STAPLES CENTER IS OUT, IT’S BETWEEN MGM GRAND AND DALLAS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 11 Dec 2009
The controversy over the venue for the super fight between pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and former No.1 Floyd Mayweather Jr has been resolved.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum informed us shortly after noon on Friday, Manila Time, that the choice of a site for what promises to be a fight for the ages has been narrowed down to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and the $1.2 billion state-of-the-art Dallas Cowboys Stadium of Jerry Jones .
Arum said “we are finalizing the contract and then we’ll determine the site. There are two places in the running. At least we’ve eliminated all the nonsense. Its between the MGM Grand or Dallas.”
Arum revealed that the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, “made a fantastic offer to us. He has already indicated that he’s going to increase it and it will be by far the biggest site fee ever.”
The Top Rank promoter said he understands that the MGM Grand will “come up with a very good offer and that will determine what we’re going to do. I think we are making good progress in getting through all of the other points.”
He claimed that the people who made the offer to have the fight at the Staples Center “knew before they made the offer that it would not be accepted.” He noted that “the offer was too low and secondly it subjects both fighters to state income tax. Mayweather, for his purpose, lives in Nevada and pays no state income tax.“
Arum insisted “Staples was never a starter. It was never a possibility so I told Michael Koncz (Pacquiao’s adviser) calm down, nobody was even considering Staples Center.”
www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports understands that the Mayweather people had also made it known that they wouldn’t fight in Los Angeles which meant that both sides were on the same page with regard to the venue.
Pacquiao meantime is back in his hometown of General Santos City taking a much-needed rest after his hectic schedule shooting his movie “Wapakman” and keeping several other commitments. He is expected to return to Manila on the 15th to wrap up some voicing for the movie.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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