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The reason Williams-Margarito II isn't going to happen next, however, has nothing to do with Margarito being afraid to face him. It has everything to do with the animosity between Arum and Al Haymon, Williams' manager.
Arum and Haymon have had a poisonous relationship for the past few years, since Haymon engineered Mayweather's break from Top Rank.
The relationship seemed to thaw recently when Arum negotiatied with Williams' promoter Dan Goossen for a potential fall fight between Top Rank-promoted middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik and Williams.
However, the deal went south. Arum said he thought they had a deal and blamed Haymon, not Goossen, for killing it over money.
"We at Top Rank are not doing business with those people with the way they f---ed me around on the Pavlik fight," Arum told me this week. "To string me along for two weeks and make a schmuck out of me, I have no desire to do business with them. They can paint it any way they want. And just so you know, I'm not talking about the puppet [Goossen]. I'm talking about the puppeteer [Haymon]. If you don't want to do a fight, just say it. You don't string a guy along to f--- him up and f--- up his fighter. I almost lost a date for Pavlik because of those people. It has nothing to do with the fact that [Williams] beat Margarito. Frankly, I think Dan was as taken aback by the conduct as I was."
Arum and Haymon have had a poisonous relationship for the past few years, since Haymon engineered Mayweather's break from Top Rank.
The relationship seemed to thaw recently when Arum negotiatied with Williams' promoter Dan Goossen for a potential fall fight between Top Rank-promoted middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik and Williams.
However, the deal went south. Arum said he thought they had a deal and blamed Haymon, not Goossen, for killing it over money.
"We at Top Rank are not doing business with those people with the way they f---ed me around on the Pavlik fight," Arum told me this week. "To string me along for two weeks and make a schmuck out of me, I have no desire to do business with them. They can paint it any way they want. And just so you know, I'm not talking about the puppet [Goossen]. I'm talking about the puppeteer [Haymon]. If you don't want to do a fight, just say it. You don't string a guy along to f--- him up and f--- up his fighter. I almost lost a date for Pavlik because of those people. It has nothing to do with the fact that [Williams] beat Margarito. Frankly, I think Dan was as taken aback by the conduct as I was."
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