On Wednesday afternoon, promoter Bob Arum- who had just come back from his trip to the Philippines, where Manny Pacquiao had just won election as a congressman- held a teleconference with a group of reporters where he detailed his trip to Pacquiao?s homeland and his political future. Of course, what everyone really wanted to know was the possibility of a fight between the ?Pac-Man? and Floyd Mayweather being revived.
According to Arum, he came back to the States with very specific marching orders.
“The fight we want to do is the Mayweather fight. There is no question this is the fight the public wants, that Manny wants,” he told the reporters. “And I?m not going to go into any details of our discussion- other than to say- that, in fact, is the case.”
Arum wouldn?t even specify when talks would re-start, other than to state that they would resume, “sooner, rather than later.”
Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which represented Mayweather during the last negotiation agrees with Arum- ?mum? shall be the word. Let?s hope that both sides stick to their words (or, perhaps, lack of them) as it relates to this potential super-fight. Not only did the whole process alienate the public, from the standpoint of the media, it became a tiresome process to cover.
And it adversely effected the negotiations.
“I think it was severely impacted,” said Schaefer, of the last round of talks, “because the fact is, you had trainers, managers, promoters, venue executives, TV executives?I mean, you had all sorts of people making comments, digging in their heels. It just became a mess.” Arum agreed, saying, “Once you start negotiating through the media, then it becomes an ego contest, then each side can?t wait to give its statement to the press and the flames just shoot up. And there?s no real opportunity for rational behavior to take over. Everybody is so interested in setting forth his position to the media. That becomes the contest.”
Last time out, Arum may have been the biggest culprit. He admitted, “And that involved me, as well as everybody else.”
This is the fight that the public demands (still); either make it or move on. But as they say, before couples tie the knot, during this process- forever hold your piece. But let?s hope they don?t drag this thing out publicly, as they did back in December and January and have it overshadow everything else in the game of boxing. Y? know, like the actual fights in the ring that are taking place.
OK, so try let?s this out; hey, Richard, when do the talks begin for Pacquiao-Mayweather?
“I?m not even going to make any comments as it relates to that point. I really don?t want to get into that,” answered Schaefer from his cell phone in New York, where Golden Boy is staging this weekend?s fight between Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi at the WaMu Theater at MSG.
“If somebody is going to call me and ask me questions about Mayweather-Pacquiao, I?m going to say, ?No comment,? continued Schaefer, who added later, “I?m not going to discuss venues and blood testing and financial splits and all those other things. It?s going to be two words: ?NO COMMENT.?”
Atta boy, Richard.
VENUE
One thing that Arum did elaborate on was the potential destination of this fight.
“The two sites that we would be looking at are the same two sites, the MGM [Grand] and Cowboy Stadium; Jerry [Jones] is certainly interested, so is the MGM Grand. And if the fight happens- and I hope it will- in mid-November, it would be one or the other place.”
It?s pretty simple; if the fans want to see the fight live and in person (but from pretty far away), they better hope that this fight lands in Dallas/Arlington. Because if it lands at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they will have almost no opportunity to buy tickets at anywhere near face value- or at all.
FACE OFF
I?m sure you saw the two camps of Khan and Malignaggi scuffle at their weigh-in on Friday afternoon, where everyone jostled and did a lot of shoving, screaming and threatening. I enjoy this stuff as much as everyone else, but can you recall a fight where this type of incident has taken place, where the fight ended up being an actual slugfest? From what I can remember, usually, when something like this takes place, the fight is a huge letdown. Sometimes, it?s just a tool to promote a fight that isn?t garnering all that much interest.
I vividly recall just how putrid the fight was between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright back in 2007 after they had a tiff at the weigh-in. Of course, it didn?t help that Hopkins later admitted that the whole thing was staged.
BRON
Not saying that LeBron James was bad in game five of his playoff series against the Celtics, but I hear Nike representatives are trying to confiscate everyone?s copy of that game and puppet LeBron has been kicked out of the house by the Kobe puppet. Lil? Dez has now moved in with Kobe and has taken his room.
But seriously, while I think James was the deserved MVP (and he?ll win many more in the future, wherever he ends up), I think the lack of a true mid-range game was really exposed late in this series. But my question is this, if Kobe Bryant would?ve had this squad and melted down like this, wouldn?t everyone be saying that he doesn?t make his teammates better? All I hear now is that LeBron didn?t have much of a team surrounding him. Funny, you didn?t hear that uttered just two weeks ago.
I?ll still say that Kobe leading a team with ?Smush? Parker, Luke Walton, Kwame ?Scissorhands? and Chris Mihm to 44 wins in a tough Western Conference and taking Suns to a game seven, back in 2006, is one of the most underrated accomplishments in NBA history.
(Uh, by the way, you may want to check out the lead story on Mediatakeout.com. It may explain LeBron?s demeanor after game four. Don?t want to ruin the surprise, but let?s just say that there might be a lot of anger directed to one Delonte West in Cleveland. Wow, I can?t believe what I just read.)
WEEKEND FLURRIES
I wish Golden Boy well in starting up Golden Boy Europe. But the question is, will it work out better than Golden Boy Mexico (which was supposed to be headed up by Marco Antonio Barrera) and Golden Boy East (which was under the auspices of one Bernard Hopkins)…Sergio Mora texted me to inform me that he isn?t necessarily balking at facing Brit Mathew Macklin; he?d just rather do it in England where it would be a pretty big event instead of on the Marquez-Diaz II pay-per-view undercard where it will be overshadowed. I can?t disagree with him on that point…Humberto Soto headlines this weekend?s edition of ?Top Rank Live? on Fox Sports Net/Espanol from Los Mochis, Mexico…Anyone else find LeBron?s behavior the past few days and talk of ?his team? a bit strange and bizarre?…So Miami and Notre Dame are talking about reviving their series? Honestly, instead of playing the Irish and having to give up a ?neutral? game at Soldier Field in Chicago, I?d prefer them to have a true home-and-home series against the likes of USC or Texas…Is it crazy for me to think that the Clippers, of all people, have the best nucleus in which to surround LeBron, from a pure basketball standpoint. Unfortunately, this decision will be about a lot of things not basketball…This week?s edition of ?The Main Event? features Larry Merchant of HBO Sports and Lem Satterfield of Fanhouse.com…I can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. You can also become a Facebook fan of Maxboxing at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing
