Monday, January 4, 2010

Big US stadiums want to host Pacquiao fight

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum said his email has been receiving inquiries from all over, asking him to bring Manny Pacquiao to them regardless of who the Filipino fights.

“It’s unbelievable. They don’t care who Manny fights,” Arum told the Bulletin over the weekend from his Las Vegas home.

Arum said the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas of Texas billionaire Jerry Jones is back in the mix, while Atlanta is also making a bid to host Pacquiao in the event a last-ditch effort fails to finalize a megabuck match with Floyd Mayweather for March 13.

Dallas and Atlanta had expressed their respective bids to stage Pacquiao-Mayweather but they were edged by perennial contender, Las Vegas, with the MGM Grand Garden Arena as venue.

But when negotiations turned sour a few weeks ago when Mayweather demanded that Pacquiao undergo random urine testing, the fight that was thought to be a done deal suddenly appeared dead in the water.

Arum said Yuri Foreman, the reigning World Boxing Association super-welterweight champion, is being eyed to replace Mayweather.

While there is still an impasse over the proposed Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown, an effort to find a solution to the dispute will be explored on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) when representatives of Pacquiao and Mayweather meet up with noted mediator Daniel Weinstein in Los Angeles.

Also expected to be discussed is the lawsuit filed by Pacquiao against the Mayweathers – boxer Floyd Jr., his father Floyd Sr. and uncle Roger – and Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions (GBP).

GBP has been given authority by Mayweather to negotiate with Arum regarding the Pacquiao fight.

It was Weisntein who succeeded in resolving the issue between Arum’s Top Rank and GBP concerning promotional control over Pacquiao in 2007.

Even GBP’s stake on Pacquiao will likely be discussed in the meeting with Weinstein, as Arum is aiming to rid GBP of its minor promotional rights over Pacquiao owing to the spate of accusations of Pacquiao’s alleged drug use by De La Hoya and Schaefer.

Weinstein, a retired San Francisco judge, is one of the US’s top mediators, having worked complex cases involving major NYSE and Nasdaq corporations and Hollywood celebrities.

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