Bob Arum is in Las Vegas to promote his June 12th event headlined by Shakur Stevenson vs. Jeremiah Nakathila on ESPN, and the legendary Top Rank boss fielded questions to the media about various topics in boxing including a bout between his former fighter Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao taking on undefeated unified WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. in August.
Arum promoted Pacquiao for many years and saw his rise from featherweight all the way to junior middleweight.
The Top Rank promoter based out of Las Vegas told Fight Hype that he would obviously favor young champions Errol Spence and Terence Crawford over the 42-year-old Manny Pacquiao, but warned that you can never count the aging legend out.
“Look Spence and [Terence] Crawford would be a big favorite against Manny Pacquiao, but you never count Manny Pacquiao out,” Arum told Fight Hype. “Pacquiao is the kind of fighter that can rise to an incredible occasion.
The hall of fame promoter shared a fond memory of promoting Manny Pacquiao in his fight against Oscar De La Hoya, where the Filipino southpaw would jump all the way from 135 pounds to 147 pounds in a fight many thought was a crazy mismatch that would end with Pacquiao badly hurt.
“I remember when I put Manny in with Oscar De La Hoya and they threatened to put me in jail in the Philippines for jeopardizing Pacquiao’s life. All the reporters here [in the United States] said what a mismatch it was. It ended up with Pacquiao handling Oscar easily and if it was a mismatch it was a mismatch the other way,” laughed Arum.
Arum didn’t issue a prediction on the fight but he puts Pacquiao as one of those special guys that you can never count out.
“There’s certain guys in life that you never count out and one of them is Manny Pacquiao,” expressed Arum.
