By Steve Kim
While it's Jessie Vargas who will face Manny Pacquiao on November 5th at the Thomas and Mack Center, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum had reached out to manager/adviser Al Haymon in hopes of pairing Adrien Broner (32-2, 24KOs) with 'the Pac Man'.
It was reported that Broner had turned down an offer of $4 million to face Pacquiao.
Pacquiao announced his retirement back in April after winning a twelve round decision over Tim Bradley, but now plans to continue his career for a few more fights.
So why did Broner turn down this career-high payday?
Arum believes the fighters were being overpaid when Haymon first began the Premier Boxing Champions series last March, and now that he's trying to pay more reasonable amounts - there are issues with fighters agreeing to those figures.
Arum told BoxingScene.com - "I can't answer for them. You see Al Haymon came in and he did a lot of programming and when he was flush with cash, initially, paid all these fighters crazy amounts of money. Now, when he tries to get them back in the ring for what is a reasonable amount of money, they wont go."
Top Rank will handle the production and distribution of Pacquiao vs. Vargas.
Currently, Broner- who last fought on April 1st and stopped Ashley Theophane in nine rounds in Washington DC - has no fight scheduled for the fall.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
