Promoter Bob Arum is bound to take some heat for making Manny Pacquiao-“Sugar” Shane Mosley for May 7 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas because Mosley is past his prime and it seemed like Juan Manuel Marquez was more deserving because of his history with Pacquiao.
But Arum on Wednesday defended the decision to go with Mosley over Marquez and Andre Berto. Interestingly, some of what he had to say made some sense when speaking about Mosley’s past two fights – a wide-decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May and a yawner of a draw with Sergio Mora in September.
“One (was) after a long layoff, to Mayweather, and even though it turned out to be a one-sided fight he is the only fighter in all of Mayweather’s career that ever had Mayweather in trouble,” Arum said;
Mosley had not fought in nearly 16 months and hurt Mayweather badly in the second round. “Maybe he should have knocked him out, but he did have him in trouble. And that is a real positive because my guy, Pacquiao, is a strong fighter but he isn’t a defensive specialist like Mayweather is.
“I can sell Mosley because I know Mosley can perform. As far as his fight with (Sergio) Mora, anybody who is responsible for that fight should be shot. None of our matchmakers would have made that fight. Mora just stinks people out.”
That was a direct shot at Golden Boy Promotions, who had promoted Mosley the past five years before Mosley became a free agent.
Arum said Mosley, who will turn 40 exactly four months after the scheduled fight with Pacquiao, won’t have to look for Pacquiao.
“Pacquiao only knows how to fight one way, throwing punches, and that is good for Mosley because he doesn’t have to expend energy chasing his opponent,” Arum said.
Arum had multiple reasons for not pushing a third fight with Marquez.
“As good a fighter as Juan Manuel Marquez is, they are in two different weight classes,” Arum said; Marquez is lightweight champion, Pacquiao-Mosley will be at welterweight. “I saw both of the first fights they had and the bigger, stronger Pacquiao now would annihilate Marquez. And all of you guys would say, ‘Oh, he grabbed the money,’ and it would be a two, three-round fight.
“Remember the first fight, he had Marquez down three times. This Pacquiao is so much stronger, so much bigger than Marquez. If he had Marquez down three times, he would annihilate him.”
Arum reiterated what has already been reported, that Marquez didn’t help himself with his monetary demands. Marquez is promoted by rival Golden Boy. According to Arum, the Marquez side asked for $5 million and $5 for every pay-per-view buy over 500,000. Arum said Marquez was paid $3.2 million and $1 for every buy after 1 million homes for his one-sided loss to Mayweather in September 2009.
That was Marquez’s one venture into the welterweight division. So how, Arum wondered, could he dare ask for what could have amounted to more than double the money he got for Mayweather?
“How can you do that?” Arum said. “What am I, stupid?”
Arum said Mosley’s guarantee is less than what Marquez was asking for.
As for Berto, it sounded like he was never a serious contender to land what would have been a welterweight title unification bout with Pacquiao as both hold major belts in the division.
“Berto, I don’t know,” Arum said. “Berto was a complete mystery because he never fought anyone, so how would he do against Pacquiao?
I couldn’t say. Nobody could say.”
Arum had an idea for Marquez. In order to prove he can hang in the welterweight division, he should fight Berto. That might convince Arum that Marquez is worthy of another fight with Pacquiao.
“Put Marquez in with Berto, let’s see what he does,” Arum said. “If he beats Berto, well, obviously, he can fight a Pacquiao. But I don’t think he can fight at the higher weights. It doesn’t say anything about his ability as a fighter. He’s a good fighter, nice fellow.”
Arum believes Mosley can get up for one more great fight.
“Bruce (Trampler) and Brad (Goodman) are worried about this fight,” Arum said of his two Top Rank Inc. matchmakers. “Who should be the favorite? Manny Pacquiao, no argument. But Shane is in there with a real good chance. Shane is going to make a fight of it and it won’t be a one, two-round fight.”
Again, some of what Arum said makes sense. Then again, he’s the same guy who, after Mosley’s less-than-stellar performance against Mora, told Michael Marley of BoxingScene.com, “… I?ve always considered Shane to be a nice guy but this is what happens to fighters when they age. It?s like (Bernard) Hopkins: He still knows how to fight, but who wants to pay to see him now? His fights are not very scintillating. What you see with Hopkins, we?re beginning to see with Mosley.?
Distributor Still To Be Determined
Arum said there are several companies besides HBO that would like to produce this fight on pay-per-view. He said ESPN, CBS (which owns Showtime) and Fox have also put their names into the hat.
“You have three other entities in addition to HBO,” Arum said. “That isn’t to say we still won’t go with HBO.”
Arum said a 24/7-like series would come with the production regardless of which station ends up with the gig.
