When did billionaire Cowboys team and stadium owner Jerry Jones turn into Second Hand Rose from Second Avenue?
When did the Jefe de Vaqueros become the buyer of last resort for Manny Pacquiao that no one else is really bidding for?
I’m asking the question now because I think Pacman promoter Bob Arum is shucking and jiving about going back to the Dallas area with the Pinoy Idol fighting disgraced Mexican Antonio Margarito for their Nov. 13 bout.
Arum has ?leaked? word that the versatile and always flexible Texas commission will license ?Margocheato? to fight in the Lone Star State, no questions asked, no problemo.
Of course, Arum knows that California, which suspended the Tijuana fighter for having illegally loaded handwraps before his Shane Mosley bout in LA, has no choice but to give him the green light for a new license when they huddle Wednesday.
But, and this just one veteran’s hunch, I remain unconvinced that Jones is in a lather trying to fork over any kind of big site fee like the $7 million he paid for the dreadful Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey (blame Clottey for his total cover up) bout last March.
The only way I can see Jones swallowing Pacman-Margo is if he gets some right of first refusal or other leg up on landing the Lollapalooza, the Mayweather-Pacquiao super bout, and Arum cannot provide such an incentive since he only represents half of the equation.
About 99 of my last 100 predictions have gone into File 13 meaning the nearest trash can and this one may keep by bad streak alive.
I prefer to think positive, to think I really get off the schneid on this one.
But it says here that cagey poker player Arum is using Jones/Cowboys as a bluff move, hoping to get the Nevada commission off the dime and thus clear the way for Manny-Tone Loc to go the MGM Grand.
It’s in Arum’s best interests that the MGM Grand folks be a bit delusional and think that Mr. Jones is hot to trot to get Manny-Margarito.
The Nevada boxing board will clearly OK Margarito right after California does.
It behooves Arum to deliver a package, such as it is, to his longtime pals at the MGM Grand lest they forget what a warm, caring person he is underneath that crusty exterior.
Besides, Arum hates to leave the MGM as an “open road” for Golden Boy.
If you’re a Pacman fan, I’d wait up on making any flight or hotel reservations in Texas.
Arum may be playing Jones and the MGM shotcallers like he’s operating a Times Square three card monte game.
It’s supposed to be a game of chance, you see, only Arum has it rigged in his favor.
You will see Pacman-Margarito fight in Arlington, Tx., the same night armadillos fly over that magnificent stadium.
It might could happen there, as my old flame from Mineral Wells would say, but I doubt it.
