If the rumors are true regarding ESPN.com writer Dan Rafael and his potential new venture with HBO, there's one person in particular who will not be too happy about the news. "Dan Rafael, in my opinion doesn't know what he's talking about because he doesn't analyze it," remarked promoter Bob Arum, who just last week shared his opinion about comments made by Rafael regarding the upcoming May 7th showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley, which is taking place on HBO's rival network Showtime.
"Anybody who knows boxing knows that when you have an old fighter, the best guy you can put him in with is a fighter that comes to him that he doesn't have to look for. Now Manny knows that; Manny understands boxing. Freddie knows that. My matchmaker sure as hell knows," Arum explained as he defended their decision to face Mosley in Pacquiao's next bout as opposed to fighting Rafael's own top two preferences in Juan Manuel Marquez or Andre Berto, who ironically just suffered the first loss of his career, getting dropped twice by Victor Ortiz en route to losing a unanimous decision and his title in the process. The official scorecards for that bout were 115-110, 114-111 and 114-112. HBO's unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman had it 115-110 for Ortiz. FightHype.com scored the bout 116-109 in favor of Ortiz. Surprisingly, or not depending on how you look at it, Rafael scored the bout 113-112 for Berto.