum used the same storyline when Kelly Pavlik couldn?t deliver a big crowd from his Youngstown, Ohio, hometown for his recent fight in Atlantic City.
?I mean, it?s 400 bucks to drive from Youngstown,? said Arum. ?What the hell is this coming to? I don?t care if it?s Obama or (John) McCain. We want a change and we?re going to get a change. These eight years have been the worst eight years that I can remember in the US.?
By the way, Republican candidate McCain authored the widely acclaimed Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act which provides for protection and welfare of fighters against abusive promoters and managers.
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As for Pacquiao?s masterful display of superiority, Arum said it was because the Filipino icon moved up to a higher weight division where he is more comfortable.
?Miguel Cotto at 140, people were saying he had no chin, he wasn?t strong and he was wearing out,? said Arum. ?Once he went to 147, he was a different fighter entirely. Some of these young men who struggle so hard to make weight are just kidding themselves. They?re better off going up a class and not trying to make a weight that depletes them.?
Trainer Freddie Roach agreed with Arum.
?It was the best Manny yet,? said Roach. ?I think at 135, he looked great. At 135, Manny didn?t starve himself. He looked strong. He?s growing and 135 is a more natural weight for him.?
Curiously, Pacquiao had a little difficulty making the limit. Three days before the weigh-in, he desperately tried to shed off three to four unwanted pounds. He eventually checked in at 134 1/2. When he entered the ring, Pacquiao weighed 145.
Against Marquez, Pacquiao tipped the scales at 129 then ballooned to 149 at fight time. Pacquiao?s bloated condition led to some sluggishness, lack of mobility and a slow down in reflexes.
Strength and conditioning coach Alejandro Ariza worked on Pacquiao in the gym to get him physically ready for Diaz. Pacquiao added only 10 pounds from the weigh-in and it didn?t affect his speed at all.
