honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, March 14, 2010

Boxing: Pacquiao camp calls out Mayweather


By Tobias Xavier Lopez
McClatchy Newspapers

ARLINGTON, Texas — Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum went ahead and made it official Saturday. Floyd Mayweather is a chicken.

“Floyd Mayweather is ducking Manny Pacquiao,” Arum said.
Arum, Pacquiao and Jerry Jones celebrated late into Sunday morning after a thrilling night of boxing at Cowboys Stadium. Pacquiao maintained his WBO welterweight title with an overwhelmingly unanimous decision against Joshua Clottey.
Pacquiao’s utter dominance against a woefully cautious Clottey only renewed talks of a super bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Mayweather would be wise to jump on the PacMan money train before he gets left behind.
Arum said Pacquiao will make around $17-$20 million off of Saturday’s fight once the pay-per-view totals are complete.
The Pacquiao-Clottey fight is scheduled for replay on HBO at 10 p.m. Saturday.
A Mayweather bout could certainly produce the richest purse in boxing history.
Jones confirmed last week he’d initially bid $25 million to host the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout.
However, Pacquiao isn’t going to wait.
Mayweather is slated to fight Sugar Shane Mosley in May.
Pacquiao said he’d take on Mosley, as well, should he knock off Mayweather.
“It’s up to my promoter, whoever he gives me as an opponent I will fight him,” Pacquiao said. “My job is to prepare and fight in the ring, and that’s my promoter’s job to give me a fighter.”
It’s getting harder to see things from the Mayweather camp’s point of view. The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight was yanked after Mayweather’s team demanded stringent blood testing, which isn’t required by the sanctioning bodies of Nevada, California or Texas.
Arum and Freddy Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, repeatedly said last week that the reason for having sanctioning is so that state-run organizations create the guidelines, not the fighters.
Pacquiao’s camp filed a libel lawsuit against Mayweather in response to his allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs.
It doesn’t help Mayweather’s case that he didn’t insist on such measures for the Mosley bout. Mosley admitted using BALCO designer steroids, although he claimed he “unknowingly” did so.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao said he’d love to return to Cowboys Stadium and left that up to Jones.
As for Clottey, he discovered firsthand the speed of Pacquiao’s punches.
“A fight with Mayweather is going to be very, very tough for Mayweather, very, very tough,” Clottey said. “He’s fast, that’s what he does, he throws punches and Mayweather doesn’t throw punches too much. But Mayweather leads, he always jabs. So I think Pacquiao would give him a lot of problems, a lot.”