Filipino pride, Pacquiao history means zero to Arum

Bottom Line Bob Arum is doing the expected.

The multimillionaire promoter is doing his bird impression, crying “cheap, cheap, cheap” when it comes to forking over sanctioning fees to make the Manny Pacquaio-Miguel Cotto bout a WBO welterweight title bout.

Arum’s facile explanation for not caring whether his star client Pacman gets a chance to make ring history by capturing a world crown in a seventh weight class is that “nobody in the US cares” if the bout is for the belt or not.

That's what the acid tongued Arum told The Philippine Star.

Arum has trouble hearing in one ear but I didn’t know that he was nearing blindness as well.

Maybe a $400,000 sanctioning fee is too much for champion Cotto to pay.

So why doesn’t Bottom Line Bob, who handles both fighters and just signed a contract extension or a new promotional deal with the Puerto Rican, sit down with reasonable man and WBO president Francisco “Paco’ Valcarcel and work out a less painful fee?

I’ve got a news flash for Uncle Bob, who throws nickels around as though they were manhole covers.

There are millions of Pacquiao fans, in America, in the Philippines and in the millions of Overseas Foreign Workers exported from the Philippines, who do care about this issue.

To a man, to a woman, to a child, they want to see their Pinoy Idol, their National Fist, their greatest sporting idol ever, scrapping with that WBO belt on the line Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.

Can we mention here the proud Boricuas, with their rich ring heritage, who want to see their man retain the belt and dethrone the Pound for Pound king?

Don't they matter even when Arum is milking them as well?

It looks to me like Arum plans to put the squeeze on Brother Paco, knowing that the Puerto Rican attorney does not want to appear like he’s working against Cotto’s interests. The WBO is not only headquartered in Puerto Rico, one its founders was the late, former light heavyweight champion Jose “Chegui” Torres.

Arum, Valcarcel and another Boricua lawyer Gabriel Penagaricano Jr., can and should sit down when Pacman and Cotto are on the island for a Sept. 12 press conference. Penagaricano not only represents Cotto, he is an officer with the WBO rival World Boxing Council (WBC).

You don't have to be an Ivy League trained rocket surgeon to amicably settle this dispute.

Let the WBO reduce its sanction fees to both champion and challenger. In the best interests of boxing and of the WBO, I think Paco will accept less than three percent each from both fighters.

Let Arum, who has made a fortune upon a fortune off the fists of Cotto and Pacquiao pay a portion of both their sanctioning fees.

I think Arum will do that although putting his greedy hands in his own pocket will be painful because it always is for him.

And what’s the alternative? Stripping Cotto for not risking the belt against the Number 1 contender is not the way Pacman or his fans want to see him get a seventh division world crown.

This situation can be worked out. But maybe Bottom Line Bob doesn’t want to make the effort.

I’ve another news flash for Uncle Bob.

If you don’t you’re turning your back on the amazing fan base that has enriched you and Pacquiao too.

It’s not about the WBO, it’s not about the belt.

It’s about an historic achievement.

If his own promoter denies Pacquiao that, it won’t soon be forgotten.

Maybe Arum is not arrogant, maybe he's right.

Maybe it's only America that counts at least in his mind.

Maybe the Philippines doesn't really matter to him.

Ditto for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

It's a small world, Uncle Bob.

I think it's about to come crashing down upon your head.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m7d25-Arum-is-birdbrain-if-title-is-not-on-line-for-PacquiaoCotto