Please give me any feedback on my article, I wrote it for my Sports Media class on "Current Events". Thanks in advance fight fans!
“Mayweather Checkmates Top Rank King Bob Arum, Pawn Pacquiao Missing in Action”
“I'll force Arum to make the fight!” Manny Pacquiao declared in an interview, just days after what seemed like yet another fallout in the ongoing Mayweather vs Top Rank negotiation trench war. It's been a whirlwind two weeks of mud-slinging, and rumours being killed almost as fast as they were created. It began quite suddenly with Mayweather's media bludgeoning of Team Pacquiao over twitter, facebook, and any other medium he could get his hands on, calling him out. Interestingly, despite a promise to strong arm Arum in light of everything that's happened, Pacquiao has remained silent ever since.
The fight world ate the Floyd "tweets" up, piling more pressure on Arum and Pacquiao to fill Floyd's court ordered May 5th Cinco De Mayo fight date than probably they've ever had put on them before. Dan Rafael, Jim Rome, and more journalists began to see the games Top Rank have been playing, as they began to aid in loading on the media pressure. Arum, sly as ever, implemented almost a roadblock a day -
We don't want to negotiate with Team Mayweather,
Pacquiao's cut needs to heal, we'll fight in June (Yet they wanted Marquez for May 5th)
We don't know who represents Floyd (then why do you hate Al Haymon and GBP so much? Floyd said to call Schaefer and Haymon) – Arum ignored their calls
We need to build a temporary stadium for the bout (but still haven't talked to builders or investors yet)
I (Bob Arum) could see about getting Floyd's jail sentence back further
And here we go again. In reality, was this really new to anyone?
Dating back as far as 2009, after Mayweather shut out Pacquiao rival Juan Manuel Marquez, and Pacquiao thrashed dangerous contender Miguel Cotto, the battle for Pound for Pound supremacy seemed imminent. Arum stating “There should be no problems” to Dan Rafael of ESPN, as he had contracts sent to Team Mayweather, agreeing on a 50/50 split, the fight venue, glove-size, and a Manny Pacquiao demand of 10 million dollars per pound over 147 for Mayweather at the weigh-in, a demand he also had for Oscar De la hoya (1 million per pound over).
Team Mayweather, looking it over, whether he believed Pacquiao was really using something “extra” or not, felt the need to match Pacquiao's “Cheat proof” demands, and requested that they do Olympic-style blood testing randomly throughout camp, for both fighters, to ensure both fighters are not on anything extra. Pacquiao, for a number of reasons created either by him, or Arum, refused. The exact same media circus ensued, and the fight was cancelled. That time, it appeared to a lot that it was Floyd avoiding the fight.
Floyd stayed true to his word, and random blood tests were issued throughout training camp for he and Welterweight kingpin Shane Mosley, with no ill effects on the fighters. A myriad of fights occurred that no one was really interested in, with the main question still hanging in the balance “Will Pacquiao take the tests, will the fight ever happen?”
When Pacquiao agreed to take OST in a grainy youtube post-workout video, the boxing world was abuzz again with hopes of the mega-showdown. Surely catching wind of that- Mayweather proclaimed pre-fight in the Ortiz bout, “Yes, Pacquiao, you're next”, then most likely due to out of the ring issues, he avoided most Pacquiao talk , and most fight talk of any sort, stating simply “If he takes the tests, then let's make the fight”.
Almost sadly, there are those who believe Arum would NEVER do business with Mayweather (and vice versa). A lot of fans are asking, for a guy that has a terribly hard time hiding from the spotlight- “Where has Pacquiao been in all of this? Did Pacquiao lose confidence in the controversial 3rd Marquez bout? Did Arum lose confidence in Pacquiao?” It's important to note that Floyd or Pacquiao are not getting any younger, and with Floyd facing jail time, the luster is slowly but surely becoming lost.
The coldest War boxing has ever witnessed has reached freezing temperatures, and it seems “The mighty” really hath fallen in light of the past 2 weeks. Of course, some will see what they want to see, and will actually believe that most of the reasons Top Rank have provided are logical enough to NOT have the fight on May 5th. The pattern for most, however, has become all too transparent.
