Bob Arum trying to distance Pacquiao-Bradley III promotion from Pacquiao

This is an odd situation. Bob Arum, who promotes Manny Pacquiao and is of course promoting Pacquiao's April 9 fight with Tim Bradley, is essentially trying to separate the fighter from the fight at this point, calling Pacquiao's recent comments about homosexuals "reprehensible," and saying that it does not reflect anyone else involved in the promotion.

Arum said he's not sure if already modest projections for pay-per-view sales would be impacted by the controversy, but wants to make very clear that others involved in the promotion, including himself, do not share Pacquiao's beliefs.

From RingTV.com:

"The only way you do damage control is he apologized and we move away from the possibility that anybody would think we or Bradley or anyone connected to the fight believes in what he did say," Arum said. "And if (Pacquiao) believes it, it's unfortunate but that's his belief. You can't really affect somebody who is saying things that you don't believe in but is part of their religious beliefs."

Nike has already swiftly cut ties with Pacquiao, who is running for a Senate seat in the Philippines. He's served as a Congressman since 2010. His fight in April is being billed as the last of his career, before Pacquaio, now 37, makes politics his full-time job.

It's probably an understatement to say that this isn't the way that Pacquiao envisioned ending his career, shrouded in controversy and being dropped by his biggest sponsor, but, well, he said what he said.