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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Top Rank CEO, Bob Arum, sat at a table on an elevated stage in a back room of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
The 79-year-old promoter was surrounded by a crowd of reporters, many of whom extended their tape recorders into his face or craned their necks to read his lips against a noisy background before scribbling his answers to questions down into their notebooks.
This was the scene in the aftermath of an HBO pay per view televised unanimous decision victory by WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) over ex-champion Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) for the vacant WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) belt, a triumph that earned the Filipino super star his eighth title in as many different weight classes before 41,734 screaming fans.
It was the 13th straight win for Pacquiao with eight knockouts during that run.
But scarcely was Arum able to bask in the glory of yet another successful promotion before his next big task was thrown into cue.
Will we ever see Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather?
Despite two failed negotiations between the two fighters' camps in the past to make the fight, Arum, for his part, said that he would get right on his third attempt at making the fight as early as this week.
"I will have [Top Rank Promotions President] Todd Duboef place a call directly to Floyd. Todd will ask one question and one question only, and that is whether Floyd wants to fight Manny," Arum said of Mayweather, who is facing criminal charges over a dispute with the mother of two of his sons.
"If Floyd's answer is yes about fighting Manny, then Todd will ask for Floyd's expressed permission to call his criminal lawyer," said Arum. "Todd will ask the lawyer if he can be sure if Floyd will be available, not on trial or otherwise occupied, on specific dates."
Arum believes that there is a good reason for his attempting to deal directly with Mayweather rather than his representatives. Mayweather was represented by Golden Boy Promotions' Richard Schaefer during the first round.
And in late July, following the second round of failed negotiations for Mayweather-Pacquiao, HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg acknowledged that he acted as a mediator between Mayweather's handlers and those of Pacquiao's from Top Rank Promotions.
Greenburg said that he had been the intermediary negotiating with Arum and Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon, even as Golden Boy Promotions' president, Oscar De La Hoya, and Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, have denied that negotiations ever took place.
Since then, Mayweather has been wooed by promoter Don King, who is seeking to represent the fighter.
"If Todd gets a good answer from the lawyer, then Todd calls Floyd directly one more time. Todd will ask Floyd, 'who is your chosen representative, who should we sit down with to to put this fight togther?'" said Arum. "We don't care who Floyd says, who he picks, be it Don King, Golden Boy or anyone else."
The 79-year-old promoter was surrounded by a crowd of reporters, many of whom extended their tape recorders into his face or craned their necks to read his lips against a noisy background before scribbling his answers to questions down into their notebooks.
This was the scene in the aftermath of an HBO pay per view televised unanimous decision victory by WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) over ex-champion Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) for the vacant WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) belt, a triumph that earned the Filipino super star his eighth title in as many different weight classes before 41,734 screaming fans.
It was the 13th straight win for Pacquiao with eight knockouts during that run.
But scarcely was Arum able to bask in the glory of yet another successful promotion before his next big task was thrown into cue.
Will we ever see Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather?
Despite two failed negotiations between the two fighters' camps in the past to make the fight, Arum, for his part, said that he would get right on his third attempt at making the fight as early as this week.
"I will have [Top Rank Promotions President] Todd Duboef place a call directly to Floyd. Todd will ask one question and one question only, and that is whether Floyd wants to fight Manny," Arum said of Mayweather, who is facing criminal charges over a dispute with the mother of two of his sons.
"If Floyd's answer is yes about fighting Manny, then Todd will ask for Floyd's expressed permission to call his criminal lawyer," said Arum. "Todd will ask the lawyer if he can be sure if Floyd will be available, not on trial or otherwise occupied, on specific dates."
Arum believes that there is a good reason for his attempting to deal directly with Mayweather rather than his representatives. Mayweather was represented by Golden Boy Promotions' Richard Schaefer during the first round.
And in late July, following the second round of failed negotiations for Mayweather-Pacquiao, HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg acknowledged that he acted as a mediator between Mayweather's handlers and those of Pacquiao's from Top Rank Promotions.
Greenburg said that he had been the intermediary negotiating with Arum and Mayweather's manager, Al Haymon, even as Golden Boy Promotions' president, Oscar De La Hoya, and Mayweather's adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, have denied that negotiations ever took place.
Since then, Mayweather has been wooed by promoter Don King, who is seeking to represent the fighter.
"If Todd gets a good answer from the lawyer, then Todd calls Floyd directly one more time. Todd will ask Floyd, 'who is your chosen representative, who should we sit down with to to put this fight togther?'" said Arum. "We don't care who Floyd says, who he picks, be it Don King, Golden Boy or anyone else."
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