Muhammad, in some ways, reminds one of Don King. He’s a boxing promoter who can go on and on at a news conference, and he’s boastful. “What I tried to explain to my kid, he is not a pay-per-view fighter, nor should he be making close to $2 million for a single fight,’ Muhammad said last week. “But I pull miracles.’
His “kid’ is Manny Pacquiao, pride of the Philippines. He will take on Erik Morales in a 12-round junior lightweight fight Saturday at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. HBO pay-per-view will televise.
The miracle began when Juan Manuel Marquez, the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation featherweight champion, refused to accept $750,000 to fight Pacquiao in a rematch of their May 8 fight, which ended in a 12- round draw.
Pacquiao had agreed to take the same money, but when Marquez balked, Muhammad and Bob Arum, who promotes Morales and Marquez, hooked up and made Saturday’s fight.
It is a fight that is highly anticipated because of the popularity of Morales and the downright explosiveness of Pacquiao, whose claim to fame is an 11th-round knockout of Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003.
“Erik Morales does 200,000 (pay- per-view) homes without us,’ Muhammad said. “Erik Morales did 350,000 with the legend Barrera, which means Barrera only brought in a hundred and some odd thousand homes.
“Here is a kid (Pacquiao) who is unknown to pay-per-view, but what makes it different is, this is not a Latino fight. It’s an international fight and that’s what is going to make this a great pay-per-view.’
Muhammad said he used this in his pitch to Arum during negotiations.
“I told the old fox, ‘You have been making money in just the Latino world. Now I am bringing you the Filipino world and the rest of the world,’ ‘ Muhammad said. “That is how we got the fight.’
Morales, 28, of Tijuana, is 47-2 with 34 knockouts. Pacquiao, 26, is 39-2-2 with 30 knockouts.
Pacquiao held an open workout last week at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood where he is trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach. It was no surprise to hear that in the Philippines where cock fighting is legal, Pacquiao has a stable of 500 fighting roosters.
Pacquiao at times has looked like a vicious rooster in tearing apart an opponent. Barrera could attest to that. He was dropped by Pacquiao in the third and 11th rounds before being stopped. Pacquiao was leading Barrera by seven, seven and nine points on the scorecards.
Considering how good Barrera was, and still is, victories don’t come much more impressive. This makes one wonder about Pacquiao’s fight with Marquez. He decked Marquez three times in the first round, but could not put on the finishing touches.
That Marquez survived the round was a show of true grit. That he came back to earn a draw and retain his titles was nearly miraculous. Pacquiao did not want to talk much about that at the workout. He did remind reporters that he suffered a hand injury in the first round.
“That’s in the past. I don’t really want to think about that fight,’ Pacquiao said. “I believe I won that fight, but I just chalk it up to experience.’
Much has been made about this fight being a great Mexican against a great Filipino. But Pacquiao said that has little to do with it.
“I don’t care who my opponent is, whether he is Mexican or anything else,’ said Pacquiao, who added his preparation for this fight is the longest of his career – three months.
The semi-main event could be a dandy. Martin Castillo (27-1, 16 KOs) of Mexico will defend his WBA super flyweight belt against Eric Morel (35-1, 18 KOs) of Puerto Rico.
Also, Jorge Arce (38-3-1, 28 KOs) of Mexico and Hussein Hussein (26-1, 20 KOs) of Australia will square off for the interim World Boxing Council flyweight championship.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (16-0, 11 KOs) of Mexico will be featured in a six-round lightweight fight.
Arum and Muhammad are hopeful of getting as many as 400,000 pay-per-view buys for Saturday’s Morales-Pacquiao fight. But Arum said last week he is looking to get as many as 500,000 buys for Arturo Gatti-Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The fight for Gatti’s World Boxing Council super lightweight belt was signed last Thursday to take place June 25 in Atlantic City.
“We feel this fight has the potential of doing between 400,000, maybe 500,000 buys,’ said Arum, who promotes Mayweather. “Our projections show that he (Gatti) is extremely popular with a very large fan base.’
That, coupled with Mayweather’s bad-boy image, should be a good recipe for pay-per-view success. Robert Morales can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2213, or by e-mail at [email protected] .
