Top Rank promoter likes his fighter’s chances for upset.
By GEORGE WILLIS
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he confident his fighter Manny Pacquiao can defeat Oscar De La Hoya Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and wouldn’t have pursued the fight if he thought otherwise. Arum explained that Pacquiao is such a national treasure in the Philippines he wouldn’t put him in a fight he couldn’t win just for money.
“I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to Manny Pacquiao, who is an icon of a nation of 90 million people,” Arum said during a conference call Monday. “I wouldn’t have allowed this fight to happen if I didn’t feel in my heart of hearts that Manny could win the fight. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to win, but I really believe that he will win and that it is very, very competitive.”
Later Arum added, “In Manny Pacquiao you’re not dealing with just an ordinary fighter or a great fighter,” Arum said, “you’re dealing with somebody that represents a country that’s one of the greatest allies of this country (USA). That means something, and you don’t put somebody in a fight that you believe he can’t win just for money. You don’t do that.”
Pacquiao, who is guaranteed $11 million plus pay-per-view revenue, began his career at 106 pounds. He was fighting at 130 pounds last March and had only one fight at 135. He’s moving up to 147 pounds to fight De La Hoya, who is four inches taller and has fought most of his recent career at 154 pounds. Arum is confident the smaller Pacquiao has the skills to score an upset.
“I believe Manny will win the fight,” Arum said. “Freddie Roach believes that he will win the fight, (Top Rank matchmaker) Bruce Trampler believes he can and will win the fight, and those are the people whose views I respect. The haters out there and the know nothings out there, they can say what they want and it has no affect on me.”
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A 14-foot bronze statue of Oscar De La Hoya was unveiled on Monday outside the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. De La Hoya, who fought only once at the facility losing to Shane Mosley in 2000, has his likeness next to NHL legend Wayne Gretzky and Lakers superstar Magic Johnson on the Sports Walk of Fame. After attending the ceremony, De La Hoya headed to Las Vegas to begin Fight Week preparation for his bout against Pacquiao. “This is a dream come true for Oscar,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “To get that kind of recognition going into the biggest fight of his career will give Oscar additional fire. It’s a tremendous honor and I don’t think there could have been any better time for that to happen.”
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Arum said that if he would have known how bad the economy was going to tank after announcing De La Hoya-Pacquiao last October he would have suggested lowering the pay-per-view price to $49.95, but still expects to do good business. “I’ve been very satisfied with ticket sales and I’m sure we’re going to be very, very satisfied with pay-per-view sales,” Arum said. De La Hoya-Pacquiao is being distributed by HBO PPV for $54.95.
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Arum announced a pay-per-view double-header for Feb. 21 that feature Kelly Pavlik defending his middleweight title against Marco Antonio Rubio at one venue and former welterweight champion Miguel Cotto fighting Michael Jennings in a world title eliminator at a different location. “We going to put the two fights together and put them on one pay-per-view card,” Arum said.
