It seems that Bob Arum is depending more on his stepson, Todd duBoef who also is the President of Top Rank. That is now evident after the deal was made last week with HBO pay-per-view to distribute and produce the Manny Pacquiao welterweight title defense against Manuel Marquez on November 12 from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
Arum took part in the negotiations, but the ultimate decision making process was in the hands of duBoef, the eventual successor to Arum in the company. Showtime PPV had the rights to the last Pacquiao title defense against Shane Mosley in May, and there was every reason to believe that they would get another deal for the next Pacquiao fight. And now HBO is back in the driver’s seat to get a hopeful and eventual Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. showdown.
That, though, is looking down the line, but possible because HBO has this working relationship with Mayweather, and they have rights to Mayweather going after the WBC welterweight title held by Victor Ortiz next month.
There are also reports the Pacquiao fight deal with HBO can also shutout Showtime from handling the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito redemption bout scheduled for New York at Madison Square Garden on December 3rd. But that is all speculation and still subject to negotiation.
So HBO scores big and gets back Pacquiao in a third fight with Marquez. Showtime is disappointed, understanding this is a business. They knew all along that the Pacquiao fight with Mosley could be a one-time deal. But Arum was indicating that there could be more with the new alliance that had, HBO, the leading boxing television provider pondering the future. First they lost Cotto to Showtime and the most popular fighter in the business in Manny Pacquiao. But things changed when HBO forced Ross Greenburg out as president.
In stepped duBoef, who was pleased with Showtime, because the CBS owned network had the ability to put Pacquiao-Mosley previews on CBS owned television and radio affiliates. That granted huge coverage that the sport has not seen in years, let alone granted Pacquiao an additional fan base to the one he already had. However, there have been reports that duBoef was more comfortable with the camera angles and overall production that HBO had produced in the past, a feeling that Showtime needed to upgrade their production as compared to the way HBO has televised previous fights of Pacquio and Cotto.
Whether that can be believed or not, realizing that this all a matter of who offered the best financial deal, Pacquiao is back on HBO and very content from all reports. Pacquiao has always considered himself an HBO fighter and has been reported to say it will be good to be, back home, meaning of course once again HBO has his fight. And the deal will include coverage on the Time Warner stations of TNT, CNN, and spots during the Major League Baseball postseason games televised on the TBS and TNT networks.
Showtime did their part, and Pacquiao scored over a 1.3 million buy rate with the Mosley fight. Much of that was attributed to the CBS coverage Pacquiao received with appearances on CBS owned stations around the country. There was no rift or change of thinking with Arum and duBoef. In the end it was Arum handing the television side of the business to duBoef, who said it was a tough decision but good for boxing, because it shows how the two major boxing networks value the sport.
Now we see where all of this goes. Does Cotto-Margarito also go to HBO? An announcement is expected this week, and the feeling is, with duBoef in command, that soon Cotto will also return home to HBO.
PAVLIK MAY BE DONE: The future of former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik is in question. He was supposed to oppose Darryl Cunningham Saturday night in Youngstown Ohio in a Showtime televised fight, but suddenly pulled out last week. At first the speculation was Pavlik was again suffering from alcohol addiction and then the report came that it had something to do with the negotiated $50,000 purse against Cunningham, and his purse for a proposed next fight for the title against super middleweight champion Lucian Bute.
His promoters at Top Rank are more than disappointed, let’s say annoyed and pondering their next move for their once promising and valuable champion. “It’s not like Kelly to do what he did, unless he does not want to fight no more,” they have been heard saying. They say Pavlik, possibly from the previous addiction had a different attitude about the sport and they are leaving the decisions to Kelly Pavlik.
Supposedly Top Rank negotiated a lucrative deal for Pavlik to fight Bute, though Pavlik went public on a television station in Youngstown and said, “I am not going to fight a southpaw for peanuts.” It has the Top rank office in a fury and wondering, what to do next. Pavlik has not been available to comment and a source close to the fighter said he has been like himself and constantly in disputes with family and friends.
With Top Rank busy promoting their next two big fights, Pacquiao and Cotto, the overall opinion is the former champion needs to weight his options and perhaps move ahead. But another source also said Bob Arum always looks at Kelly Pavlik as a second son and is willing to give this more time and get the ball rolling again.
Either way now, Pavlik is perceived as a damaged fighter and difficult to deal with. Just ask Showtime how they perceive his image. They had to cancel their telecast and big time boxing in the summer is an important entity to the network.
Source: http://www.boxinginsider.com
Posted in: 
