Son of Famed Boxing Promoter Bob Arum Found Dead

Within a span of twenty-four hours, Bob Arum, the promoter of the finest pound-for pound fighter in boxing today, had to transition from brushing off the ignorance of an attention-starved pugilistic virtuoso to coping with a tragedy on a deeply personal level.

While the sports world was continuing to react to Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s profanity-laced and racially-charged video tirade criticizing Manny Pacquiao, Arum received the news that the five-day search for his missing son was over.

According to the Associated Press, a National Park Service helicopter located the body of John Arum, a 49-year-old Seattle environmental attorney, on a rugged Washington state mountain in North Cascades National Park Friday afternoon.

The body of Arum, the oldest son of Bob Arum, was spotted at about the 7,700-foot level on the north face of 8,500-foot Storm King Mountain, park spokeswoman Kerry Olson said. "His plan was to climb Storm King on Saturday, August 28, so it's probably a safe assumption that he fell that day," Olson added.

The next course of action is the retrieval of Arum’s body, which is situated in an area so difficult “that people can’t rappel down or climb up to it”, Olson said.

Bob Arum, a native of New York City and a New York University graduate, was at Los Angeles news conference on Tuesday, promoting the upcoming November 13 bout between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, when he was given word that his son was missing.

Arum promptly left the news conference and boarded a flight to Seattle to assist in the rescue effort, which was hindered by inclement weather from the outset.

Like his father, who became a driving force behind boxing during the 1980’s, John Arum set the bar high in terms of personal achievement. According to family members, Arum’s fatal climb was part of his goal to reach the summit of the 100 highest peaks in Seattle; an endeavor that was more than three-quarters complete before he died.

Representatives of Bob Arum, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, were not available for comment following the discovery of his son’s body.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Top Rank, Todd duBoef, who also happens to be Arum’s stepson, has taken over the promotion of the Pacquiao-Margarito fight in Arum’s absence according to NYDailyNews.com.

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and a special video presentation of the best fight promoted by Bob Arum.

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Is Shane Mosley The Reason Why Floyd Mayweather Balked At Fighting Manny Pacquiao Again?

When Floyd Mayweather, Jr. announced his return to the ring last May after a 21-month retirement, it was widely expected that the undefeated Mayweather would shake off the rust with 1-2 fights before a highly anticipated showdown with pound-for-pound kingpin Manny Pacquiao.

However, after handily defeating Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley within the past year, Mayweather has still not agreed to step into the ring with ‘Pac-Man’; even in the face of a deadline recently imposed by Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum.

According to ESPN.com, Arum's deadline of 3AM ET came and went Saturday morning with no response from Floyd Mayweather, Jr. or his representatives about whether he would accept the terms of a deal for a November 13 bout with Manny Pacquiao.

Therefore, Arum will begin negotiating for another fight for his top client, which would most likely be a rematch with Miguel Cotto for the WBA Super Welterweight Championship he won from Yuri Foreman on June 5 or a bout with Antonio Margarito, who remains unlicensed in the United States because of the scandal over his hand wraps before his knockout loss to Shane Mosley last year.

Although Arum did leave open the possibility for a deal to be made, it appears that the boxing public will have to wait at least another year before the ‘Fight of the Century II’ comes to fruition.

And for those looking for a reason why terms for a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout seem impossible to finalize, a likely candidate is the second round of Mayweather’s last fight with ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley on May 1.

Despite scoring a relatively easy unanimous decision victory, Mayweather was rocked by two solid right hands from Mosley in that second stanza that caused him to hold on for dear life at one point in the round and buckled his knees at another.

Highly regarded for his uncanny ability to avoid being hit, this was the most trouble the 33-year-old Mayweather had been in since his fight with DeMarcus Corley in 2004. Inexplicably though, Mosley miserably failed to follow up on this seminal moment and virtually handed the fight to Mayweather on a silver platter by drastically lowering his punch output the rest of the way.

In Pacquiao though, Mayweather won’t have the luxury of being able to rest on his laurels because the ‘Fighting Pride of the Philippines’ will continue to launch bombs, from all different angles, that are all capable of sending him to the canvas and forever shattering Mayweather’s aura of indestructibility.

With the blood testing issue no longer an obstacle and the richest prizefight in the history of boxing on the table, what other reasons could there be for Mayweather and his camp to avoid Pacquiao like the plague?

In any case, this game of cat-and-mouse between Mayweather and Pacquiao has grown old and tired; and it’s becoming apparent that Mayweather is the mouse who is continuing to shrink before Pacquiao’s lion-like ferociousness.

