LAS VEGAS ? There wasn?t much news. There never is at a boxing news conference. But there were promises, politics, one-liners and lots of sell-sell-selling Wednesday in some well-orchestrated theater staged for the media in the final formal news conference for the real show, the Oscar-De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight Saturday night at the MGM Grand.
De La Hoya did most of the selling. He has the most to lose. Buy a case of Tecate beer, De La Hoya said. Buy some Cazadores Tequila, he said. You?ll buy more than a hangover. For each purchase, there is a $20 rebate ? $40 in all ? on the pay-per-view ($54.95.) When ? maybe if ? you wake up before opening bell, buy some Full Throttle, a Coca-Cola energy drink and you?ll get another $10 rebate, he said. ?That?s 50 bucks,?? De La Hoya said after he mentioned some of the bout?s major sponsors. ??You?re almost getting the fight for free.??
The rebates, boxing?s equivalent of a bailout, are a sure sign that nobody is sure how pay-per-view sales will go in an economy that has begun to stall like General Motors. Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum is confident. Boxing is like show biz, which sells like beer and tequila for everybody trying to forget about tough times Movie receipts are up, said Arum, who said they always are when everything else looks like somebody about to fall face down in the gutter after one too many rebates. Arum, De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer are confident that the most anticpated fight in 2008 represents a quick escape, a diversion.
Maybe, they?re right. Still, financial prospects are decidedly uncertain for a bout that looked like a pay-per-view slam dunk six months ago. That?s a lot like the fight itself. It?s hard to pick a winner in a fight that Home Box Office executive Mark Taffet said pits boxing?s biggest star, De La Hoya, against its best fighter, the smaller Pacquiao. There are a number of ways to pick one and then the other and maybe nobody at all.
Everybody has a theory and just about everybody has doubts. Everybody, that is, but Arum.
The fight might be tough to score. But the news conference was unanimous decision, a shutout, for Arum, who landed most of the rhetorical blows and provided some comic relief along the way.
Before his routine on a stage at the MGM Grand?s Hollywood Theatre, Arum predicted that Pacquiao would knockout De La Hoya with an uppercut. ?And once Oscar goes down, he?s not getting back up,?? said Arum, who said Pacquiao would deliver the decisive blow after leaving De La Hoya?s face as bruised and bloodied as it was after beating Stevie Forbes last May.
Arum?s prediction raises some interesting questions about his motivation. Arum promoted De La Hoya for years before the two had a nasty split. They got back together, but now they are rivals in a business that that nurtures grudges. Yeah, Arum said, a Pacquiao victory ?would feel good, but it would have nothing to do with the history between me and Oscar. Absolutely nothing.??
Arum was also quick to say that no fight could be the same without the celebrity clout possessed by De La Hoya, who turns a bout into an event. In other words, there would be a reported $11 million guarantee for Pacquiao against anybody other than De La Hoya. Not even close. Pacquiao?s has never collected more than a reported $5 million. Until now.
Arum is grateful. Kind of.
Signs of tension between the two camps flared like fangs a couple of times during the news conference. Top Rank, Arum?s company, created a campaign dubbed ?Mexicans For Manny.?? Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, Julio Jr and Antonio Margarito enlisted in support of the Filipino who has beaten one Mexican great after another. In a counter, Schaefer introduced about 12 Mexican champions retired and active, all in support of De La Hoya. The line of legends included Ruben Olivares, Pipino Cuevas, Daniel Zaragoza, Chiquita Gonzalez, Juan Manuel Marquez, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez. They signed an old ring canvas. Pieces are for sale and proceeds will go to cancer-stricken Chicanito Hernandez and to the family of Daniel Aguillon, who die in Mexico City in October, about five days after suffering a head injury in fight on Oct. 15.
It is nice touch. But it also was an opportunity for Arum to go political. ?It?s very, very impressive to have all of these Mexican champions,?? Arum said of the the retired legends. ?But they are a little long in the tooth. It reminds me of our recent politics. The fight reminds of that election.??
De La Hoya, Arum said, is like beaten Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the Arizona senator.
?Long in the tooth and a little slow,?? Arum said.
Pacquiao, Arum said, is like President-elect Barack Obama. ?Young and quick,?? said Arum, who knows his American politicians a lot better than he does their Filipino counterparts. Pacquiao was seated not far from a Filipino politician, Luis Singson, who brought down an earlier Filipino president by exposing corruption while serving as the governor of a northern province in the island nation. In an attempt to remember Singson?s name, Arum leaned over and asked Pacquiao for some help. There must not have been much.
?Governor Whatever,?? Arum said finally after assuring the audience that Singson was ?a very famous person.??
The news-conference follies also included a spontaneous shot from Schaefer at Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, De La Hoya?s cornerman for his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Roach has taken a few shots of his own at De La Hoya, both in interviews for print and on the HBO documentary 24/7. At the news conference, however, it was Roach at his politically-correct best.
?Very good,?? Schaefer said as he returned to the bully pulpit and turned toward Roach. ?After seeing you on 24/7 talking all that shit, very good.??
Everybody other than Pacquiao had a lot to say. Throughout the build-up for the fight, Pacquiao has said repeatedly that the fight is not personal. He calls it a job, which doesn?t include a whole lot of talk. Legendary trainer Angelo Dundee, a De La Hoya consultant at his training camp in Big Bear, Calif., liked the sound of that. Dundee told a story about a young fighter from Las Vegas who came to his gym in Miami, Fla. Eddie Futch, Roach and Dundee worked the fighter?s corner in his next bout.
?The kid got licked,?? Dundee said. ?Hey, we don?t matter. Trainers don?t matter. It?s the guys on the stool.??
On a day when a lot was said and sold, nothing was said or sold any better.
