By Lem Satterfield
According to Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, Shane Mosley breaking away from Golden Boy Promotions had nothing to do with the overall decision of selecting him as Manny Pacquiao next's opponent for May 7 at the MGM Grand. The promotional feud between Arum and Golden Boy has carried over to their working relationship. No event since Pacquiao's fight with Ricky Hatton in May of 2009, has been co-promoted by the two companies. There are several pending lawsuits between the two promotional firms that relate to Pacquiao.
There are many boxing insiders who believe Arum picked Mosley based on his "free agent" status, and overlooked Juan Manuel Marquez because of his promotional affiliation with Golden Boy.
The real reason Marquez was overlooked, according to Arum, was an unrealistic monetary demand to make the fight. Arum claims the promotional status of Marquez has nothing to do with Paacquiao's final decision because Golden Boy was willing to step aside and allow Top Rank to handle the entire promotion. In the end, the monetary demand by Marquez offended Pacquiao, says Arum. Besides the money, Arum felt Mosley was an easier opponent to sell to the public as a legit threat.
"As far as Marquez is concerned, Marquez, you know, he had those two fights with Manny Pacquiao going for him. The two prior fights [a draw and a disputed split-decision loss] with Manny Pacquiao. But one guy has become bigger from the standpoint, physically -- and that's Manny Pacquiao-- than the other guy. The other guy is a lightweight fighter, and Manny Pacquiao has grown into a welterweight," Arum said.
"We thought that when the dust cleared, that a third fight between them was going to be a relatively tough sell. Golden Boy, they agreed to step aside and to allow us to promote a third fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. They gave us the call on everything that we wanted. So that was not an obstacle."
"But what was an obstacle was that they had priced themselves so high, that it was something that Manny became offended about. They were asking for more than double the money that they made when Marquez fought and lost to Floyd Mayweather. I don't think that that was fair or that it was right, and Marquez, because of that, was a non-starter."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
