By Reni M. Valenzuela
Money, for all its powerful hold on people, is a poor master but a good servant.
If money is the issue that remains to be solved in order to make The Fight come true, then it’s easy to deal with it for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. if only they would look at money being the lesser thing which pales in comparison with their legacy, dignity, character, integrity, people’s esteem, sports standing, true greatness and the world’s appreciation or condemnation.
Few hours after my article “50-50 IN PACQUIAO VS. MAYWEATHER: LET REASON PREVAIL” came out yesterday in several boxing websites, boxing scribe Ben Thompson reacted and emailed me to clarify certain sensitive aspects of the Pacquiao-Mayweather circus, and I quote in part what he said:
“Haymon and Arum, aren’t working on the deal, then there are NO NEGOTIATIONS, as is the case right now. Manny Pacquiao is a Top Rank fighter, therefore, the only people authorized to negotiate on his behalf are Bob Arum and Todd DuBoef, so Michael Koncz has absolutely no authority to negotiate anything with Floyd Mayweather. He can negotiate with Bob Arum regarding Manny’s agreement with Top Rank, but he can’t negotiate with the Mayweather side. So at the end of the day, like I said, Floyd’s comments and Manny’s comments are irrelevant. You can’t hold something hostage if it’s not there to hold in the first place.”
My reply was both a suggestion and a challenge since Thompson is close to Mayweather, but he dismissed the idea by way of insinuation, saying:
“Arum still refuses to negotiate with the same people he originally tried to negotiate with back in 2009. He made that CRYSTAL CLEAR when he flat out turned down the offer from retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein to sit down with Leonard Ellerbe and Richard Schaefer to resume negotiations in November. If Bob Arum is not negotiating with anyone, the fight is NOT going to happen. Michael Koncz has no authority to make a fight with Floyd Mayweather. That’s like Leonard Ellerbe trying to negotiate a fight with Manny Pacquiao without talking to Bob Arum. That would NEVER happen … If Arum is saying the fight can’t happen… then guess what…the fight WILL NOT happen .” Sounds valid?
Thompson’s argument, though, may not hold water for long just as another sportswriter Scoop Malinowski breaks down the situation in his column today:
“Whenever Manny Pacquiao’s representatives earnestly take actions to produce the biggest fight in boxing history with Floyd Mayweather, they keep running into the same wall. Once again Floyd Mayweather is blocking, stonewalling and ducking the opportunity to negotiate a fight with Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather’s media relations mouthpiece Ben Thompson of Fighthype.com did his best to shoot down the earnest attempts of Pacquiao advisor Michael Koncz to make a deal with Mayweather. Koncz has been meeting with Mayweather for several days in Las Vegas. Writes Thompson at his site: Koncz “gives false hope to the fans who still believe that Pacquiao and Mayweather will finally face each other inside the ring.”Wait a second. It’s only “false hope” if one side wants the fight and the other side (Mayweather) is only pretending to want the fight.” Sounds valid either.
But please don’t react publicly, Arum, Konz, DuBoef, Ellerbe and Haymon! This is a call for Todd and Bob representing Top Rank to personally connect at once with Haymon who officially represents the Mayweather camp to make the deal in one week and finally make The Fight happen in May and so relieve the fans all over the globe to breathe freely.
“… give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, who is the Lord? Or I may become poor and steal and so disown the name of my God.” – Proverbs 30:8-9
All that being said, Pacquiao and Mayweather are virtually out of the picture. The ball now is in hands of Arum and Haymon. Get it done asap biggies so everyone can get over with it, and make celebratons! Or you get pounding of tables from around the world directed at you, this time.
renimvalenzuela@yahoo.com
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