GL: Did you happen to catch the Marquez-Barrera fight? Can we expect to see Marquez and Pacquiao matched in the near future should Manny Pacquiao defeat Jorge Solis on April 14? “I didn’t see it because I was in Texas with George Foreman at a huge celebration. Let’s first wait and see what happens on the 14th. Solis is looking good in camp, he’s feeling strong so we’re going to have a fight on April 14. As for who we’ll fight after April 14, that depends on a lot of things. All of the top guys will be candidates to fight Pacquiao.”
GL: Tell us about the April 14 event?
Bob Arum: “That’s going extremely well and it’s going to be a very exciting card. Pacquiao and Solis should be a barnburner. Arce-Mijares is a pick-em fight. Julio Jr is fighting Tony Shula and that’s a good fight and we’ve also got Viloria and Sosa fighting for the mini-flyweight title. We’re going to have great fights, a lot of music and it’s going to be a great telecast and a great show.”
GL: How important is it for Brian Viloria to display some consistency? In one fight he’ll look sensational, the next you’ll need toothpicks for your eyelids just to stay awake. Particulary in the lower weight classes, how important is it for him to display the explosiveness he has shown consistently? BA: “You’re absolutely correct Greg and I think being with his new trainer Joe Goossen will be a tremendous improvement. Joe gets his fighters in great, great shape and he’s a tremendous motivator.”
GL: What’s the latest with Erik Morales?
BA: “Erik is in the Philippines making another commercial and he’s going to be returning to fight David Diaz sometime in June for the WBC lightweight title. The fight will either be in the midwest or Chicago.”
GL: If Arce is successful against Mijares how long before we see him fight Vic Darchinyan?
BA: “The next fight would be July 28 and that will be against Martin Castillo and then hopefully before the end of the year we can see Arce and Darchinyan.”
GL: What’s the latest with the Margarito-Williams dilemma?
BA: “There is a hearing for that on Wednesday in Puerto Rico. I’m leaving for PR first thing this morning.”
GL: Is there anything you’d like to say in closing?
BA: “We’ve got a couple of our other fighters to look out for, on April 7 we have Joshua Clottey fighting Diego Corrales. On May 19 Kelley Pavlik and Edison Miranda will provide us with the only middleweight challenger in the world and that all leads to our huge event at Madison Square Garden for June 9, Miguel Cotto-Zab Judah. We’re billing the fight at Xplosive and that’s exactly what it’s going to be.”
