GL: Congratulations on a great event, with Pacquiao and De La Hoya. Obviously you’re pleased with the outcome, give us some thoughts on Pacquiao’s performance. “I said to everyone for months before the fight that Pacquiao was going to win, I thought he was going to knock him out. The reason is because what we saw in Oscar had led us to believe that if Pacquiao fought the right fight it would be too much for Oscar to handle.”
“Freddie played out the gameplan for Manny. Manny trained following that gameplan, had Bruce go to the gym about five times. Manny was following the gameplan, and the only reservation I had going into the fight was would he follow the gameplan during the fight. He had planned for Oscar different than he attacks most opponents. He usually goes straight ahead, and that was way too dangerous with Oscar, who was the bigger guy, and he has that good left hook. So, we had to devise a plan where he would attack Oscar from angles and use his speed to where Oscar couldn’t answer back. The worked perfectly, and I believed that it was going to work perfectly, and that’s why I was so confident in the result.”
GL: Where does Manny go from here? I’ve been talking to Zab Judah, and he tells me him and his people have spoken to you having preliminary discussions about a fight. What’s next for Manny, and what’s the deal with the Judah situation?
The Bobfather: I talked to Joel and I talked to John Wirt. I like the Judah’s, they’ve always been very cooperative with me, good to do a promotion with. I’m going to the Phillipines on Monday to attend Manny’s birthday party, and we’ll have some preliminary discussions. The question is does Manny want a mega-fight in his next fight, or does he want a really good big fight. There’s only two guys to do a mega-fight with: Hatton and Mayweather. There are a number of guys who you could do big fights with, but aren’t quite the status of a mega-fight. One is Zab Judah, and of course down the line Holt is fighting Demetrius Hopkins, the winner fights Bradley. Whoever comes out of those fights would certainly be a good opponent for Manny. One thing is for sure, Manny is going to be fighting at 140 pounds from now on.
GL: So he won’t compete at 147?
The Bobfather: He will not compete at 147.
GL: What’s the target date for his next fight?
The Bobfather: The target date is May, the 2nd or the 9th of May.
GL: Has Pavlik’s next move been solidified?
The Bobfather: Yes, Pavlik is fighting Marco Antonio Rubio on February 21st in Youngstown, Ohio. It’s part of a PPV double header, which will include Miguel Cotto, fighting for the vacant WBO title against Michael Jennings. It will be in either Madison Square Garden, or in Atlantic City.
GL: So, it’s going to be a double telecast?
The Bobfather: Yes, it will be two productions.
GL: Who’s going to distribute the PPV?
The Bobfather: Top Rank.
GL: When will Pavlik and Cotto next fight on HBO?
The Bobfather: I don’t know, they’re free agents. In other words, if Cotto beats Jennings, and Antonio beats Mosley, Antonio and Cotto are going to fight each other in June or July.
GL: Not necessarily on HBO, but wherever the most money is?
The Bobfather: No, wherever I decide. It would most assuredly be a PPV fight and would be distributed by HBO, Showtime, or by Top Rank. We’re perfectly capable of doing strictly our own fights.
GL: You’ve got Rahman fighting Klitschko for the heavyweight title, Holt and Demetrius Hopkins, who stepped in for Ricardo Torres. Give us some thoughts on this weekends events.
The Bobfather: Let’s be frank about it, I’m hoping Rahman wins, but he’s got to be a big longshot being realistic. His one chance is a punchers chance, because Klitschko has a pretty weak chin. If he fights a safety first fight, he’s got to be tough like a rock to get in there and land that punch. Who knows, when you’re on a hot streak, anything can happen. I guess you can say we’re on a hot streak, the Holt-Hopkins fight might not be as dramatic as other events, but it’s certainly stylisticly a better fight. He can go some rounds, and I think it will be a very interesting fight. They’re evenly matched guys, they fought each other once in the amatuers, and I think it’s a very good fight. The undercard fight, which Showbox agreed to televise should also be good. Yuri Foreman, who is one of my favorites, will be fighting James Moore, that fight has a lot of interest in the New York area, so I think it’s good going.
GL: Margarito and Mosley, a pretty big welterweight fight. Why…
The Bobfather: (interrupting) Tickets go on sale tommorrow, and there was a presale that Staples had for their season ticket customers, and we’ve already sold $150,000 worth of tickets. That’s before we go on sale, so we’re off to a very good start. Tickets are priced very reasonably, the top priced tickets are $300, and we have a lot of tickets that are priced at $50. I think we’re going to do very well, I think we’re going to pack the Staples Center for January 24th.
GL: Why did Margarito take less money to fight Mosley than he was offered to fight Paul Williams?
The Bobfather: The Paul Williams thing was different, with all that Dan Goosen bullshit. Typical Dan Goosen and Al Haymon bullshit. It never was real, it meant nothing, we knew it meant nothing. These guys wouldn’t know how to put on a PPV event if they fell over it.
GL: When you say the $4 million was bullshit, does that mean you feel it was never really there?
The Bobfather: It was never there.
GL: Are we expecting the Peterson brothers to have breakthrough years in ’09?
The Bobfather: Yes, they’ll each fight for a world title in ’09, definitely. They’re two fine young men, and we’re very proud to be their promoter. They’re terrific fighters, and they fit right in. The 140 pound division is going to be huge, huge, with Manny Pacquiao now camped in that division.
GL: What else is going on at Top Rank?
The Bobfather: Darchinyan is fighting on February 7th at the Honda Civic Center in California, on Showtime against Arce. We’re really pleased to put that fight on.
GL: Who’s Chavez fighting?
The Bobfather: Chavez is getting minor surgery on his hand, he won’t fight until sometime in March. I’m thinking about putting him in with Antonio Diaz.
GL: Closing thoughts.
The Bobfather: I’m still on a high from Manny’s performance. It was a great, great night. Obviously we were very pleased. It energized everybody for a victory like that. Especially with all these people saying we should be ashamed of ourselves for putting on the fight, saying it was a circus and a mismatch.
GL: I was one of those.
The Bobfather: We showed them that it was a mismatch, the other way.
GL: One last question, is De La Hoya finished?
The Bobfather: That’s up to Oscar. I can’t play his psychiatrist, at his age now he took an awful beating. I think he got hit more times on Saturday night than he had in his whole career. He certainly took more damage on Saturday night than he had in his entire career. I think one thing Oscar, and rightly so, is concerned about is how he’s going to be physically after finishing his boxing career. He’s got to have serious thoughts about whether or not he wants to continue. I know he wants to leave with a victory on his record, but there are much more important things, at least the way I look at it. The way Oscar’s going to look at it, God knows, I couldn’t tell you.
