Schaefer Feels Arum is Cherry Picking Pacquiao's Fights
By Lem Satterfield
There is certainly no love between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank. Golden Boy's CEO, Richard Schaefer, took aim at Bob Arum, the CEO at Top Rank, by stating that Arum should take the blame for any perceived cherry picking of Manny Pacquiao's opponents.
Schaefer is very surprised with Pacquiao's recent comments about Juan Manuel Marquez. When asked about a third fight with Marquez, Pacquiao said the "fans will not want to watch it" and voiced his concerns about the pay-per-view buyrate. Schaefer doesn't believe those are Pacquiao's thoughts. He feels those are actually Arum's thoughts on the fight.
"I am a little surprised about his [Pacquiao's] comments about Marquez to tell you the truth because that's a little uncharacteristic for him," said Schaefer. "Because I know Manny Pacquiao doesn't turn down anyone. He will fight anyone. It really is not Manny Pacquiao, I think that it's his promoter. Manny fights whoever his promoter puts in front of him. Do you think Manny Pacquiao was picking Joshua Clottey? I mean give me a break, you know?"
If Pacquiao fights a less than stellar opponent in his next ring appearance, Schaefer says it's Arum who should take the blame - and not the Filipino champion.
"So you really can't be disappointed in Pacquiao. If you have to be disappointed you can be disappointed in Arum, but not in Pacquiao," said Schaefer. "Arum has that way about him to take charge, and I think that it takes a very strong fighter to stand up to that and to say, you know what? I'm the boss and I'm going to say who I want to fight."
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.
