IT?S ABOUT RISKS AND RETURNS THUS PETERSON IS THE LIKELY PICK
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 06 Jan 2012
Lamont Peterson.
Since the announcement of the impending January 6th incarceration of Floyd Mayweather Jr., much has been written as to who shall be picked to fight the Filipino spitfire Manny Pacquiao this coming May or June.
Of course if he has his way, WBC President Jose Sulaiman would rather have Pacquiao wait until Mayweather pays his debt to society.
But that is not going to happen particularly with the economics involved in a fight featuring Pacquiao, the Arum economics, that is.
In a few days Top Rank?s Bob Arum will be flying to the old country to personally present to Pacquiao the names of the nominees, so to speak.
The list includes Juan Manuel Marquez, Tim Bradley, Miguel Cotto and Lamont Peterson.
Boxing fans and the media people have their own preferences. In fact, even my gardener has one too.
And, I am betting Bob Arum already made up his mind as to who he likes Pacquiao to face in May or June, but in the true sense of the so called ?promoter-boxer relationship?, would not reveal the choice until he meets with Pacquiao.
?He picked Peterson, although Manny does not know yet,? a good source told me today.
But that is getting ahead of my story.
To this writer, Juan Manuel Marquez will be the best fight to do if one is looking for a slam-bang fight that could last the whole 12 rounds. Marquez has fought Pacquiao three times and the fights were always the same. So it stands the reason that a fourth fight will yield the same results and who wants to see that?
There is also a chance that Marquez may somehow catch Pacquiao on an ?off night? and turn the tables on him.
So with high risks Arum will not be picking Marquez because he is not putting his cash cow Pacquiao again in harm?s way.
In addition, on the side of ?returns? the choice of Marquez is not so palatable either. Word has it that the Mexican dynamite now wants a lot more money than he made in his third fight with Pacquiao. That is not too good for the coffers of Arum.
But, that is not to say that he will not be raving about a fourth fight with Marquez as though that is the only fight he would love to see.
Tim Bradley?
Bradley may be a good fighter in his own right. He is a world champion!
Bradley will be ideal in terms of risks because no matter how I look at it, Bradley will have a devil of a time beating a well-conditioned and trained Pacquiao.
In fact, he may not even beat Pacquiao even if Pacquiao came in just like he did during his third fight with Marquez.
That is unless he resorts to his old tactics of coming in head first and cut up Pacquiao.
But that is not happening either. Bradley is now a much polished boxer and his old ways have been corrected to some degree.
Bradley to say it straight is not yet on the level of Pacquiao. Without doubt Bradley is good but not Pacquiao good.
In a couple of years that may change. But by then Pacquiao is retired.
Another reason why Bradley will not be picked is because he has a major problem in bringing people to fill a venue. In fact, in spite of his popularity at home, he can?t fill out the small venue at the Agua Caliente Casino near Palm Springs, California.
Then there is Miguel Cotto.
A fight with Cotto who is fresh his victory over Antonio Margarito looks promising. But the fact that Pacquiao has beaten Cotto makes the fight difficult to sell unless the fight happens in New York.
Another factor is the fact that Cotto is looking promoting his own fights. With that, Arum may not be in the involved so therefore, Cotton effectively took himself from the equation.
With that, the only choice left is Lamont Peterson.
I venture to say that Lamont is it.
A rumble with Peterson will definitely be a low risk fight. Peterson, much like Bradley is good but like Bradley, not yet Pacquiao good.
For sure he will give a good account of himself and make it a fight. But he simply has no chance at this point of his career against Pacquiao.
One good thing about a Peterson is that the ?returns? will be good for Bob Arum. That is big factor in making a fight involving Pacquiao.
First Peterson may settle for less than 2 million, an amount he never made before as a fighter.
In addition he has a pretty amazing story just like Pacquiao. Rags to riches, so to speak.
The spin master at Top Rank can easily make a big case about that and turn it into a story that can parallel Pacquiao?s own life story.
Bingo! Cash in the till!
And, of course the same will be a good flash point for HBO 24/7 . Imagine a once homeless kid now fighting the best pound for pound fighter in the world in Las Vegas?
The HBO people may even make a ?revenge? angle in their story when they get Freddie Roach before the camera. Peterson beat a Pacquiao friend and another Roach prot?g?, Amir Khan. Therefore a Pacquiao victory will be sweet for Roach as well.
How can it be better than that? As my buddy Rich Mazon said:- ?You could not write that script even if you wanted to.?
So given all the above, I am more inclined to say that it will be Lamont Peterson fighting Pacquiao in May or June.
At this point and time, only Bob Arum knows. But in due time, Pacquiao will know as well.
Pacquiao-Peterson, anyone?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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