Bob Arum says Manny Pacquiao done with bigger fighters
After seeing Manny Pacquiao pound a much bigger and beefier Antonio Margarito, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants a change of course for “Pacman.”
The legendary promoter said that he no longer wants to see Pacquiao in the ring with much bigger fighters.
In boxer-ese: tough luck Paul Williams and other bigger fighters who want the Philippine congressman in the squared circle.
“At this point, I don’t want to put Manny in with another big guy, a guy even bigger than Margarito,” Arum said to boxingfutures.com. “It’s not that he couldn’t beat them or that he couldn’t handle them, but it’s like a great race horse. I can’t keep putting
him in with bigger, stronger guys without wearing him out.”
Though the recent fight with Margarito was set for a catchweight of 150 pounds, Pacquiao weighed in at 144.6 pounds. As well, at the time of the actual fight, he gave up some 17 pounds to Margarito, who had used the day after the official weigh-in to rehydrate.
Margarito was also roughly 5-inches taller than Pacquiao, who stands 5-foot-6.
Arum added: “That fight really affected him physically. He took a lot more beating in that fight than he did in his others. He got hurt. He’s banged up a little bit. It’s tough giving away that kind of weight and size.”
For his efforts Pacquiao took home the WBC junior middleweight championship, his eighth-division title.
The feat has never been accomplished before in professional boxing.
Word on the street is that Pacquiao will remain in the welterweight division with prospective fights. Interest has been voiced by the likes of “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Andre Berto, Amir Khan and others in close divisions.
Of course the fight everybody wants is a clash between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., currently the No.2 rated boxer in the world. It is expected that a bout between the two would decimate hitherto boxing records in terms of viewership and revenue.
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