NY Boxing Examiner | Michael Marley
Let’s compare fight promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy to automobile dealers.
They’ve both got truckloads of shiny cars on their lots but there is one that really stands out for each dealer.
Bob Arum has the gleaming, glittering 2010 model Manny Pacquiao Porsche, a thrill ride that operates at high speeds and can be extremely dangerous to anything or anyone which impedes its path.
Over at GBP, Oscar de la Hoya and associates have the new model Floyd Mayweather Maybach, a luxury ride fit for royalty and one which has the smoothest acceleration and handling of any car on the road. No doubt, this one is a doozy and a dazzler.
But what about the rest of the car stock?
Top Rank has a Kelly Pavlik which is dented with a loss to Bernard Hopkins and credibility questions and wreckless rumors emanating from Youngstown where, to mix metaphors, Pavlik is the biggest fish in a small pond.
Arum also has Miguel Cotto who, after colliding with Pacman, looks like the big loser in a demolition derby. And then there is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who has beaten 143 journeymen but is held back from facing anyone who could run him off the road.
GBP has its clunkers also. Victor Ortiz is recovering from being smashed up by Marcos Maidana. Juan Diaz went into the breakdown lane in a futile chase of Paulie Malignaggi.
The second most attractive model on the GBP lot is Sugar Shane Mosley and he is not allowed to even park anywhere close to Mayweather.
Which brings me to my point, finally.
If the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight winds up at the MGM Grand in Vegas on March 13, the unspoken reason will be because what the two promoters have in common is a year round need to venues for fights less stirring than this Super Bowl type event.
Prime example is Mosley against Andre Berto taking place at Mandalay Bay on Jan. 29. That’s a four wall event meaning the MGM Grand Mirage folks only give the Goldens rooms and food in lieu of a cash site fee.
While Mosley has real star status, he doesn’t cause any panic at the box office and Berto is just a face only hardcore fans know from some less than scintillating HBO bouts.
Without these smaller shows, promoters don’t get to the bigger ones.
In good times and bad, Vegas has been there for boxing.
Grabbing $25 or $30 million from Jerry Jones in Dallas would be sweet but Mayweather-Pacman at the Cowboys’ stadium is a one off.
You can’t go to Uncle Jerry and sell him Berto, Pavlik or any of these other fighters.
So the promoters may decide (as it seems both Pacman and Mayweather already have) that there is a comfort level to Vegas that Texas cannot match.
Mayweather’s last five bouts have been held in Vergas, ditto for the Pinoy Idol.
Sometimes you have to deliver something extra to your steadiest customer and that is reliable Las Vegas.
Las Vegas has taken the sleekest, highest priced models over the year and a load of fights that could be compared to lemon vehicles.
If Mayweather-Pacquiao lands in Nevada, it won’t be a surprise.
They’ll understand down in Tejas.
They will know that the promoters are just dancing with the girl what brung them to the Big Dance anyway.
Source: Examiner.com
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