Frugal but not crazy, Arum pays the cost for Pacquiao-Cotto title bout

Frugal would be one way to characterize veteran boxing promoter Bob Arum.

Cheapskate would be another.

But, having heard the worldwide roar, the vox populi from Manny Pacquiao’s fans across the world, Arum is digging deep into his pocket to pay the $150,000 WBO welterweight title sanctioning fees for both champion Miguel Cotto and challenger Pacman.

Arum has even made this pledge public after being overwhelmed with protests from Pacquiao followers and then from Manny himself when talk continued about the Nov. 14 bout at the MGM Grand being a non-title bout.

So, if you think Arum is aggravated by continual smoke signals coming out of Puerto Rican lawyer Gabriel Penagaricano Junior’s office that Cotto defending his strap is “open to negotiation,” you are correct, sir or madam.

Arum views the Cotto camp’s stubborn stance as part of a Boricua feud between Penagaricano, who is affiliated with the WBC and WBO leader and San Juan attorney Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel.

But it still bugs the Las Vegas based promoter who handles Manny and Miguel.

“It’s some local situation, I guess,” Arum said Tuesday. “I don’t want to get involved in whatever it is. Look, Paco is a good guy and we have the situation all worked out. I am paying the freight for both sides here.

“It is a world title fight and making a fuss is silly. Can you see anything more stupid than Cotto refusing to defend the title and losing it for that reason? Would anything be more asinine?”

I asked Arum about the Juan Manuel Marquez-Floyd Mayweather Golden Boy PPV card Sept. 19 going head to head against UFC 103.

He refused to comment, saying, “I am not going to get involved on that except to say it’s not a situation that is good for either side.”

Always willing to look on the bright side in his own backyard, Arum mentioned that the UFC show on Nov. 14 will be taped delayed and shown not on PPV but on the Spike cable network.

Arum said the Pacquiao-Cotto series of press conferences will have a heavy mix of baseball stars with events at Yankee Stadium and in San Francisco.

“In San Francisco, the press conference will go after the Dodgers-Giant game and there could be 50,000 people there,” Arum said.

Yankee fan and Brooklyn native Arum is pleased that his team’s top stars will be at the Bronx presser.

“It’s going to be like an All Star team with Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and CC Sabathia all coming. They’re all fans and they all want to come to the fight in Vegas.”

Now pitching, Number 77 (soon to be 78), Robert Arum.

Yesterday he was a reliever, today he is a starter.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m8d5-Frugal-but-not-crazy-Arum-pays-the-cost-for-PacquiaoCotto-title-bout