Schaefer Pushing For Hopkins-Pascal II
Quite a bit has been made of the draw between Bernard Hopkins and light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal this past Saturday in Pascal’s native Canada. Hopkins and Golden Boy, which promotes Hopkins, have claimed robbery.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer on Tuesday said Golden Boy is protesting the fight.
“Yesterday we filed an official protest with the WBC as it relates to some of the refereeing and judging from that night,” Schaefer said. “We hope that the WBC will order an immediate rematch.”
According to a story in the Associated Press, Pascal has contractual obligations that stipulate he must next fight Chad Dawson, who challenged Pascal for his belt in August but lost an 11-round technical decision.
But Schaefer said it is his understanding that “there are certain clauses in that agreement which allow for an out, so we are hoping it is going to happen.”
The way Schaefer sees it, Hopkins deserves the rematch.
“I just got a call from (Showtime executive) Ken Hershman congratulating us,” Schaefer said. “The Hopkins-Pascal fight was the highest-rated event on Showtime over the past three years and that just shows that Bernard Hopkins is a star and he does draw ratings.
“People in Canada embraced that fight. … Here in the U.S., it was obvious people had some question marks about Bernard. I think he answered all of those critics and I think the rematch will be one of the most anticipated fights, certainly the most anticipated fight far and beyond as it relates to the light heavyweight division.”
Schaefer believes the opposite would be true for a Pascal-Dawson rematch because there was no controversy in their first fight. Well, there is no question that Pascal was ahead in the fight when it was stopped in the 11th when Dawson suffered a cut from what was ruled an accidental head-butt. However, Dawson’s promoter, Gary Shaw, screamed afterward that the head-butt was no accident.
“Chad Dawson against Jean Pascal, nobody wants to see that and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to go buy that fight,” Schaefer said.
“Who the heck would want to watch it? Who the heck would want to buy it.”
Schaefer said Showtime is interested in doing the rematch.
Alvarez-Senchenko on Deck?
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has taken the Mexican boxing world by storm and the 20-year-old is trying to make his mark in the U.S. Alvarez is promoted by Golden Boy and according to Schaefer the next fight for his young star could take place either Feb. 27 or March 5 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Schaefer said Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez is working on an opponent for Alvarez, who is 35-0-1 with 26 knockouts.
“It might be against the WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer said former two-division champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero also might be on the card and his opponent could be Michael Katsidis, who last month challenged Juan Manuel Marquez for his lightweight titles but was stopped in the ninth round at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Bantamweight Tourney Could Land in Los Angeles
The first round of Showtime’s bantamweight tournament took place Dec. 11 with Abner Mares defeating Vic Darchinyan and Joseph Agbeko beating Yonnhy Perez. Schaefer said talks are in the works for the tournament title fight between Mares and Agbeko and that it could take place April 23 at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.
“We have that date on hold,” Schaefer said.
Haye-Klitschko Talks Progressing
There has been a lot of negative vibrations surrounding talks for a Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye heavyweight title unification bout. But Schaefer spoke in optimistic tones about such a bout taking place.
“We are making tremendous progress on the negotiations and I do hope that within the next week to 10 days, hopefully we will have some good news,” he said. “It’s going to be in either Germany or England, wherever the money is the most, which I think is going to point toward England.”
Golden Boy co-promotes Haye.
Rebuilding ‘The Punisher’
Paul Williams suffered his second loss last month. But whereas his first – to Carlos Quintana in February 2008 – was via decision, his most recent was a brutal second-round knockout at the hands of middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.
Prior to this setback, promoter Dan Goossen had difficulty getting star opponents for Williams, a 6-foot-3 southpaw. Now that he just got smoked in two rounds, it would seem as if Goossen is going to have an even more difficult time securing good fights for Williams.
Any promoter who doesn’t really want his fighter to tangle with Williams can point to the recent loss and say Williams isn’t all that big of a deal any longer because of it.
Goossen this week said he was not concerned about that.
“There is only one way to go and that is to not be dependent upon other promoters for your fighters’ success,” Goossen said. “If Paul goes out there and overcomes this the way I believe he will … I mean, this has happened to some greats. The most recent one I can think of is Lennox Lewis. People can look at Amir Khan, who everyone is raving about now, who suffered a similar consequence.
“If you are great, you are great despite losing. Is is the great ones who overcome it. The key is getting him back in the ring and proving it.”
Goossen said that once Williams is back in the groove, he doesn’t expect anything will change with fellow promoters.
“But we did very well under those circumstances,” Goossen said. “The fate of the fighter doesn’t rest in the other promoter’s fighter. It rests in his own hands.”
Goossen said he is meeting with Williams’ advisor, Al Haymon, next week to discuss Williams’ next fight.
Robert Morales covers boxing for the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, and BoxingScene.com
