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Former WBO super featherweight champion Alex Arthur may leave promoter Frank Warren. Arthur plans to sit down with Warren to discuss his future. If Warren doesn't give him a better career direction, he may go elsewhere. Warren recently offered him an eliminator with unbeaten bruiser Kevin Mitchell. Arthur passed because of the short-notice.
The way things are going, Manny Pacquiao vs. Paulie Malignaggi is looking more and more likely for March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is not receptive to Top Rank's final offer to save the March super-fight with Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. If Schaefer does not accept the final offer by Monday, Arum plans to ditch any further plans to fight Mayweather - and then he will finalize Malignaggi as the replacement.
Top Rank's Bob Arum has made a final counter-offer to save the March 13 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. If Golden Boy Promotions does not accept his counter, he plans to move forward with finalizing a deal to have former junior welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi step in as the replacement for Mayweather on the March date. Arum has give Golden Boy a Monday deadline.
According to the word coming out of Mexico, a possible fight between undefeated featherweight porspect Juan Carlos Burgos (23-0, 16KOs) fell apart with former champion Jhonny Gonzalez after the two sides were unable to agree on the money. Burgos' side was insulted when they received a very low offer for the fight. The two camps were trying to put the fight together as a WBC eliminator.
WBC featherweight champion Elio Rojas (21-1, 13KOs) will see hostile ground on February 20 when he defends his title against veteran Guty Espadas Jr. (45-7, 28KOs) at the Poliforum Zamna in Yucatán, Mexico. Rojas makes his first defense since winning the title from Takahiro Aoh in July. Espadas has won seven in a row since being knocked out by Rocky Juarez in 2004. The level of opponent was well below the quality of Rojas and Espadas still struggled to win a few of them.
After WBA heavyweight champion David Haye gets mandatory John Ruiz out of the way, he wants to stage a unification with WBC champion Vitali Klitschko. Not just any kind of unification. A historic unification. He wants to make the "new Rumble in the Jungle" against Klitschko in Africa. Haye is interested in emulating Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman, which took place in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), in 1974. Haye told News of The World that his advisers have begun talks with the president of Gabon about possibly holding a fight there.
According to promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, the March 13 super-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still a dead issue. Arum spoke to Michael Marley of The Examiner and denied some of the information in an earlier ESPN report where Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer [negotiating for Mayweather] said the two sides had agreed to everything but the cut-off date for blood and urine tests.
According to a report on ESPN.com, Golden Boy Promotions is willing to back away from having to use the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to handle the random Olympic-style drug tests for Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao on March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight fell apart in the last week when both sides could not agree on the exact testing procedures for the fight. Golden Boy wanted the USADA to handle the random tests. Pacquiao and his side were not willing to agree. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is willing to use another company to handle the tests - as long as the tests are still random and happen within a shorter window of time than 30-days before the fight.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is surprised that WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao is planning to sue his company for defamation. Schaefer spoke with BoxingScene.com's Robert Morales and maintains that he never accused Pacquiao of taking any illegal substances; he was simply following the instructions of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his team [who Golden Boy was respresenting in the Pacquiao fight negotiations]. Pacquiao is also planning to sue Mayweather and his father Floyd Mayweather Sr.
According to Eric Pineda, Manny Pacquiao's business manager, undefeated WBA junior middleweight champiuon Yuri Foreman is still a strong possibility for them. After the proposed Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight fell apart over a random drug testing dispute, Top Rank's Bob Arum reached out to promoter Lou DiBella to obtain Paulie Malignaggi for the March 13 date.