"147 would kill my guy, so I'd prefer to fight Klitschko in the heavyweight division," remarked world-renowned advisor and promoter Sampson Lewkowicz, who shared his thoughts on recent comments made by Manny Pacquiao regarding his willingness to fight middleweight champion Sergio Martinez at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds. Martinez has previously offered to move down to 150 pounds to make the fight at a catchweight, the same weight that Pacquiao defeated Antonio Margarito last November to capture the WBC jr. middleweight title. Lewkowicz has long had his doubts that Pacquiao would actually be willing to step into the ring with Martinez, and in his opinion, these latest comments have only confirmed his belief.
"It's so ridiculous. Pacquiao fought at 150 against Margarito; he needs to go to 150 [for Martinez]. Offering 147 is a good excuse for him. It proves that Pacquiao really doesn't want to fight Martinez," Lewkowicz explained. "For the first time, I believe Pacquiao's not brave enough to say Martinez is too big. I agree with his management that Martinez is too big, but don't tell me [he would fight him at] 147 because that insults my intelligence!"
Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, also recently came on record to declare that a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will never happen. It's a statement that Lewkowicz has been telling FightHype.com for quite some time now and the very reason why he believes one of them should take Martinez up on his offer to come down to 150 pounds.
"Bob Arum finally put two and two together. I've been saying this for the past year, 'It will never happen.' I would say to Bob that [the blame] is 50-50 because neither one wants to share the portion and they know they don't need each other. Between the egos of both and the dislike Mayweather has toward with Arum it will never happen; he dislikes him passionately," Lewkowicz continued.
Regarding Arum's suggestion that the reason why the fight won't happen is because Mayweather is afraid, Lewkowicz replied, "With the money that is involved, there is no fear for either of the fighters. There will always be a rematch, which will make more money. [Mayweather fearing Pacquiao's right hand] was not a good statement by Bob. With the egos of both, the promoters can't afford both of them. You can't make $100 million for each one. Roy Jones Jr. vs. Dariusz Michalczewski didn't happen because of the egos."
Although a fight between Martinez and Pacquiao will never happen given the recent comments, the middleweight king still plans on attending Pacquiao's November 12 showdown with Marquez, but only to enjoy the fights. However, there's another fight one week later that Martinez expects to be ringside for in order to call out another Top Rank fighter. "He will be at the Pacquiao fight just to watch the fight, not to challenge anyone, because he knows he is too big for Manny Pacquiao. He will go to see Chavez Jr. fight and will ask him after the fight, if he wins, to either give him the title or to fight him," Lewkowicz added. "It's no choice for him. If he can be man enough, let's settle it in the ring. If not, don't be champion. A champion is made to defend his title with his mandatory without any excuse. If he doesn't want it, give up the title, be a gentleman, shake hands, and walk away. If he really wants to be a champion, take a chance."