By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao may have fought for the last time in the United States last December in his 6th round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is railing against the high taxes in the United States now, which Arum feels is making it impossible for Manny – and other foreign fighters – to compete in the United States.
Bob Arum
Arum looking to make Donaire-Rigondeaux on April 27th; Mares doesn’t accept offer
By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he made an offer to Golden Boy Promotions for a fight between his fighter WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) and their fighter WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares, but Golden Boy didn’t agree to the offer, according to RingTV.
Arum is now looking to match Donaire against his other top super bantamweight WBA champ Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) on April 27th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
This could end up a much tougher fight for the 30-year-old Donaire by virtue of Rigondeaux’s superior speed, counter punching, power and defensive boxing skills. Rigondeaux doesn’t leave himself open nearly as much as Mares typically does thanks to his much more cautious style of fighting. Mares would have been a perfect opponent for Donaire with his aggressive brawling style of fighting. That match-up would have given Donaire a lot of chances to land his big left hook shots.
Arum excited about Mexico City for Pacquiao-Marquez 5 fight
By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is enthusiastic about placing the Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fifth fight inside a new arena in Mexico City, Mexico. The arena holds 18,000 and Arum believes it’s an ideal location for the Pacquiao-Marquez fight to take place. He expects Americans to come and watch the Pacquiao-Marquez fight, but it’s going to be real test to see if that happens.
Arum said to ringtv “Mexico City has a beautiful arena in Mexico City…It’s bigger than the MGM [Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada]. It’s a state of the art facility. They just built it…it’s a safe area.”
That’s a long trip for U.S boxing fans to take just to see Pacquiao and Marquez fight. There’s also the danger of traveling in Mexico. Right now the country has an ongoing drug war going on and it’s potentially risky to travel there. U.S fans obviously want to see Pacquiao and Marquez again, but is it worth the risk? Does Arum have a body guard in Mexico? I would be afraid to travel their myself even with a body guard.
Arum: Pacquiao doesn’t want to fight Marquez in U.S because he’d have to pay high taxes
By Rob Smith: Bob Arum says Manny Pacquiao will be looking to fight Juan Manuel Marquez outside of the United States for their fifth fight in September to escape the high taxes in the country. Pacquiao and Marquez both want to avoid the taxes for this fight, and Arum is planning on staging it in Mexico in Mexico City.
Arum said to ringtv “Pacquiao doesn’t want to fight in the United States because he’d have to give close to 40% [in taxes] to the government…They [Pacquiao and Marquez] would prefer for the fight not to be in the United States. That’s what happens when you raise taxes and you say ‘Well, let the rich pay.’”
That sounds like a good move for Arum, Pacquiao and Marquez. If they can get the U.S pay per view money tax free, then more power to them. They’re probably saving a bundle by making this move, and who knows how much time those guys have left in their careers. One more knockout loss for Pacquiao and it could be over, and Marquez will be 40-years-old by the time he faces Pacquiao for their fifth fight in September.
Arum: Pavlik vs. Bute possible for March
By Marcus Richardson: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says a fight between former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (31-1, 24 KO’s) and Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) is possible by March of this year. Bute is one of the names that Pavlik’s management is working on putting a fight deal with for March.
Arum said to 8countnews.com “I talked with Cameron Dunkin. They’re working on a big fight with Pavlik for the first three months of the year. One of the names is Lucian Bute.”
Bute’s promoter Jean Bedard mentioned recently that he’s interested in putting together a fight between Pavlik and Bute. Whether it can happen is still unclear, but it’s a great fight for both guys. Pavlik needs a big win over a fighter with a name because he’s done nothing for the last two years other than facing weak opposition.
Bute lost to Carl Froch last year in May in a disappointing 5th round TKO loss. Bute didn’t look like he had put a good game plan together because he didn’t have a plan B to fall back on after it was clear that Froch had too much power for him to fight in the center of the ring in a toe-to-toe battle. Bute needed to shift into a hit and run style that he had used earlier in his career to great success.
Arum confirms Pacquiao-Marquez fight for 2013
By Rob Smith: In an interview, Bob Arum confirmed what pretty much everyone already knew that he’s going to look to put his fighter Manny Pacquiao back in the ring with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2013 if he can put the fight together.
