Pacquiao’s next opponent could be picked this week for December 8th fight

09/14/201609/12/2012 ESB

Pacquiao's next opponent could be picked this week for December 8th fight By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz is reporting that negotiations are complete with the potential opponent for Pacquiao’s next fight on December 8th in Las Vegas, and the only thing that is needed now is Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s final decision. It’s going to be either Tim Bradley or Juan Manuel Marquez, two of Pacquiao’s past opponents. The opponent could be announced on Thursday, September 13th. That’s the word that has been floating around.

Koncz told RingTV “We’re done negotiation. We’ll present everything to Bob, and he will decide what he wants to do.”

Interesting. I thought Pacquiao was supposed to be the one that is picking out his next opponent, but Koncz sure is making it seem as if Arum is the ultimate decider in the choosing.

It’s not all that appealing Pacquiao facing the retreads that Arum has offered up to him. Boxing fans want to see Pacquiao fight someone new instead of seeing the same old Top Rank fighters brought in repeatedly for fights against him. At this point it would be more interesting to see Pacquiao fight someone completely new, even if it meant that the fight would likely be a mismatch. Seeing Pacquiao fight Bradley again would be like watching paint dry.

continue

Bradley Sr: Timothy would have knocked Pacquiao out if he hadn’t injured his leg

09/14/201609/07/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Tim Bradley Sr., the father of WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s), feels that Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) got a lucky break last June when Bradley injured his leg in their fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Bradley still ended up winning the fight anyway by a 12 round split decision, Bradley Sr. feels that his son would have knocked Pacquiao out had he been fighting on two good legs in that fight.

Bradley Sr. said to Examiner.com writer Chris Robinson “I feel that Pacquiao would have got knocked the h*ll out if my son would have been able to shift the power on either leg but he could not do that.”

Bradley showed little in the way of power in that fight, and it pretty clear to most boxing fans that Pacquiao was the much harder hitter of the two. However, Bradley has shown some decent power in past fights against the likes of Lamont Peterson and Joel Casmayor. But Bradley has never been a huge puncher and it’s doubtful that even with two good legs working for him that he’d have been able to knock out the 33-year-old Pacquiao in that fight.

continue

Ariza wants to take Pacquiao back to his old ways of training to get him ready for next fight

09/14/201609/06/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Alex Ariza, the strength and conditioning coach for 33-year-old Manny Pacquiao, wants to take him back to the way he used to train Pacquiao in the past to get him ready for his December 8th fight against possibly 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao has noticeably slowed down in his last three fights and doesn’t move around like he used to three years ago.

More importantly, Pacquiao is no longer fighting for the full three minutes of every round. In his last fight against Tim Bradley, Pacquiao only fought hard in the past 20 to 30 seconds of the round. It just looks like Pacquiao has aged both in his performance and in appearance.

Ariza told the Manila Standard “He [Pacquiao] has to go back to the old ways of training, focus more on the other stuff.”

This begs the question: Can Pacquiao get back to where he once was even with Ariza putting him through his old paces like in that past or he simply beyond the point of no return? 33 isn’t old, but it is for some fighters. Muhammad Ali had really slowed down by the time he reached 33. Compared how he looked in his 20s and even in his last 20s, Ali wasn’t the same fighter at 33.

continue

Pacquiao-Marquez 95 percent finished, say Beltran

09/14/201609/04/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Juan Manuel Marquez’s promoter Fernando Beltran is saying that a fight between Marquez and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) is almost complete with a reported “95%’ of it being done for December 8th. Whether they can get the last 5% remains up in the air but it’s good sign if you’re interested in seeing Pacquiao fight the 39-year-old Marquez yet again after having fought three times in the past already.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum seems to want to put this fight together after another one of their big money options Miguel Cotto bailed out of the Pacquiao lottery in order to fight WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout.

In an interview at the Record.com.mx, Beltran said “The only reason I can not guarantee the fight is because there isn’t a contract of Pacquiao before us. However, in the coming hours we will. Verbally we can announce that on December 8th, we will make this fight…It is 95% finished.”

continue

Pacquiao expected to fight Marquez on December 8th

09/14/201609/03/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: 33-year-old Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) is expected to sign to fight 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) on December 8th now that Marquez’s only real competitor for the fight, Miguel Cotto, has decided on taking on Austin Trout on December 1st. Technically, WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley is still in the running for Pacquiao’s next fight on December 8th, but he’s not a serious option because of the controversy that surrounded his win over Pacquiao last June. But importantly, Bradley isn’t an option because the Pacquiao-Bradley fight brought in low pay per view totals last time out.

Money is the name of the game, and Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is trying to maximize the income he can get for his fighter with what little time he’s got left in the sport. Judging by how Pacquiao has looked in his last two fights, I don’t think he’s got too much time left at the top of the game unless Arum starts spoon-feeding him weaker opposition at some point. A lot of boxing fans think that’s already been going on with Arum putting Pacquiao in with Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Bradley instead of Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Andre Berto.

Marquez brings in a lot of Hispanic fans to a fourth fight with Pacquiao, and Arum realizes that. It’s a fight that could make a lot of money due to the casual boxing fans that will be excited about seeing this. However, it’s a fight that the hardcore boxing fans have seen one too many times it’s utterly predictable how the fight will take place and end.

continue

Pacquiao still not saying who his December 8th opponent will be

09/14/201609/01/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum had said that there was a chance that Manny Pacquiao would be naming his next opponent today for his fight on December 8th. Although today isn’t it over yet, it looks like Pacquiao will continue to keep quiet about who he’ll be fighting in his next fight. It’s down to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez now that Miguel Cotto announced that he’ll be fighting on December 1st against WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout.

