ARUM HOPES A PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER FIGHT WILL BE WRAPPED UP BY END OF THE WEEK
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 29 Jan 2015
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes that the planned May 2 multi ?millin dollar showdown between eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao and undefeated pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr will be wrapped up by the end of this week.
In a long distance conversation with the Manila Standard/Viva Sports/PhilBoxing, Arum said ?according to everybody it seems we are moving towards a fight? although he cautioned ?you never know.?
He said ?I cannot assure you that its gonna happen but certainly with this development in Miami and from what I know about the finalization of papers and everything I have to be optimistic. And I know that everybody that I deal with like Les Moonves of CBS and HBO?s Richard Plepler are all very positive of making this happen.?
Arum on another positive note added, ?there are no issues that I can see that mean anything.?
He mentioned that the television issues between Showtime which has a six-fight $200 million deal with Mayweather of which four fights have been done and HBO Sports which telecasts Pacquiao?s fights ?were solved two weeks ago.?
Arum told us, ?I think everything is positive and hopefully if everything keeps going well we?ll get it wrapped up by the end of the week.?
Arum added, ?do I know for sure ? no. But I?m an optimist.?
Asked whether he thought Mayweather going across to talk to Pacquiao during the halftime of the Miami Heat-Milwaukee Bucks NBA game in Miami and later visiting Pacquiao at his hotel suite where they spoke for over an hour was unusual, Arum replied, ?I?ve seen fighters who get frustrated and the only thing they want to do is to talk to the other guy. I?ve seen that happen plenty of times.?
Mayweather himself and even strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza had often blamed Arum for preventing the fight from happening which the astute promoter said was nonsense. ?If anybody blames me for wanting to stop the fight they must be absolutely crazy. Nobody has worked harder than I have to make the fight. Anybody whose involved will tell you that.?
Arum said that Top Rank will be a co-promoter of the fight with Mayweather Promotions and MP Promotions and that ?May 2 that?s the date he (Mayweather) wants and everybody acceded to it. I don?t know whether it makes sense because it?s a Mexican holiday and neither Pacquiao or Mayweather are Mexicans but if that?s what he wants we are willing to accede to that.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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