ANOTHER TELENOVELA IN BOXING!
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 27 Aug 2012
Top Rank Promotions has a scheduled news conference for Monday, August 27th at noon in Los Angeles. The scheduled event is to promote their October 13th double header featuring Nonito Donaire vs. Toshiaki Nishioka and Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado.
But trust me, the most marked man in the press conference for members of the media won?t be the four fighters, it will be the head honcho of Top Rank himself, Bob Arum. And the subject that he will be asked of all day and in all corners of The Crystal Ballroom of The Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown L.A. will be the hottest subject in boxing nowadays?
?Who will Manny Pacquiao fight next? Will he fight on November 10th or December 1st or will he ever fight at all this year? ?Oh I can already hear the queries from my friends from the press tomorrow.
Arum on an interview last week with 8CN.com said that an opponent, a venue and a date will be named Monday. And I assume the scheduled Top Rank event will provide an opportunity for Arum to do that.
And I hope Arum does that. Because fans of the sport and particularly that of the Filipino superstar has been aching for finality on this subject. They have been subjected to a roller coaster of news, rumors and speculations regarding this. It has become a telenovela of sorts given all the twists and turns that have occurred in the last couple of weeks.
There is news that Pacquiao is ?cool? about fighting this year. There is that suspicious move by him to travel to General Santos City on the day Arum arrived in Manila to discuss his next fight. Poor Arum had to follow him in the southern part of the Philippines to finally catch to Pacquiao. Some wonder if Pacquiao is intentionally avoiding his boss at that time.
Then, there is that change of dates from the original schedule of November 10 to December 1. Pacquiao and his adviser Michael Koncz confirmed that last week. This fueled speculations of yet again another round of Pacquiao facing Miguel Cotto who has a scheduled fight that date and yes, the never ending hope of a Floyd Mayweather match.
Then after that news of the new Fight date, another twist to the Pacquiao saga happened. Arum then announced that the November 10th fight is still good with that interview with 8CN.com, adding more confusion to this matter. Are the boss and his star fighter in the same page?
Top Rank has three options in the table for Pacquiao. This includes a rematch with Cotto and Timothy Bradley and an a fourth meeting with Juan Manuel Marquez. All have some sort of reasoning to pick them. Be it economics, an unfinished business and the most appealing recipe of any telenovela, revenge.
But we all know what everyone in boxing and people beyond boxing wanted. That is for the Pacquiao and Mayweather fight to happen, or at least any serious talk for it to happen.
Please no more calling out in Tweeter. Please not another solitary overseas call between the two with one fighter offering this percentage and so and so. Please no more middlemen, no more representatives. And please, no more excuses from both camp even before any semblance of professional discussion has taken place. We all know that boxing is business and with the big returns this bout can offer, can the two camps not behave like businessman and professionals for once?
If the mega fight does not happen after a serious and professional meeting between the two camps, then that is fine with me. At least they have tried, honestly tried. Then maybe we can move on from all of this and accept the fact that some mouthwatering boxing matches cannot simply be made.
Because it is not fair for the fans of both fighters, of the sport itself that they be sold on the idea of Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, when in reality they are facing different opponents in the ring. This has been the same old story since 2009 and somehow I think fans are getting tired of it.
If Pacquiao is indeed cool on skipping a fight this year to give chances for the Mayweather fight to happen, I am sure fans will understand that. If it does not materialize after a serious round of talk between him and Mayweather, fans will understand that as well. Then after that, let us all move on.
Because this telenovela is getting tiresome already!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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