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Bob is at it again...................
It was a crowded scene inside of the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles this past April as Filipino stalwart Manny Pacquiao entertained the press in advance of his showdown with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand. As is always the case at any Top Rank media function, promoter Bob Arum was sitting calmly on the sidelines soaking everything in.
Following Pacquiao's several interviews with various reporters and his brief mitt session with trainer Freddie Roach, I spoke with Arum on a few story lines surrounding the sport at the moment. One of the biggest headlines at the time was of Victor Ortiz's inspiring victory over then-WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, a fight in which each man tasted the canvas twice while trading leather recklessly over the course of twelve rounds.
Ortiz rose to a completely different level with that performance and Arum conceded it was something he never saw coming.
"He surprised me," Arum said. "I didn't expect that he would win that fight. Berto obviously is a built up guy. But that's not to take anything away from Ortiz. He took it to Berto and he won the fight. But for anybody to spend the money on Berto that they did, millions and millions of dollars, and to get really nothing because they had never really put him in a tough fight, it's sad."
On May 31st Arum began taking an even greater interest in Ortiz, whom he used to promote before the fighter eventually jumped ship to Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Top Rank and Golden Boy had been in the middle of a bit of a feud in recent times, not having worked on a card together since the May 2009 Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton event in Las Vegas, Nevada, and seeing Ortiz involved with Arum's company in any fashion seemed like a stretch.
But recently the two promotional companies made headway towards working with one another after De La Hoya and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer publicly apologized to Pacquiao, whom they had implied was under the aide of performance-enhancing drugs for some of his latest victories. In return Pacquiao has since dropped a defamation lawsuit he had going against Golden Boy and Arum admitted that Ortiz was someone he would be looking at as a potential foe for Pacquiao in the future.
“Golden Boy has at least one fighter who, down the road, who could factor into a fight with Manny Pacquiao, and that’s WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz,” stated Arum to BoxingScene's Lem Satterfield earlier this month. “The statement of settlement frees that up and enables that to happen, with all other things being equal.”
But earlier this month undefeated superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. threw out a curve ball of his own by announcing a September 17th showdown with Ortiz, a fight likely to land at the MGM Grand or Cowboys Stadium just outside of Dallas, Texas. The news sent shock waves through the sport and it's a pretty interesting fight for Mayweather, who hasn't fought since his near shutout over Shane Mosley in May of last year.
Arum, who went from praising Ortiz after the Berto victory and even looking at him as a future foe for Pacquiao, now doesn't seem to think too highly of the 24-year old Mexican-American at all.
"Victor Ortiz is not nearly ready for Floyd Mayweather. And for Golden Boy to put Ortiz, who just won a title, in with Mayweather at this point in his career is something that, form a boxing standpoint, makes no sense. Ortiz just won a title from Andre Berto and you figure that they would get him some more experience and have him make some title defenses. And the amount that Victor Ortiz is getting paid is nothing spectacular. It's nowhere near what Manny Pacquiao pays his opponents," Arum said in another conversation with Satterfield.
Hearing Arum tell it, you would think that the poor kid was cannon fodder for 'Money' Mayweather.
"I wouldn't have wasted or thrown a young guy like Ortiz into this match against Mayweather at this particular point in his career. I just wouldn't do it because there is no way that Victor Ortiz is ready to fight somebody like Floyd Mayweather. There just isn't."
Who knows what Arum is really thinking but a lot of insiders I have spoken to are giving Ortiz a fair chance against Floyd. His youth, polished boxing style, and power, amongst other things, will surely keep the fight interesting if anything else.
Definitely a fight to look forward to but don't expect much hype from Arum in the coming weeks
.
It was a crowded scene inside of the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles this past April as Filipino stalwart Manny Pacquiao entertained the press in advance of his showdown with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand. As is always the case at any Top Rank media function, promoter Bob Arum was sitting calmly on the sidelines soaking everything in.
Following Pacquiao's several interviews with various reporters and his brief mitt session with trainer Freddie Roach, I spoke with Arum on a few story lines surrounding the sport at the moment. One of the biggest headlines at the time was of Victor Ortiz's inspiring victory over then-WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, a fight in which each man tasted the canvas twice while trading leather recklessly over the course of twelve rounds.
Ortiz rose to a completely different level with that performance and Arum conceded it was something he never saw coming.
"He surprised me," Arum said. "I didn't expect that he would win that fight. Berto obviously is a built up guy. But that's not to take anything away from Ortiz. He took it to Berto and he won the fight. But for anybody to spend the money on Berto that they did, millions and millions of dollars, and to get really nothing because they had never really put him in a tough fight, it's sad."
On May 31st Arum began taking an even greater interest in Ortiz, whom he used to promote before the fighter eventually jumped ship to Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. Top Rank and Golden Boy had been in the middle of a bit of a feud in recent times, not having worked on a card together since the May 2009 Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton event in Las Vegas, Nevada, and seeing Ortiz involved with Arum's company in any fashion seemed like a stretch.
But recently the two promotional companies made headway towards working with one another after De La Hoya and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer publicly apologized to Pacquiao, whom they had implied was under the aide of performance-enhancing drugs for some of his latest victories. In return Pacquiao has since dropped a defamation lawsuit he had going against Golden Boy and Arum admitted that Ortiz was someone he would be looking at as a potential foe for Pacquiao in the future.
“Golden Boy has at least one fighter who, down the road, who could factor into a fight with Manny Pacquiao, and that’s WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz,” stated Arum to BoxingScene's Lem Satterfield earlier this month. “The statement of settlement frees that up and enables that to happen, with all other things being equal.”
But earlier this month undefeated superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. threw out a curve ball of his own by announcing a September 17th showdown with Ortiz, a fight likely to land at the MGM Grand or Cowboys Stadium just outside of Dallas, Texas. The news sent shock waves through the sport and it's a pretty interesting fight for Mayweather, who hasn't fought since his near shutout over Shane Mosley in May of last year.
Arum, who went from praising Ortiz after the Berto victory and even looking at him as a future foe for Pacquiao, now doesn't seem to think too highly of the 24-year old Mexican-American at all.
"Victor Ortiz is not nearly ready for Floyd Mayweather. And for Golden Boy to put Ortiz, who just won a title, in with Mayweather at this point in his career is something that, form a boxing standpoint, makes no sense. Ortiz just won a title from Andre Berto and you figure that they would get him some more experience and have him make some title defenses. And the amount that Victor Ortiz is getting paid is nothing spectacular. It's nowhere near what Manny Pacquiao pays his opponents," Arum said in another conversation with Satterfield.
Hearing Arum tell it, you would think that the poor kid was cannon fodder for 'Money' Mayweather.
"I wouldn't have wasted or thrown a young guy like Ortiz into this match against Mayweather at this particular point in his career. I just wouldn't do it because there is no way that Victor Ortiz is ready to fight somebody like Floyd Mayweather. There just isn't."
Who knows what Arum is really thinking but a lot of insiders I have spoken to are giving Ortiz a fair chance against Floyd. His youth, polished boxing style, and power, amongst other things, will surely keep the fight interesting if anything else.
Definitely a fight to look forward to but don't expect much hype from Arum in the coming weeks
.
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