On the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s amazing knockout performance against Miguel Cotto Saturday night at the MGM Grand, feather-fisted junior middleweight Yuri Foreman defeated Daniel Santos.
Pacquiao captured the WBO welterweight title, making it the seventh weight division in which the Filipino had been called champion, a new record. In defeating Santos, Foreman captured his first world tile — the WBA strap.
Why a comparison between Yuri and Manny, the Belarusian Jewish kid and the General Santos Slugger?
Simple.
Boxing writers, talking heads, networks, and fans may want to see Pacquiao to test his merit against Floyd Mayweather Junior in early 2010, but most of the time, in boxing, nothing happens according to demand or script.
As Rick Reeno, Editor and Chief of Boxing Scene, mentioned on The Boxing Truth Radio last week, negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao could be so difficult that the bout might be more pipe dream than reality.
So what does Pacquiao’s crack promoter Bob Arum do instead? Start marketing Manny Pacquiao’s drive for eight championships in eight weight divisions.
Enter Yuri Foreman, newly crowned 154-pound champ.
While Foreman is a decent boxer, but with eight knockouts in 29 contests, he poses little danger to a Pacquiao looking to extend his legend into a new weight division.
Fore the record, Foreman is also under contract with Arum’s Top Rank — making the bout an easy affair to negotiate.
If Mayweather and Pacquiao cannot come to terms for an immediate bout, Manny could make more made-up history by breaking his own record of seven championship weight classes against a powerless Foreman in a tune-up bout.
