By Heath Chavez
It seems the consensus is that when it comes to the matchmaking process of who Manny Pacquiao fights it’s ultimately Bob Arum and Freddie Roach’s decision.
This is one of the biggest lies in boxing. Top Rank promotions Bob Arum and boxing trainer Freddie Roach don’t pick who they want Manny Pacquiao to fight next, it’s Manny who has the final say and chooses his opponents.
Whatever Manny wants Arum and Roach give him. Arum recently told AOL Fanhouse that he will be flying to the Philippines on Dec. 12 and will be there around the time of Pacquiao’s 32nd birthday on December 17. He also said that he will fly there with a list of opponents for Manny Pacquiao to pick from if Floyd Mayweather Jr. is unavailable to fight and the short list includes Shane Mosley, Andre Berto and Juan Manuel Marquez. We all know who Manny is going to pick, he fits all the previous criteria of Pacquiao foes, old, washed up, coming off loses….yes…you guessed right, “Sugar” Shane Mosley!!!
Arum doesn’t choose, it’s Manny himself who is the cherry picker, he already came out in the open and said a third fight with Marquez wouldn’t draw interest, which is a lie, that fight would do better numbers than the 700,000 ppv buys Pacquiao did with Joshua Clottey. Marquez vs. Pacquiao will sell easy because Pacquiao and Marquez have a long rivalry together, rivalry and history is easy to market, it’s like Lakers vs. Celtics, in boxing you have Philippines vs. Mexico, or Pacquiao vs. Mexico, and many fans including myself believe Marquez won both fights against Pacquiao.
I’m not a Pacquiao hater, I don’t want to see him in with guys that are too big for him like Sergio Martinez or Paul Williams because that is asking too much of a guy who fought at 112 pounds and already went above and beyond expectations in climbing up in weight. All I want from Pacquiao is what all the boxing fans want and that is to see him fight someone coming off a winning record, someone who is not slow but has speed and power, and someone that would make the fight competitive.
This is why I consider Juan Manuel Marquez a true throwback fighter, a real Mexican warrior, he doesn’t cherry pick his opponents he fights the best fighters to test his skills. Marquez has fought so many tough hungry young fighters and he beats them in some tough wars. Manny Pacquiao looked like he wanted to quit in both Marquez fights, his punch output was lower and he was scared to trade with Marquez.
Manny cherry picks easy fights to make him the most money and makes him look good by having them weight drained before a fight affecting their performance in the fight.
Manny knows about the business side of boxing now. He is now a politician and probably influenced by the greedy money men around him, he is no longer that poor Filipino kid stealing from the old people on the streets. Manny is to blame for the poor choice of opponents, there is no excuses anymore, don’t buy into the image that he is an uneducated third worlder who doesn’t know about signing contracts or business. Manny knows what he is doing and he acts like everyone is a servant to him, he has people who have to feed him food, and massage his feet while he watches television. A guy who really is humble and cares about people doesn’t make airplanes full of passengers delay flights for one hour. These are not the actions of a humble and considerate man.
Manny had everyone fooled. Politics is perfect for him, he likes to put on an innocent facade but deep down he knows how to manipulate, and he has a lot of people buying into his hype. If Manny fights Shane Mosley instead of Marquez or Andre Berto it proves my point and I hope those reading this will wake up and realize the truth.
*Please refrain from leaving any Racist, Profane or Derogatory comments*
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