Pacquiao-Barrera II: A Great Reconciliation
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 01 Oct 2007
The unity between Golden Boy and Top Rank Promotions has an awesome effect on the boxing world today. Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum and six-division world champion Oscar de la Hoya are the leading promoters in the sport. When the two boxing giant firms are working together then it is a tremendous gain for the sport of boxing, the fighters and all the boxing fans all over the world.
The disagreement between De la Hoya and Arum was detrimental to the careers of great boxers since they could not arrange big fights because of legal impediments. Manny Pacquiao has been deprived of facing big-named boxers because of the legal scuffle.
Now it?s all over and Pacman, an Arum protege, will finally face Marco Antonio Barrera, a De la Hoya boxer, in the ?Will to Win? this coming Saturday (Sunday morning RP time) at Mandalay Bay Hotel Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, a co-promotion of the two colossal firms.
Pacquiao now has all the chance to clash with all the high-quality opponents and exhibit his brimming talent to the whole boxing world. He lost in a congressional battle but his world is not politics. He is a living Filipino treasure in a sport where there is a long deficiency of durable world champions and global heroes from the Philippines . The people wanted him to stay on top of the ring on top of the world, not at the halls of Congress where he does not belong.
The development of Golden Boy Promotions makes De La Hoya the first Hispanic boxer to hold a national boxing promotions company and one of the few boxers in history who promotes boxing fights while still active as a fighter.
De La Hoya, 33, won a gold medal for the United States at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. His grandfather, father and brother were all boxers but it was Oscar who made it big and gained superstardom. His fights throughout his entire professional career have earned a total of almost half a billion dollars. He defeated over a dozen world champions and has won six world titles.
Aside from Barrera, his boxers include Israel Vasquez, Juan Guzman, Juan Manuel Marquez, Jorge Barrios, Rocky Juarez, Daniel Jimenez, and Oscar Larios, who are more or less in the same weight category with Pacquiao. Other prominent boxers under
Golden Boy are Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, Daniel Ponce-De Leon , Demetrius Hopkins, Jesus Chavez, Daniel Casamayor, Fernando Montiel, Gerry Pe?alosa, Rey ?Boom Boom? Bautista, Diosdado Gabi, Z Gorres, among others.
Bob Arum is a Harvard-educated lawyer who used his education and business confidence to become a world-renowned boxing promoter. He worked in the White house during President John F. Kennedy?s time. In the 1980s he was very influential in the boxing world, rivaling Don King. Arum put together mega buck fights like Marvin Hagler vs. Roberto Duran and Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns. He was also responsible for the Hagler-John Mugabi, Hearns-James Shuler double header in Las Vegas in April 1986. He produced big-time title fights including the Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard bout, the Leonard-Hearns rematch, Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman and many others.
Some of Arum's superfighters from the 1990s include former world flyweight champion Michael Carbajal and current boxing superstars which include his eventual rival De la Hoya, three-time division champion Erik Morales and Pacquiao himself. He has concentrated largely on promoting Hispanic fighters in recent years because boxing is most popular among the Hispanic
community, especially Mexicans. He also had huge success with fighters Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a boxing promoter.
On Sunday, October 7 (Philippine time), when the world will come to a halt to witness the much-awaited Pacquiao-Barrera rematch, the boxing world will also substantiate the grand Arum-De la Hoya reconciliation.
PhilBoxing.com would like to give a warm welcome to its newest contributor, Mayor Maloney L. Samaco of Maasin City, the bustling capital of Southern Leyte, Philippines. Mayor Samaco is one of the thousands of Filipinos who have been bitten by the boxing bug and apparently would like to give his support and develop boxing talents in his area.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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