Arum said in an interview with TMZ.com “We’re gonna, I think, do another fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. That was a great fight. He [Pacquiao] ran into a really good right hand, and we’ll see what happens next time.”
What happens next time could be bad for Pacquiao. Arum is making a mistake by putting his fighter back in the ring directly with Marquez without some kind of test against a lower level fighter to see if Pacquiao can handle getting hit.
Marquez is going to be looking to KO Pacquiao with every shot he throws and he already knows he can hurt him because he proved it twice last time. I think Arum is under the impression that this is the same Marquez that Pacquiao was controversial decisions in two of the three fights prior to their last one.
Marquez is a much different fighter now because he’s put on a lot of muscle and he’s hitting much harder. Pacquiao may have been giving Marquez some problems in the 5th and 6th rounds in their last fight, but Marquez was going to get to Pacquiao sooner or later.
Rios vs. Alvarardo winner could face Pacquiao in April, says Arum
By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter really loves the idea of putting the winner of this Saturday’s clash between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado in with Manny Pacquiao next April. Arum happens to promote all three fighters so it’s an easy thing for him to make this fight.
In an interview with the Manila Standard, Arum said Pacquiao and the winner of the Rios-Alvarado fight “Could be unbelievable. The public would go crazy for that fight. Imagine Manny against either of these animals. Manny will have to become an animal himself.”
Cotto says he wasn’t offered $13 million for Pacquiao rematch
By Michael Collins: Former WBA World junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto is saying that he was never offered the $13 million to fight Manny Pacquiao in a rematch, according to ESPN. Cotto claims that he was given the exact same deal as he did when he fought Pacquiao at a catchweight of 145 lbs back in 2009. Because the offer was the same for a rematch, Cotto decided not to fight Pacquiao a second time. Cotto also didn’t like the idea of fighting Pacquiao at a catchwweight of 150 pounds, which would have likely benefited more than Cotto.
Cotto said in an interview by Dan Rafael at ESPN “The only offer Top Rank ever made us was the same money as in 2009. [Arum] made the same offer he made in 2009, and we found it kind of funny. That was the reason we decided not to face Pacquiao. That, and they also wanted me to go down to 150 pounds and given him the same advantage that they gave Pacquiao in 2009.”
The last time it was a catchweight of 145 lbs, but now it’s a little higher at 150. However, Cotto has filled out since then and it’s a lot harder for him to boil down to make weight. It’s not all that surprising that Cotto didn’t want to have to deal with another catchweight after the bad experience he had the last time he fought Pacquiao.
News: Arum already has Pacquiao scheduled for April 20th next year
By Dwight Chittenden: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has already penciled in his number #1 money fighter Manny Pacquiao for April 20th of next year against a still to be determined opponent. Arum scheduling Pacquiao ahead of time isn’t really anything new, but it is perhaps an indication that Arum isn’t all that interested in putting Pacquiao in with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
It’s either that or Arum just doesn’t think a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao is attainable by that date. Arum would likely know, as it’s pretty clear that Pacquiao won’t be getting a 50-50 deal with Mayweather if they fight next year. Arum has always insisted that Pacquiao deserves nothing less than a 50-50 deal. But by setting a date in early 2013, you could interpret as a signal that Arum is trying to give Mayweather the brush off because this move will surely do.
Arum said to the Manila Bulletin “I have talked with Manny and we agreed to hold this fight on April 20th.”
Arum excited about a Chavez Jr-Martinez rematch, sees it doing big business
By Michael Collins: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum sees nothing but dollar signs in proposed rematch between former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) and Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) for early next year at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas. The pay per view numbers haven’t yet been released for last Saturday’s Chavez Jr-Martinez PPV fight but the word is that the fight did better than what the promoters Arum and Lou Dibella had hoped for.
Arum said to Examiner.com “They want to do an immediate rematch. This fight did unbelievable business. The next fight will do even bigger business.”
I don’t see it quite like Arum. I think the rematch will do well because Chavez Jr. is a popular fighter, and he’ll no doubt he able to pack the Cowboys Stadium with his devoted boxing fans from around the Texas area. However, I don’t think the Chavez Jr-Martinez rematch will do huge business on PPV, because the asking price was steep last Saturday night with a price tag of $49.99 for a card that was pretty much empty of big names and competitive fights.