Bob Arum Talks Pacquiao-Mosley and Hints at Marquez Fight

Joaquin Henson of The Philippine Star reports that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is expecting big buys for the May 7 Showtime pay-per-view bout between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley, and says that this is a one-fight deal with Showtime and CBS for the Filipino superstar.

"We signed a one-fight deal with Showtime and CBS ... We’re excited about CBS’ tremendous promotional muscle. HBO is hooked up to 28 million homes and Showtime to 21 million but CBS, as a terrestrial network, has a reach of 115 million homes. The Saturday before the NCAA Final Four, they’re airing a half-hour special promoting the fight on prime time. And the week before the fight, a one-hour special will air also on prime time. The Final Four has an audience of about 30 million homes. So you can just imagine how many homes will be reached when the fight promotions kick in."

Arum, because he can never control himself when talking about potential buys, also added that hey, there's potential to break the all-time PPV record, which is 2.4 million buys for the 2007 fight between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

That's incredibly unlikely, but remember that Arum also expected Hatton-Pacquiao to set records, then when it didn't even come remotely close, tried to hide the very good numbers that the fight did draw from the public, which failed because HBO and Golden Boy were happy with the total.

Arum is also doing his best job to convince anyone who might listen that the Shane Mosley you saw in 2010 against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sergio Mora (Sergio Mora!) isn't really Shane Mosley. He hypes Mosley's "one-punch power," and says that while he doesn't have "foot speed" anymore, he's dangerous because of Pacquiao being Pacquiao. I guess since I complained about Top Rank just saying "Styles make fights!" and not offering a reasonable explanation of how that HELPS Mosley be competitive in this fight, I do have to applaud Arum for trying with this quote:

"Mosley won’t expend as much energy against Manny compared to fighting someone who’ll hit and run. I expect Manny to come firing away. Remember that Mosley still has his hand-speed."

The last line would be far more honest if Arum just said, "Forget that Mosley doesn't have his hand speed anymore. Please, please forget that Mosley doesn't have hand speed anymore." Because Mosley doesn't have hand speed anymore, is my point. It's really by far the thing he's lost most compared to his prime years, or even going back to his 2007 fight with Miguel Cotto.

But probably the most interesting thing to note here is that with Juan Manuel Marquez now a free agent, Arum is entertaining the idea of a trilogy bout between Pacquiao and Marquez. Marquez's Golden Boy contract recently expired, and the Mexican star decided not to re-sign, as his status as a Golden Boy fighter prevented any hope of him getting his greatest wish, which is to fight Pacquiao for a third time. The two had remarkable battles in 2004 and 2008, the first a draw and the second a narrow Pacquiao victory. Arum says that Mosley has a rematch clause if he should win on May 7, but otherwise the door is open for a Marquez fight in November.

Of course this is what a lot of us expected would happen the minute that Shane Mosley left Golden Boy, a company he helped to build, in order to secure a big money fight with Manny Pacquiao. It took some brass for Shane to do that, and it just seemed to make all the sense in the world for Marquez to do the same. Like Mosley, Marquez is nearing the end of his career, and he knows it. He wants the big money fights, and more than the money, he wants Manny again.

As an aside, do you realize that without Marquez on the roster, Golden Boy's biggest star right now is either Saul Alvarez (who is like, 8 years old), Bernard Hopkins (who is like, 74 years old), Amir Khan or Nonito Donaire? They have a piece of David Haye, but aren't his true promoter. They better hope a lot of their prospects pan out, and that Alvarez doesn't wonder why he's bothering with them or anyone given that he's a genuine phenom in Mexico and now an HBO regular.