SCHAEFER PULLS OUT, ARUM SAYS THERE'S SOMETHING FISHY
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 10 Dec 2009
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer pulled out of a planned trip with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and HBO Sports Ross Greenburg to Dallas to meet with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to discuss his bid to stage the super fight between pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and former No.1 Floyd Mayweather Jr at the $1.2 billion state-of-the-art Dallas Stadium.
The fight for the ages which has drawn incredible worldwide interest is scheduled for March 13 after Pacquiao signed-off on the deal during a meeting with Arum at the New World Hotel in Makati City last Friday, following a quick trip to the Philippines.
An obviously annoyed Arum told www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that Schaefer "called me last night to cancel the trip because he didn’t want to do the fight in an outdoor stadium." But Arum pointed out that the Dallas Cowboys stadium which has a 100,000 capacity has a roof that locks into place at the threat of rain and there was no problem.
Arum said "this is crazy. He told me I’m not going to Texas." Arum promptly called Greenburg and said "if he (Schaefer) doesn’t go why will I go. Is Pacquiao going into the ring by himself? So we canceled the trip."
Arum described Schaefer’s move as "the ruinous, worst thing. We are so embarrassed."
Asked why he thought Schaefer would do that, Arum replied "it's something only he can answer. But something is fishy."
Arum said "I am not going to allow my fighter (Pacquiao) to be deprived of revenue because of some nonsense that Schaefer has schemed up. I don’t think Mayweather is a part of this. Maybe there’s some side deal or something like that. It smells. At least go there and give the man (Jones) some respect. Isn’t that logical?"
He also revealed that Schaefer had sent him a new draft of a contract which says "the site of the fight shall be the MGM Grand unless Golden Boy decides otherwise. Are they crazy? Even if the fight went away how would you sign that contract? Why should Golden Boy and MGM Grand be mentioned as the site."
Arum said "I understand that the Dallas deal is $10 million better. That’s $5 million for Manny." He ended our conversation by saying "that’s where we stand today."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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