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From day one, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum had an agenda when it came to making Manny Pacquiao's next fight. He wanted to match him with Shane Mosley, and that is what he did, and he doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks.
He knows Mosley is an aging fighter who doesn't have a great chance to win, but he has a big name that general sports fans recognize, even if they don't realize he is not the same Shane Mosley of just a few years ago.
Arum doesn't care. He only wants to do what is best for himself, certainly not for boxing. He is going to put Mosley in the ring with Pacquiao soley because of name. It's a move that will squeeze out the last gasps of Mosley's once-outstanding career so Arum can generate another big payday while doing a disservice to real boxing fans who actually care about the matchups and not just a famous but faded name.
Forget all the nonsense we've heard since Pacquiao beat down Antonio Margarito, about how Pacquiao's next opponent was going to come from a list of Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Berto.
The real list was more like Mosley, Mosley and Mosley. But Arum had to include a couple of other names so he could leverage Mosley into believing it was a competition and, therefore, drive down his price. Mosley is desperate for the fight after being beaten almost as badly in his recent divorce settlement as he will be by Pacquiao, who should have put his foot down and demanded a better fight. Make no mistake: Pacquiao is culpable here, too.
Arum knows this business as well as anyone and knows how to play people. He played this one to the hilt, talking about how he was going to solicit term sheets from each of the three potential opponents and then bring them with him to the Philippines for a meeting with Pacquiao to go over the offers.
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He knows Mosley is an aging fighter who doesn't have a great chance to win, but he has a big name that general sports fans recognize, even if they don't realize he is not the same Shane Mosley of just a few years ago.
Arum doesn't care. He only wants to do what is best for himself, certainly not for boxing. He is going to put Mosley in the ring with Pacquiao soley because of name. It's a move that will squeeze out the last gasps of Mosley's once-outstanding career so Arum can generate another big payday while doing a disservice to real boxing fans who actually care about the matchups and not just a famous but faded name.
Forget all the nonsense we've heard since Pacquiao beat down Antonio Margarito, about how Pacquiao's next opponent was going to come from a list of Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Berto.
The real list was more like Mosley, Mosley and Mosley. But Arum had to include a couple of other names so he could leverage Mosley into believing it was a competition and, therefore, drive down his price. Mosley is desperate for the fight after being beaten almost as badly in his recent divorce settlement as he will be by Pacquiao, who should have put his foot down and demanded a better fight. Make no mistake: Pacquiao is culpable here, too.
Arum knows this business as well as anyone and knows how to play people. He played this one to the hilt, talking about how he was going to solicit term sheets from each of the three potential opponents and then bring them with him to the Philippines for a meeting with Pacquiao to go over the offers.
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