Win or lose, Manny to fight next year

pacquiao vs dela hoya

Bob Arum isn’t one of those thinking of Manny Pacquiao’s retirement. Fact is Arum had already hinted that win or lose in Pacquiao’s Nov. 13 bout with Antonio Margarito, the fighting congressman from the Philippines should be back in the ring in May.

“If Margarito wins this fight then it’s very hard not to do a rematch,” he said a few days back.

Arum said there’s no rematch clause in the fight contract, one that guarantees Pacquiao $15 million and Margarito $3 million, because there was no need for one.

“There was no rematch clause because nobody asked me for one. But if this (Margarito) was a fighter not under Top Rank then you better believe I would have put a rematch clause there,” he said.

Both Pacquiao and Margarito are under Top Rank, and just in case the Mexican pulls off an upset then people will start working for a rematch even before the boxers could leave the ring.

“I think that Manny realized that if he’d lose the fight there would be no problem making a rematch,” said Arum.

There shouldn’t be any problem at all, again considering that both boxers are under Top Rank.

And if Pacquiao wins, as the odds say he would, there are more names to choose from for his next fight.

Arum said it could be Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley or Devon Alexander, but certainly it won’t go any higher than 147 lb.

For this fight, set at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, he had to consider any possibility, and had to present Margarito as possibly the greatest threat to Pacquiao in recent years.

Then why did he choose Margarito when Pacquiao could have made millions fighting someone else?

“I think Margarito was the perfect opponent,” said Arum.

“I think that for all of Margarito’s skills he can’t match Manny’s speed. But to come into the ring with a lot of speed requires a lot of training. That’s where you get your speed, from preparing,” said Arum.

The Top Rank chief raised doubts about Pacquiao’s speed a couple of weeks ago, but said it was no cause for alarm because there’s plenty of time left for him to get into top shape.

“He should focus and train hard and get himself ready. Manny’s success is based largely on hard work. Focus and hard work. He’s skillful and has all the attributes but with no hard work it’s not gonna be there,” said Arum.

Pacquiao, who arrived in Los Angeles Saturday evening, was at the Wild Card Gym yesterday and did more than a dozen rounds with the mitts with his chief trainer Freddie Roach.

Today, a Tuesday in LA, Pacquiao will be back sparring.

Source: Teampilipinas.info