By Lem Satterfield
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who promotes Manny Pacquiao, is not going to entertain a fight with WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez. Arum doesn't think it's fair to continue matching Pacquiao against fighters who have a significant size advantage. Pacquiao weighed 146.5-pounds for his recent one-sided blowout of Antonio Margarito.
The tough Mexican weighed 165-pounds by the time he hit the ring. Pacquiao was only 148-pounds. And while Pacquiao dominated nearly every minute of the action, Margarito badly hurt him in the sixth round with a hard shot to the body. Even days after the fight was over, Pacquiao still felt the effects of the body damage.
Arum plans to match Pacquiao, at least for his next fight or two, against boxers who are closer to his size. The current options are Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shane Mosley and Andre Berto.
"I want to do, as I said before, one fight, maybe two fights, for Manny Pacquiao with two guys more his own size. I don't want to keep putting him in with much bigger guys at a much bigger weight where he gives away 20-something pounds when he fights," Arum said.
"Forget what they weigh in at the day before the fight. The last fight, he gave away 20-something pounds when he fought. That's what he would be doing, or even more, once again if he were to be in a fight with a Sergio Martinez. That's not right. You can do it once in a while, occasionally, like we did with Antonio Margarito. But you can't keep doing it as a steady diet and trying to prolong the guy's career."
Despite the difference in size, Arum is confident that Pacquiao would beat Martinez. But, Arum believes Pacquiao's career will shortened by continuing to put him in position to sustain damage from much larger fighters.
"Because even if he beat Martinez, which I believe that he would, and even if he turns it into a fairly easy fight, because he's fighting someone who is a much bigger, stronger guy, he could get hurt like he did in there against Antonio Margarito. You can get him hurt once in a couple of years, but you can't keep getting him hurt every fight and expect him to continue fighting," Arum said.
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.
