Top Rank Promotions' CEO Bob Arum spoke to FanHouse concerning his Nov. 13, and, Dec. 4 boxing cards, respectively, at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium
in Arlington, Tex., and, the Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif.
in Arlington, Tex., and, the Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif.
The monster Pacquiao-Margarito under card is comprised of Cuban-born southpaw and two-time former Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux (6-0, five knockouts), who has been competing as a professional super bantamweight (122 pounds), against Panamanian southpaw featherweight (126 pounds) Ricardo Cordoba (37-2-2, 23 KOs); the return of former WBO and WBC middleweight (160 pounds) champion Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KOs), of Youngstown, Ohio, against Bryan Lee Vera (17-5, 11 KOs), of Austin, Tex.; and rising Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones (22-0, 18 KOs) in a bout opposite Mexican-born Jesus Soto Karass (24-4-3, 16 KOs) of Los Angeles.The main event in Anaheim features junior middleweight and middleweight prospect Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (40-0-1, 30 KOs), of Mexico, who is the son of the former world champion by the same name, opposite Alfonso Gomez (22-4-2, 11 KOs), of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mex.
Also on the Dec. 4 card is WBA interim super flyweight (115 pounds) champion Nonito Donaire (24-1, 16 KOs) of the Philippines against Ukrainian WBA bantamweight (118 pounds) titlist Voldymyr Sydorenko (22-2-2, seven KOs), and lightweight (135 pounds) Brandon Rios (25-0-1, 18 KOs) of Oxnard, Calif., against Noe Balonos (21-5-1, 13 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mex.
Chavez could be in line to meet WBA junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) of Puerto Rico, sometime in early 2011, and Donaire, to meet WBO and WBC bantamweight (118 pounds) king Fernando Montiel (43-2-2, 33 KOs) of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mex., on HBO on Feb. 19, said Arum.
FanHouse: Can you shed light on this reports from the Philippines indicating that you were disappointed after having observed a Manny Pacquiao sparring session?
Bob Arum: I got there on a Saturday, and the first session that I saw was a Saturday session. And, he looked listless and just nothing like the Manny Pacquiao that I was used to seeing. So I was very concerned, and I was so concerned that I articulated my concern to the press.
To the Philippine press. Sunday was an off day, of course, but Monday was the press day. And he hit the mitts and he had woken up a little bit and he looked good hitting the mitts. But then, on Tuesday, that was a sparring day. And he had Amir Khan added to the sparring.
Glen Tapia was there sparring and so Michael Medina. And he looked much, much sharper.
Of the bad day of sparring and the listlessness, what do you attribute those things to?
[Trainer] Freddie Roach was saying that that was part of a general pattern. That my criticism, in effect, woke Manny up. That he was going through the motions pretty much.
What are your feelings about Manny Pacquiao's assertion that Antonio Margarito knew about the illegal hand wraps?
He's entitled to his opinion, and that's Manny's opinion. I totally disagree with that opinion. I don't think that Antonio Margarito knew that his hands were being wrapped illegally. But everyone is entitled to their opinion about that.
What is your take on Antonio Margarito's comeback as far as bringing up Manny Pacquiao's association with steroids?
I think that for Antonio, that's a natural reaction that a fighter would have. You know, 'You say this about me, I'll say that about you.' So, you know, I don't pay that much attention to that.
Is a rematch a natural for Manny and Antonio in the event that Margarito were to pull the upset?
No. I mean, there's nothing contractual dealing with a rematch. In other words, there doesn't have to be a rematch. And, there's no way that I could compel a rematch. But if Margarito were to win, and they wanted to go at it again, both of them, then that would be terrific.
But again, nobody's every discussed a rematch, and that wouldn't be for me to decide. What the public will demand will be determined by if a Margarito beats a Pacquiao and how well the fight went. But who knows what the public will demand?
Can you speculate on what might be next for Manny Pacquiao in victory, should he continue his professional career and not go into politics full time?
Well, Manny Pacquiao, as I understand it, has moved up to junior middleweight for this one fight. My understanding is that he will move back down to welterweight after this fight.
Can you discuss what is at stake for Kelly Pavlik, such as a potential fight with IBF super middleweight (168 pounds) champion Lucien Bute?
Kelly Pavlik is at a crossroads in his career. This is his fight to get back. And if he wins this fight, then, he can look forward to even bigger fights, particularly against even someone like Lucien Bute.
What are your plans for Mike Jones?
Mike Jones is a terrific fighter, and the thing that I like about him other than the fact that he's a very, very good fighter is the fact that he has fan base. And he has people who passionately follow his career. They buy tickets and they all come to his fights. In this economy, and in this industry, he's a very valuable commodity.
Can you speculate on what might be on the horizon for Mike Jones as far as his world title aspirations, big fights in general, or potentially one against Manny Pacquiao?
Mike Jones wouldn't be an appropriate fight for Manny Pacquiao right now because very few people know who Mike Jones is. But, you know, let's see what happens a year from now.
Forget Mike Jones fighting for a title. How far away is Mike Jones from becoming an attraction for a big, pay per view fight? And I think that Mike Jones, he's maybe a year away.
Is a potential shot at Andre Berto something that you would like for Mike Jones?
We would do that fight in a second between Mike Jones and Andre Berto, but we offered Jones for Berto before they opted to take the fight that Berto has with Freddy Hernandez. And they turned the fight down.
What about a fight between Andre Berto and Miguel Cotto?
The problem with Berto is that he's a lovely kid and he's a good fighter, but he's a tulip, which means that his value has been set by what HBO is paying him for his fights. And, like the frenzy over tulips centuries ago in Holland, it's the same thing.
Berto shouldn't command anything like what HBO is paying him. Therefore, it makes it very, very difficult to make a big fight for Berto against somebody like a Miguel Cotto because the kid wants to be paid more than he would get paid for ordinary fights.
Therefore, he would be vastly overpaid. So it's very difficult.
What does the future hold for Julio Cesar Chavez as it pertains to Miguel Cotto?
The fight with Chavez and Cotto is what is on the drawing board for right now. But, if, for example, Margarito lost to Pacquiao, but looked very, very good in losing the fight, then, maybe, the fight to make is a Cotto-Margarito rematch. And then, you might have Chavez fight somebody like a Yuri Foreman.
We'll have to get one fight at a time done. We have a lot of options in those weight classes.
Is Nonito Donaire-Fernando Montiel a lock for Feb. 19 on HBO if Donaire wins his next fight?
It's not just likely, it's going to happen. And it's going to happen in the first quarter of next year, 2011, and it will be shown on HBO.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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