By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
In this Q&A, Top Rank Promotions' Bob Arum responded to a recent statement by HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg that supported Arum's own assertion that negotiations took place for a mega-bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
Mayweather's camp -- Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya -- has stated there were no negotiations.
Arum also defended the right of Antonio Margarito to face Pacquiao for the WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) title potentially outside of the United States even though Margarito is not licensed to fight in America stemming from a hand-wrapping scandal. Margarito served a year-long suspension handed down by the California State Athletic Commission.
In a new development, Arum said that he is "considering Nevada, Texas and New Jersey as well as Monterrey, Mex." for the Nov. 13 Pacquiao-Margarito fight, adding, "we're going to weigh everything by the end of the week and decide where we're going."
"In New Jersey, we would have it at Boardwalk Hall. In Texas, we would consider the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, and in Las Vegas, it would be the MGM Grand Arena," said Arum. "I'm optimistic in all three states."
Abu Dhabi still is an outside consideration as well, although Arum said, "that doesn't appear to me at this point in time as being something reasonably that will happen."
What do you have to say about Ross Greenburg's statement?
Ross Greenburg's statement reflects exactly what I went through and what I talked about at the midnight conference call. That's exactly what I said. You remember that I said that I negotiated through Ross Greenburg, and Al Haymon was on the other side. We were negotiating through Greenburg and that's what Greenburg said.
Now, it's as simple as that. And for these people to deny anything ever took place is ludicrous. You don't see Haymon denying anything. Richard Schaefer, I think, has demonstrated that he is not to be trusted. He plays fast and loose with the truth.
What are your thoughts on Oscar De La Hoya initially saying that the deal was close to being done in one interview, and then, saying the negotiations never took place in another?
Oscar is an advertisement for this movie that's coming out this Friday night that's called, 'Dinner for Schmucks.' Oscar is not the brightest penny on the block. Anybody who pays any mind to what Oscar De La Hoya says is not very bright either.
So that's why you have Oscar De La Hoya once summarizing the negotiations for Mexican television like he did at first. And I thought that he did a pretty good job. That was my understanding of where the negotiations were.
And then for him to say, 'Well, I just said those things to get somebody off my back,' and 'there were no negotiations.' I mean, what are you saying? Why did you go through this situation where you had such an elaborate answer to describe the negotiations, and then you tossed it off and said there were no negotiations. I mean, that's a lie.
Do you think that after all of this that a Mayweather-Pacquiao matchup can ever be negotiated and that the fight will ever be made?
We'd have to find some other way. This way did not work. We'd have to find some other way which has a better opportunity to work. Right now, I don't know what that better way is. But between now and next year, maybe something will occur to me.
How much do you think that Floyd Mayweather's past with you as his former promoter has to do with the way the negotiations went?
I don't think that it has anything to do with it. I really don't. I think that Floyd didn't want to fight and the people around him wanted him to fight. You know, it didn't have anything to do with Bob Arum.
Switching to Pacquiao-Margarito, that fight, reportedly, would be at a catch weight of 150 pounds?
That's correct.
What do you tell people, including Oscar De La Hoya, who might be saying that Antonio Margarito should not be licensed and does not deserve this opportunity against Manny Pacquiao?
Let me tell you something, these are people who don't know any of the facts. They should read the record of the California State Athletic Commission, which shows clearly that Margarito didn't know what was happening, and that these pads that were inserted into his hand wraps were not something that he would naturally catch.
The idea that these pads were Plaster of Paris inserts is absolutely bull****. They're making that up, and that appears nowhere in the record. There is all of this misinformation out there that people like Oscar De La Hoya eagerly cling to because he's a man who has no discernment.
I mean, he doesn't read and he doesn't study. And anybody who has studied that record can not say that Antonio Margarito was complicit in what happened. You can not say that from the record. That being said, California applied the standard of 'he's the boxer, and he's the captain of his ship,' and therefore his license should be revoked.
That was the wrong standard in California, although it is the standard in Nevada. That's a technicality. But he served his time. This was never meant to be a life sentence.
I understand that what could delay a California hearing and potentially keep Antonio Margarito from being licensed there is his lawsuit claiming lack of due process. Is there any chance that he'll drop his lawsuit against California?
I talked to the lawyers about that. That's not a decision that I would make. And the lawyers are not advising him to drop it because when you read the appellate papers, he is the favorite to win and reverse that case.
In other words, I can see the judge throwing out the fact that his license was revoked and showing that there is no blemish on his record. They shouldn't be able to deprive him of that [hearing]. He's not suing anybody for monetary damages.
I mean, this is America, and you have a right to be heard.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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