WHAT COULD BE WRONG WITH THIS EVENT?
Pittsburgh, PA– Viewers will enjoy a sure thing slugfest Saturday night when Filipino phenomenon Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) tangles with Puerto Rican tough man Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) in boxing’s event of the year, from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. And while Top Rank promotions deserves the accolades, revenue and excitement it will generate, perhaps its self-aggrandizing chief Bob Arum should resist his urge to pat himself on the back while reminding us of his importance and power. After over 40 years in the business, those qualities can’t be denied in Arum, but don’t let him fool you on this: He’d choose what’s best for Top Rank over the sport every time.
AND SO WHAT IF TOP RANK PUTS ITSELF FIRST?
Maybe you ask: Isn’t it acceptable for a promoter to only be concerned with his clients, even to the sport’s detriment? Well, yes and no. Sure, a promoter’s first responsibility goes to his fighters, and Top Rank has become one of the two leading firms in the country if not the world by unabashedly and unapologetically furthering its boxers’ interests. But then, when confronted with what the sport needs the most – having the best consistently face each other, and putting together great scraps – Arum without the bat of an eye will deprive fans of a potential middleweight (160 lb.) classic like Kelly Pavlik against Arthur Abraham, or even the sport’s most important contest this decade (if Pacquiao wins Saturday), Pacquiao against Floyd “Money” Mayweather for pound-for-pound supremacy.
GEE, WHY SO NEGATIVE, ESPECIALLY NOW?
As much credit as Arum likely believes he’s entitled for Top Rank’s several good bouts, including this weekend’s and others like Cotto-Joshua Clottey, keep in mind: Boxing got itself into the jam it’s in today by the precise attitude that fans should count their lucky stars when promoters and networks decide to grace us with the best fights, when that’s what we deserve all of the time. Real fans don’t need promoters to tell us the value of Pacquiao-Cotto, or that anyone other than Mayweather or Shane Mosley for the winner sometime in 2010 is a second-rate farce. They say “how ‘bout that Pacquiao-Cotto fight’? I say how ‘bout Juan Manuel Lopez-Celestino Caballero or a Nonito Donaire-Vic Darchinyan rematch? The same hardcore boxing fans that Arum insulted to Steve Kim of MaxBoxing.com several weeks back could serve as matchmakers next week if called.
BUT DOESN’T TOP RANK MAKE A LOT OF GOOD FIGHTS?
It may seem inappropriate, or at least ill-timed, to pick on Top Rank now, when it’s also brought us gems like Antonio Margarito-Cotto. As arguably the best in the business and the industry leader, though, why should it get away with giving us about half of what we want (and challenge me on this one, please) while expecting us to keep our mouths shut and happily accept it? Are we to forget all of the great fights we missed because of feuds and personal vendettas involving Golden Boy Promotions and Al Haymon, to name just two, or a ridiculous exclusive television contract that virtually killed boxing on Versus. Think I’m being too harsh? Hey, I don’t tell my kids they can skip school tomorrow because they went today. Why should we continue to give boxing’s powers that be a vacation from their responsibilities while we wait for them to return to work?
Brian Gorman