We’ve seen crazy, even unthinkable fights become reality in the sport of boxing, and just recently we’ve seen some shockers come off (see Canelo-Khan and Golovkin-Brook – both fights coming out of nowhere and causing genuine surprise and stun when first announced). But the recent article that appeared suggesting how promoter Bob Arum was seriously thinking about putting Manny Pacquiao in with middleweight king Gennady Golovkin has been totally discredited – by Arum himself.
Arum, in speaking with RingTV.com, said he was simply joking when he said he was thinking about putting Manny – who of course turned pro at a lowly 106-pounds and won his first world title at flyweight – in with Triple-G. Pacquiao did shock the world by taking on, and defeating the much bigger Oscar De La Hoya in 2008, and some people, though skeptical, began wondering if Arum really would look to stage a Pac-Man-GGG clash, maybe at a catchweight of 150-pounds or thereabouts.
But no, there are limits, even in as crazy a sport as boxing can be at times.
“That’s the biggest joke, I said it as a joke,” Arum shot back when asked if there was any truth in the possibility of a Pacquiao-Golovkin fight. “If you cover boxing how could you even think it was possible for me to put Manny Pacquiao, who I love dearly, in a ring with that beast Golovkin! It was a joke, it was said as a joke.”
Whew.
Back to reality, Arum said fans can expect “a real barn-burner” between Pacquiao and defending WBO welterweight champ Jessie Vargas on November 5. Arum stated how Pac-Man “will not have to go looking for him.” The Hall of Famer also said, perhaps surprisingly, that he doesn’t know who will win the fight.
“One thing I am sure of, it ends in a knockout,” Arum said in closing.
If Pacquiao wins, he is likely to continue fighting. But he will not be fighting the world middleweight champion.