Tick, tock.
“Mayweather Checkmates Top Rank King Bob Arum, Pawn Pacquiao Missing in Action”
“I'll force Arum to make the fight!” Manny Pacquiao declared in an interview, just days after what seemed like yet another fallout in the ongoing Mayweather vs Top Rank negotiation trench war. It's been a whirlwind two weeks of mud-slinging, and rumours being killed almost as fast as they were created. It began quite suddenly with Mayweather's media bludgeoning of Team Pacquiao over twitter, facebook, and any other medium he could get his hands on, calling him out. Interestingly, despite a promise to strong arm Arum in light of everything that's happened, Pacquiao has remained silent ever since.
The fight world ate the Floyd "tweets" up, piling more pressure on Arum and Pacquiao to fill Floyd's court ordered May 5th Cinco De Mayo fight date than probably they've ever had put on them before. Dan Rafael, Jim Rome, and more journalists began to see the games Top Rank have been playing, as they began to aid in loading on the media pressure. Arum, sly as ever, implemented almost a roadblock a day -
We don't want to negotiate with Team Mayweather,
Pacquiao's cut needs to heal, we'll fight in June (Yet they wanted Marquez for May 5th)
We don't know who represents Floyd (then why do you hate Al Haymon and GBP so much? Floyd said to call Schaefer and Haymon) – Arum ignored their calls
We need to build a temporary stadium for the bout (but still haven't talked to builders or investors yet)
I (Bob Arum) could see about getting Floyd's jail sentence back further
And here we go again. In reality, was this really new to anyone?
Dating back as far as 2009, after Mayweather shut out Pacquiao rival Juan Manuel Marquez, and Pacquiao thrashed dangerous contender Miguel Cotto, the battle for Pound for Pound supremacy seemed imminent. Arum stating “There should be no problems” to Dan Rafael of ESPN, as he had contracts sent to Team Mayweather, agreeing on a 50/50 split, the fight venue, glove-size, and a Manny Pacquiao demand of 10 million dollars per pound over 147 for Mayweather at the weigh-in, a demand he also had for Oscar De la hoya (1 million per pound over).
Team Mayweather, looking it over, whether he believed Pacquiao was really using something “extra” or not, felt the need to match Pacquiao's “Cheat proof” demands, and requested that they do Olympic-style blood testing randomly throughout camp, for both fighters, to ensure both fighters are not on anything extra. Pacquiao, for a number of reasons created either by him, or Arum, refused. The exact same media circus ensued, and the fight was cancelled. That time, it appeared to a lot that it was Floyd avoiding the fight.
Floyd stayed true to his word, and random blood tests were issued throughout training camp for he and Welterweight kingpin Shane Mosley, with no ill effects on the fighters. A myriad of fights occurred that no one was really interested in, with the main question still hanging in the balance “Will Pacquiao take the tests, will the fight ever happen?”
When Pacquiao agreed to take OST in a grainy youtube post-workout video, the boxing world was abuzz again with hopes of the mega-showdown. Surely catching wind of that- Mayweather proclaimed pre-fight in the Ortiz bout, “Yes, Pacquiao, you're next”, then most likely due to out of the ring issues, he avoided most Pacquiao talk , and most fight talk of any sort, stating simply “If he takes the tests, then let's make the fight”.
Almost sadly, there are those who believe Arum would NEVER do business with Mayweather (and vice versa). A lot of fans are asking, for a guy that has a terribly hard time hiding from the spotlight- “Where has Pacquiao been in all of this? Did Pacquiao lose confidence in the controversial 3rd Marquez bout? Did Arum lose confidence in Pacquiao?” It's important to note that Floyd or Pacquiao are not getting any younger, and with Floyd facing jail time, the luster is slowly but surely becoming lost.
The coldest War boxing has ever witnessed has reached freezing temperatures, and it seems “The mighty” really hath fallen in light of the past 2 weeks. Of course, some will see what they want to see, and will actually believe that most of the reasons Top Rank have provided are logical enough to NOT have the fight on May 5th. The pattern for most, however, has become all too transparent.
Tick, tock.
Comment