Manny Pacquiao. AP
QUESTIONS continued to be raised on the relevance of Manny Pacquiao’s fight against the clearly inferior Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas on Nov. 5.
The latest one came from Fight Saga, which wondered whether Pacquiao had gone bankrupt.
The major boxing online service says Floyd Mayweather Jr. has provided a theory as to why Pacquiao continues to seemingly fight for money over legacy.
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“It’s all about surrounding yourself with the right people in making smart investments,” Mayweather was quoted as saying.
Fight Saga says it believes Pacquiao pocketed much less than the publicized $150 million in his superbout against Mayweather last year.
In fact, the famous conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who has worked close with both Pacquiao and Mayweather, said he has personally seen the check, and claimed Pacquiao got only a fraction of the monumental purse, “Maybe only tenth.”
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Ariza said Mayweather was shocked upon learning of Pacquiao’s measly purse.
Said Mayweather: “We should not be criticizing the fighters, we should be criticizing people surrounding them who take from the boxers.”
It’s like this: International promoter Bob Arum, after causing Pacquiao to unretire, had originally targeted the undefeated world light welterweight champion Terence Crawford for Pacquiao’s opponent in his comeback bout on Nov. 5.
But after both fighter and promoter agreed that Pacquiao’s tight schedule and heavy work load in the Philippine Senate would not allow him to prepare sufficiently for a truly big fight, Vargas ended up the poor substitute opponent in November.
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As expected, questions were readily raised on the relevance of the Pacquiao-Vargas bout, with Arum glumly but frankly admitting that Pacquiao has got to fight “because he needs the money.”
Here at home, Pacquiao devotees took the Arum statement with a grain of salt.
“That fight is not necessary,” cries international boxing correspondent Anton Andales of Cebu from South Carolina, where he works as an aeronautics engineer.
“They’re fooling us, considering that Vargas even failed to get past poor Tim Bradley Jr., a Pacquiao toy, ” said Andales.
There’s little consolation: At least Arum no longer had to resort to lying this time out; although it was very likely he was guided by the Unholy Spirit in mounting Pacquiao’s next no-glory fight [for money].