Originally posted by Deevel916
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Dan Rafael ESPN, last edited January 7, 2012
Friday's turn of events made that pretty clear. There have been previous negotiations and lots of rhetoric. At various times throughout this whole ordeal, I believe both sides have been to blame.
But at this moment, the fault of a fight not being made falls squarely on the shoulders of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who, in my view, simply doesn't want to make the match at a moment when there seems to be no legitimate impediment.
It was just this week that Arum said he would go to the Philippines to meet with Pacquiao and present him with the names of four possible opponents for May or June: Miguel Cotto, Marquez, Lamont Peterson and Timothy Bradley Jr.
Arum figured Mayweather would be in jail and off the table. Now that Mayweather is available and seemingly would like to make the match, Arum suddenly isn't interested.
He used the lame excuse of the cut Pacquiao suffered against Marquez, saying he might not be ready for May. (I've never heard of a cut taking more than six months to heal.) However, earlier this week, when Arum thought Mayweather would be on ice behind bars, he said there was a good possibility Pacquiao would fight in May. Moments after Mayweather was granted the continuance, Arum changed his tune.
"We're fighting in June, one of the four guys," Arum told me over the phone.
I asked him, now that Mayweather was available, would he at least be part of the conversation when Arum meets with Pacquiao next week? A perturbed Arum's response was, "Absolutely not. Nope." Come again? You won't even talk about it with Pacquiao, I asked very politely. "My mission is to go over to the Philippines and talk about these four guys," Arum said. "If Manny feels he wants to go in May, he will tell me. I want to make sure Manny's cuts are healed. We won't fall under this kind of pressure. June is much more likely for Manny's fight, not May."
So May was a real possibility yesterday, but now there's no way? "What if they fought and Manny started bleeding on the first punch?" a clearly flustered Arum said. "I don't know if Manny is available to fight in May. I have no idea. I haven't talked to him; I haven't seen him. Seems to me, June is more likely based on what his plastic surgeon said."
"I don't think Manny Pacquiao wants to be on that list of names for Mayweather, or Bob doesn't want him to be on the list," Schaefer said. "I am sick and tired of Arum's bulls---. First Bob said June is when Pacquiao would fight, when Floyd was going to be on May 5. Then, when it looked like Floyd wouldn't be available in May, he said Pacquiao would be available in May. Now, since they know Mayweather is going to fight in May, suddenly Pacquiao is going to fight in June.
"I'm tired of all those people saying it is Mayweather who doesn't want the fight. Arum knows who to call. He can pick up the phone and call me and say, 'Let's get a fight done with Pacquiao.' The rest of it is bulls---. The rest can go drink the Arum and Top Rank Kool-Aid. It is Arum who doesn't want the fight to happen, end of story."
I agree with Schaefer.
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