Pacquiao and Arum are trying to get the best deal financially between what’s left to pick from but it’s got to really hurt that Cotto, who arguably was the biggest moneymaker of the three potential opponents, dropped out of the race. Now it’s Marquez and Bradley, and the two fighters have different things asking for in terms of money. It’s not all that cut dried with Marquez being the better option because of his past big money fights on pay per view against Pacquiao last November and against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2009.

Marquez wants to be paid well, and he’s not going to be gotten for cheap. But Bradley reportedly wants a lot of money as well for the fight. According to philstar, Bradley is looking for eight figure payday for this fight. That’s a ton of money, and twice the amount that he got last time. Arum is an expert at negotiating and he’ll likely do a good job of getting both Bradley and Marquez to come down in their asking price for a Pacquiao fight.

continue

Tim Bradley could wind up out in the cold if Pacquiao chooses Marquez to fight next

09/14/201609/01/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: With Manny Pacquiao possibly ready to make his pick this weekend for his December 8th fight, it’s expected that 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez will selected by Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum for his next fight. However, this leaves Pacquiao’s recent conqueror WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) out in the cold with no opponent for his next fight. Bradley intentionally waited all this time to see if Pacquiao would want to fight him and he’s now on the verge of having nothing to show for it.

Miguel Cotto won’t be around to fight Bradley, and if he was he wouldn’t waste time fighting this guy. Bradley is going to have to look to defend his World Boxing Organization strap against the best possible contender, unless he’s interested in milking his title agaisnt the lowest rank WBO contender in order to have a better chance of holding onto the WBO strap long enough to get another shot at fighting Pacquiao.

There only a limited amount of options in Bob Arum’s Top Rank stable, meaning that Bradley is almost guaranteed a shot against Pacquiao at some point in the future as long as Bradley remains with Top Rank. Arum likes to put together in house fights with he matches Pacquiao, so Bradley should be getting a crack at the Filipino fighter at some point next year.

continue

Pacquiao could make decision on next opponent today, says Arum

09/14/201609/01/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says that Manny Pacquiao could make decision about his December 8th fight as early as today, according to the LA Times. The field has been reduced to two fighters – Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez – after Miguel Cotto dropped out of the race to take a December 1st fight against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout.

It’s unclear if Cotto was really ever a serious option because Arum and Pacquiao both wanted a catchweight of 150 lbs, and Cotto had already been the receiving end of one catchweight fight with Pacquiao in 2009. That one didn’t go too well with Cotto. You can’t blame him for not wanting to boil down a second time to accommodate Pacquiao on the weight requirement, especially after Floyd Mayweather Jr. agreed to fight Cotto at the full weight for the division last May.

Arum has all the important pay per view figures at hand and he’s discovered that “60 percent of the pay per view households are Hispanic” in the United States, according to the LA Times. This obviously is going to help shape his decision to likely go with Marquez as the one to face Pacquiao on December 8th. In reading a lot of the comments that Arum has made in the past month, it seems that he’s been dialed in towards a Pacquiao-Marquez rematch from the very start.

continue

Pacquiao’s options down to Marquez and Bradley after Cotto chooses to fight Trout

09/14/201608/31/2012 ESB

By Marcus Richardson: Manny Pacquiao’s options are now greatly limited after Miguel Cotto announced that he’ll be fighting WBA World light middleweight champion Austin Trout on December 1st at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum now much choose from Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) for Pacquiao’s upcoming fight in December. It’s not even a choice, is it? Arum wants to maximize his fighter Pacquiao’s payday and it seems pretty clear that the only option they have if they want to do that is to fight 39-year-old Marquez next.

Who knows how many more fights Pacquiao has in him, so it kind of makes sense for Arum to be looking to squeeze every last cent out of the remaining fights of his Filipino star’s career because the Pacquiao train seems to be slowing down now that he’s showing signs of aging.

Marquez would be smart to jump on the Cotto news and demand a bigger slice of the revenue for a Pacquiao fight, because there’s really not many options for Pacquiao now. To be sure, Pacquiao can take the Bradley rematch, make less money for himself and Arum, and possibly get beaten again if Bradley uses movement and a more consistent attack. With Pacquiao limited to fighting hard in the last 20 seconds of every round, Bradley would have a good chance of beating him again.

continue

Pacquiao may have to swallow his pride to get Mayweather fight done next year

09/14/201608/31/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: If Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum want to get Floyd Mayweather Jr. into the ring for a big cash fight next year then they’re going to have to play it by Mayweather’s rules by taking the smaller cut, because he no longer sees Pacquiao on the same level as him.

Mayweather told Hot97 FM NY, “Actually, we don’t do the same type of numbers, so how can we split? We don’t draw the same type of money.”

That would suggest that Pacquiao and Arum going to have to back off their request of a 50-50 purse split with Mayweather if they want the fight to get made. It’s still possible that Arum can put the fight together but he and Pacquiao will have to swallow their pride and come in with a much lower figure, perhaps as low as 35 percent of the pie. That’s still more than a bargain for a fighter with four losses and who is coming off of a defeat against Tim Bradley. Pacquiao won’t be able to make that kind of money against anyone else, and he could end up in a bad situation if he loses to the next opponent that Arum lines up for him in December.

In this case, Pacquiao would be better off taking whatever crumbs Mayweather throws him because he won’t be able to bargain at all, period. It’s bad enough right now with Pacquiao losing to Bradley, and the fight drawing only 700,000 PPV buys.

continue