Pacquiao to undergo brain analysis, says Arum

Pacquiao to undergo brain tests. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

HOUSTON, Texas—An extensive brain analysis will be done on Manny Pacquiao once he returns to the United States.

And, even though he can well afford the procedure, it will be his promoter, Bob Arum, who will foot the bill.

“I have to take him to the Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas, the brain center … and we’ll do an extensive brain examination before we commit him to a fight,” Arum told Manila-based sportswriters after the final press conference of the Nonito Donaire-Jorge Arce showdown for the WBO super bantamweight championship at Toyota Center here.

The 81-year-old Arum, a boxing Hall of Famer, said it is up to Pacquiao to decide when he will return to the US for the battery of tests intended to find out whether he sustained brain damage in the aftermath of the one-punch knockout handed him by Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday.

“Whenever he can make it (brain examination),” said Arum. “He’s going away to Israel for Christmas and New Year, and after the first week of the year we’ll try to bring him back.”

Arum wants to make sure that Pacquiao is fully recovered before he pursues a fifth fight with Marquez, who has returned to Mexico to celebrate his phenomenal knockout of the Filipino ring superstar with his countrymen.

So big was the impact of Marquez’s triumph in Mexico that an audience with President Enrique Peña Nieto has been arranged, according to news reports here.

The four-division world champion is also set to present to Nieto the gloves he used to stop Pacquiao with just a second left in the sixth round.

Arum said the cost of the brain analysis will “not be astronomical” as he has friends in the Las Vegas clinic, where his wife is a member of the board of directors.

Regardless of the procedure, however, Arum does not see Pacquiao-Marquez 5 being held earlier than September.

That’s because Pacquiao is automatically suspended from fighting for 120 days. Pacquiao also cannot have contact training in the first 90 days of that period because he was knocked out cold.

The Pacman, who arrived in Manila on Wednesday, will spend his 34th birthday in General Santos City on Monday. His 48-person entourage will leave for Israel on Dec. 19.

“The way I look at it, I don’t see doing it (Pacquiao-Marquez 5) before September because with the election in May you can’t do a June fight,” said Arum. “I don’t want to do a summer fight, and so September is the best possible day.

“We can also do it on Mexican Independence weekend.”

As to how Pacquiao-Marquez 4 fared business-wise, Arum said early results exceeded expectations.

“Returns are excellent,” said the promoter. “The satellites (pay-per-view subscriptions) alone did 130,000 more homes than (Tim) Bradley, and I am waiting for the cable system. So I think at the end of the day, we’ll probably do a little less than the third fight (1.4 million PPV hits) … which is great.”

Since Top Rank charged $5 more for each PPV buy, total revenues will almost be the same as the third fight.