R. Mayweather Praises Bob Arum, Rips Manny Pacquiao

by Chris Robinson

At the moment there seem to be conflicting reports as to Manny Pacquiao’s next move. The WBO welterweight champion of the world defended his belt on November 12th with a tougher-than expected majority decision over his rival Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas but after a performance that was less than stirring, it remains to be seen as to who we will be seeing him facing off with next.

Pacquiao recently held a press conference in his native Philippines to announce that his team would be pursuing a possible fight with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. but there is a strong feeling that Manny's promoter Bob Arum would instead prefer to push for a fourth bout with Marquez, who he has a career 2-0-1 record against despite every one of their fights being razor-thin.

Adding another intriguing layer to the scenario, Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza recently blasted Arum during several internet interviews, blaming the 80-year-old promoter, and boxing agent Michael Koncz, as being the responsible parties for blocking a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight from becoming a reality.

During a recent visit to the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, I ran across Floyd’s outspoken Uncle and trainer Roger Mayweather to get his thoughts on all of the drama. Roger definitely likes to lay low in his free time but admitted he was in the building for Pacquiao’s third match with Marquez.

“I was there. Yeah, I was there. I didn’t think sh*t of it. His a** lost,” Roger said of Pacquiao. “He can’t fight anyways. What’s he going to do with my nephew? His a** lost to Marquez. What’s he going to do with my nephew?”

As for those who still believe that Pacquiao would defeat Mayweather, Roger response was straight and to the point.

“People don’t know sh!t about boxing, period. That’s what I tell them,” he continued.

You always want to have confidence in your fighter but Ariza caught the media off-guard during the fight’s lead-up by stating that ‘God himself’ wouldn’t have been able to help Marquez in their trilogy bout. When informed of Ariza’s statement, Roger was at a loss.

“What? You know what? What is he talking about?” asked a befuddled Mayweather. “Remember, this mother****** fought Pacquiao three f****** times! One fight was a split-decision. One fight was a draw, and I don’t know what the f*** that last fight was, it should have been a draw too.

“So how in the world [is he] talking about how Marquez wouldn’t have a chance with Pacquiao? He already knows Pacquiao. He knows Pacquiao better than most people know him. Obviously he knows him better because he fought him three times. That tells you he must know something about him then.”

Roger then answered whether he believed if Arum feels deep down that Pacquiao would be in for a loss against Floyd, thus his motive in possibly pushing for a fourth bout with Marquez.

“That’s what I would do. I mean, he probably knows what time it is. Bob Arum is a good promoter. I can’t say nothing bad about Bob Arum because he’s a good promoter and he does what he’s supposed to do as far as with his fighters.”