MANILA, Philippines—The clamor for Manny Pacquiao to start seriously pushing his promoter to arrange what could be the biggest fight ever continues to snowball.
Former Pacquiao victim Oscar De La Hoya is hoping Pacquiao convinces Top Rank chief Bob Arum to pursue a match against undefeated superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“The fight that has to be made is Mayweather against Pacquiao,” said the former superstar also known as Golden Boy. “We want the fight, Golden Boy wants the fight, Mayweather wants the fight.
“I know for a fact that Pacquiao wants the fight,” added De La Hoya, who spoke to Filipino journalists at the Wild Card gym Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Pacquiao could earn for the Sarangani congressman $100 million in guaranteed purse, pay-per-view shares and a slice of the ticket sales in a bout with Mayweather.
De La Hoya said he is disappointed that Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, is going after Juan Manuel Marquez to find a definitive winner in a compelling rivalry that has a lot of issues still left unsettled.
The latest? Pacquiao’s majority decision victory over Marquez in their WBO welterweight championship bout Saturday in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya, however, feels that a fourth fight with Marquez won’t settle anything for Team Pacquiao, it will only open more questions given the fight history between the two rivals.
“What for?” De La Hoya said. “We’ll [just] see the same fight.”
Which makes Pacquiao-Mayweather the right choice, said De La Hoya.
“The one that doesn’t want the fight is Bob Arum,” De La Hoya said. “He’s the one who doesn’t want the fight. For whatever reasons I have no idea.”
Talking to ESPN, De La Hoya said: “It would be very unfortunate if this fight could not be made because of Bob Arum.”
“The fans are the ones who speak in a big way,” De La Hoya added in the ESPN interview. “They’ve been asking for this fight for a very long time. Look, Manny Pacquiao is the champion of the people and the people are asking for this fight so let’s make it happen.”