Upon hearing the news that Floyd Mayweather is hoping to make "the biggest fight possible" when he makes his return to the ring on May 5, 2012 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, one would think that would be music to the ears of Manny Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, who has repeatedly stated that making a fight with the undefeated pound-for-pound champion was his top priority. Evidently, that's just too much to ask, however, as both Arum and Pacquiao's adviser, Michael Koncz, promptly dismissed the idea of making the fight a reality, offering up a litany of excuses as to why they are not even taking the comments of Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe seriously. Instead of embracing the announcement and telling fans that, after November 12, they look forward to sitting down to once again try to make the fight that we all want to see, Arum and Koncz quickly said any and everything possible to crush any hopes that we may have had. "And who are they to say what date that the fight would be held? What kind of of negotiation is that? So, if the MGM gave them May 5, then, Manny may fight somebody else in April in Texas or in the Thomas and Mack. This is not the way to make a deal," Arum would tell Lem Satterfield of RingTV.com.
Not the way to make a deal? Perhaps age is starting to affect the memory of the 79-year-old Arum, who just last year did the exact same thing. On May 11, 2010, just 10 days after Floyd Mayweather's dominant 12-round unanimous decision victory over Shane Mosley, Arum announced that Manny Pacquiao's next fight would take place on November 13 and that he already had two venues picked out. "I have reserved the date [November 13] and both the Dallas Cowboys Stadium and MGM Grand in Las Vegas are available," Arum proudly announced. Keep in mind that this was PRIOR to Arum ever acknowledging speaking to anyone from Team Mayweather about the possibility of a fight; almost a full 2 months before he surprisingly announced that there were no longer any issues, setting a deadline for Mayweather to decide if he wanted to fight on that date. Now, if reserving a date and a venue for your next fight isn't a way to make a deal, as Arum suggests, then why did he do the exact same thing prior to the mysterious second round of negotiations? Fortunately, FightHype.com has chronicled a timeline of the Mayweather-Pacquiao saga that he can review before making any other conflicting statements. More importantly, hopefully Lem Satterfield over at RingTV.com will ask him that question the next time he speaks to Arum. In fact, perhaps he and all reporters should review both of FightHype's timelines in order to refresh their memories before asking Bob Arum and Michael Koncz any further questions.
Manny Pacquiao's advisor, Michael Koncz, would reiterate Arum's sentiments to Satterfield, stating, "As far as I'm aware, nobody from Mayweather's camp has contacted Manny directly or myself, or anybody else in position to discuss the fight. Secondly, Mayweather can not attempt to control everything by already selecting a venue, and selecting a date, because if the opponent is Manny Pacquiao that he intends to fight, then he needs to check with Manny to see if he's even available on that date." Not to beat a dead horse, but to counter Koncz's statements, first of all, as far as I'm aware, Manny Pacquiao has a fight coming up on November 12, so why exactly would anyone contact them to negotiate anything when they don't even know if he'll be victorious in that fight. Don't get me wrong, I fully expect Pacquiao to look spectacular against Marquez, but Michael, please don't insult the intelligence of fans by making us believe that someone should have contacted you to begin negotiations. Secondly, Mayweather's not attempting to control anything other than his own next date and venue. By reserving them now, he's guaranteed a date and venue to fight if, for whatever reason, a deal can not be reached. Again, this is no different than the steps that Team Pacquiao has taken in the past. In fact, when Bob Arum imposed his mid-July deadline last year, he told Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com, "We're not just going to sit there and blow our chances for a fight in November...we're going to have a fight on November 13 and we would love it to be Mayweather," making it clear that they had a plan B in place if a fight with Mayweather could not be made.
The latest reports coming from Bob Arum, according to recent tweets from ESPN's Dan Rafael, is that although they are fine with random blood and urine testing, and they are perfectly okay with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) handling the testing while Pacquiao trains in the United States, for whatever reason, they want the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to handle the testing while he trains in the Philippines. Either Arum missed the memo or he's just "behind on the times", like he accused several members of the media of being, but newsflash....THE WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY DOES NOT DO TESTING OR SAMPLE COLLECTING! This is the same song and dance that Bob Arum was doing in July when he questioned the "neutrality" of USADA, saying, "We have agreed in the Pacquiao camp to unlimited random testing done by a responsible, neutral organization. We don't believe USADA is a neutral organization." Never mind the fact that, once upon a time, July 6, 2010 to be exact, Bob Arum had no concern at all about who did the testing, stating, "We don't care who's doing the test!" Not to mention, shortly after Arum made the statement about wanting a "responsible, neutral organization", Terence O'Rorke, Senior Manager of Media Relations and Communications of the World Anti-Doping Agency, clearly explained that they do not do testing or sample collecting and, because the event would take place in the United States, "USADA is the body which would be the best one to use, absolutely!" In regards to multiple Anti-Doping organizations being invvoled, O'Rorke would also reply, "Absolutely not! No, that is the norm."
Seriously, am I the only one who can see what's going on here? I refuse to believe that guys like Dan Rafael, Lem Satterfield, or Chris Mannix are actually dumb enough to just accept all the things that Bob Arum and Michael Koncz are telling them without even questioning it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Bob Arum does NOT want to make the fight. He NEVER has and he NEVER will. Don't get me wrong, I can't knock his hustle because so long as he doesn't make the fight, he can continue to match Pacquiao with Top Rank fighters and keep all that money in-house. That's exactly why you can expect to see Pacquiao facing Timothy Bradley some time in April now that Mayweather has grabbed the coveted Cinco de Mayo date. That being said, if fans have any hope for Mayweather vs. Pacquiao actually happening, then some of those respected journalists that I just mentioned need to start taking Bob Arum to task on the numerous foot-in-mouth moments he's been making as opposed to letting him manipulate the fans through their media outlets. Start asking him the tough questions and exposing what's really going on instead of whispering about it "off the record" and behind people's backs. Do your job and let the fans know the true facts instead of turning a blind eye! The truth is out there...you just have to care enough to report it. Perhaps therein lies the problem...do they even care anymore?
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