There is absolutely no doubt that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is a great fighter, but his greatness is being steadily diminished by his continuing refusal to step into the ring with the one fighter who can define his legacy.

And until he faces Pacquiao, Mayweather’s place among the pantheon of greats in the history of boxing will always be in question.

Click here to read more on boxing at Examiner.com.

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Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao have gotten too big for their britches

With Yankee Stadium playing host to the championship bout between World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman (28-0, 8 KO’s) and Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO’s), the prevailing thought among many New York boxing fans must be that this could be a prelude to the staging of the ‘Fight of the Century II’ in the Big Apple.

Nearly 40 years ago, the ‘Fight of the Century’ was the promotional nickname given to the first of three fights between undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier (26-0, 23 KO’s) and Muhammad Ali (31-0, 25 KO’s), which took place on March 8, 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Ali and Frazier were guaranteed purses of $2.5 million apiece, a record for a single prize fight at the time, and the hype for the contest attracted scores of luminaries including Norman Mailer, Woody Allen, Burt Lancaster, who served as color commentator for the closed-circuit broadcast, and Frank Sinatra, who took photographs for Life Magazine.

After it was announced that Frazier had defeated Ali via unanimous decision to retain the World Heavyweight Title, the overwhelming general consensus was that the bout lived up to all the press it had received. And, arguably, there hasn’t been a fight of that quality and magnitude in close to four decades.

However, Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s), the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, have the rare and unique opportunity to give the sport of boxing what it needs in light of the continuing rise in popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA); an event that would transcend boxing itself and transform it into the center of the sports universe much like Ali-Frazier I did in 1971.

But irreconcilable differences such as Mayweather’s demands for blood testing within 14 days of a potential fight and squabbles over which one of the two will get a bigger piece of the cake have left the boxing public to wonder if the ‘Fight of the Century II’ will ever take place.

Hope springs eternal though.

In an interview with ESPNNewYork.com’s Wally Matthews on 1050 ESPN Radio, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, who is also the promoter for the Cotto-Foreman bout, stated that the issue of blood testing is no longer an obstacle as Pacquiao has acquiesced to Mayweather’s demands.

Therefore, pure greed appears to be the only hurdle to clear to make the dream bout become a reality. But even though both fighters figure to easily make between $50-100 million each, Mayweather and Pacquiao are no closer to getting in the ring than they were last year or the year before.

Additionally, Arum gave Matthews every indication that if a deal is hammered out, the bout will not take place in New York City because of the exorbitant amount of taxes that will have to be paid, as opposed to Nevada and Texas which have no personal income tax.

So, even though it should be, Pacquiao-Mayweather will not be held at Madison Square Garden, if at all. And this is a microcosm of the trend that long gone are the days when the best boxers in the world, in all weight classes, were more than willing to face one another, in the prime of their careers, on the grandest stages.

As great as Mayweather, a defensive wizard, and Pacquiao, an offensive juggernaut, are in the squared circle, they could have easily been going into their second or third fight by now and in the midst of a rivalry that could have been mentioned in the same breath as Ali-Frazier, Jake LaMotta-‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson and Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez.

But, for the moment, all we’re left with is what could have been and still in search of the bout that could be called the fight of this century.

Where have you gone Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali?

Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com, which includes relevant links and a video featuring highlights from the 'Fight of the Century'.

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Pacquiao The Next American Idol?

When Manny Pacquiao isn't laying blows in the ring he's laying down tracks in the studio. No, he's not pursuing a rap career like several other athletes,(Ron Artest, Allen Iverson, Shaq, The Rock, Chris Webber, Kobe, Deion, the list goes on...), but rather a romantic pop singer. Although he is no Glenn Medeiros, he hits some high notes and packs quite the vocal punch.

With all the recent hype over a potential fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, I feel as if Manny could use this to his advantage. Floyd Mayweather Sr. feels very strongly about his son's ability, especially when facing Manny mono y mono.

"I am entitled to speak on what I think, on my opinion. I will say this, if Pacquiao is using those roids, it won't help him against my son. I got a poem on that and it goes, 'Roids don't mean spit if you can't hit.' And Pacquiao will never hit my son if they fight." -Floyd Mayweather Sr.

If the Sr.'s theory is correct and Manny can't land a punch on Pretty Boy Floyd, then Pac-Man may be forced to resort to an alternative hook. While Money Mayweather is exhausting himself trying to land a jab, Manny can lay back and serenade Floyd's swings with some romantic rhythms. Gay? Maybe. Expected? Probably not. Innovative? Certainly. It comes down to psyching out the opponent and what more could Manny do to psych out Money man? It just seems like a no brainer for victory.  

Verdict: Bet the house on Pac-Man's larynges.

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