By Edward Chaykovsky

Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is NOT a happy camper when discussing the current relationship between eight division champion Manny Pacquiao and HBO.

Arum, while speaking with the Los Angeles Times, lashed out at HBO for “abandoning” Pacquiao “after sucking him dry for 10 years.”

The tension began after HBO took a pass on distributing the pay-per-view for Pacquiao's November 5th return against World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Jessie Vargas, which takes place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The network has refused to carry that event, because they are already committed to distributing a pay-per-view fight on November 19th, when Sergey Kovalev defends his WBO/WBA/IBF light heavyweight titles against Andre Ward. Besides the Kovalev-Ward PPV, there are other sporting events in that time period which the network believes will affect Pacquiao-Vargas buyrate.

Pacquiao was originally being positioned to return on October 15th, but there was a conflict with his political duties back home.

“Don’t they understand his schedule is based on the [Philippine] Senate?” Arum asked. “And somebody should remind [HBO] how many Philippine American subscribers they have – who aren’t going to take kindly to this.”

“Who are they to say it’s an awful date? It’s my money. They have no risk on this. I think it’s a good date. The presidential date is irrelevant, and the college football schedule on November 5 is less important than November 19.”

Based on their rejection, Arum strongly feels that Pacquiao is now a free agent and able to fight anywhere. Arum is speaking with Turner Sports and is also planning to approach ESPN and Showtime. A source at HBO told the paper that Pacquiao is not a free agent, which Arum disputes.

“In my opinion, they have an obligation to distribute this fight,” Arum said. “The fact that they passed means the contract is over, it seems clear to me. They can’t pick and choose which fights they are going to distribute. They’re either in breach of contract or they’ve ended the contract. My feeling is, based my legal background, is that the contract is terminated.”

Arum is also considering the possibility of having Top Rank distribute the pay-per-view themselves.

“We have an interest in distributing it ourselves. Why pay a distributor 7.5% if I don’t have to?. There’s people out there who know how to distribute a pay-per-view. How many people does it take? We could do it, and it’s definitely one of the options.”