Jerry Jones once passed on promoting Manny Pacquiao

Barry Horn of The Dallas Morning News has a feature up right now about Jerry Jones, which is certainly nothing new, and about Jones' involvement with Manny Pacquiao, which you might expect is just about this weekend's fight at Cowboys Stadium between Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey.

But it's not that simple. Horn writes that years ago, when Manny Pacquiao was promoted by Murad Muhammad, then-Cowboys coach Bill Parcells tried to talk Jones into putting some money into the young Filipino fighter. Muhammad was also a tailor, and made clothes for both Parcells and Jones. Parcells, a boxing fan, set up a meeting between Muhammad and Jones, at Muhammad's request.

Parcells thought Pacquiao was worth the investment. And so he called Jones to set up a meeting.

"We sat in Jerry's office and talked about how good Oscar De La Hoya was doing and how Manny could follow in his footsteps," Parcells said. "I said, 'Jerry this guy is a good young fighter. He's worth a shot. ' "

But Jones wouldn't bite. He reasoned that if Pacquiao was a good as Parcells advertised, someone who knew more about the subject than an Arkansas oil man who hit the jackpot with the Cowboys would be willing to make an investment.

Jones says he doesn't regret not making the investment, because he still doesn't think he would have been the right guy to do it.

But, Horn writes, when word came down the pipe that Jones would be helping to promote a Pacquiao fight, Parcells called Jones and had just one comment:

"You do know the fighter I was talking to you about was Manny Pacquiao," Bill Parcells told Jones. In a matter of seconds, both men were laughing.