Bob Arum is damned good.... very, very good at his job. He matches fighters carefully, in order to convey that the richest possible matchups are actually competitive affairs. This is done regardless of whether or not that is in fact the truth. After last Saturday's Pacquiao win, we saw the latest example. The Mayweather fight, thought dead for years, is now a rising topic of conversation. Has anything changed since they reached an impasse years ago? Not in the business sense, for sure. Let's set the record straight now.
That fight will never happen. Arum uses the topic to get regular people (non boxingheads, that is) talking boxing again. The general public is almost always ignorant to the boxing world, save a few names. Those two names since 2009, have been Mayweather and Pacquiao. They don't know that boxing experts see that as a normal Mayweather fight, where he counters his opponent silly for 12 rounds. They also don't know that promoter feuds make it an impossibility. They also don't even know who Andre Ward and Guillermo Rigondeaux are... nor that those men, along with the Klitschkos, have surpassed Pacquiao in most P4P ratings.
Arum knows the end is near for Pacquiao, therefore his undercards, as well as the Macau scene, are being used to introduce his next few years of dominance at 126lbs. Save Mares and Santa Cruz, every big talent in and around feather is a Top Rank fighter: Gradovich, Lomachencko, Donaire, Salido, Rigo, and Garcia. A round-robin could take years, and new stars are being made all the time. The 2012 Olympic class is just now maturing into prospects, and Bob Arum has done a good job gathering up virtually all of them in the international market, while Golden Boy has focused on the Americans.
So, yes, Pacquiao looked good, as he dominated yet another slow, durable, plodding fighter. We've always known he could do that. The whole promotion was set up for him to look great. Never mind that his killer instinct is clearly gone, and he was being caught with looping punches early on as he pulled back. Arum talking Mayweather will get more people covering Pacquiao's next move... and making it more lucrative. This is a smart strategy, considering that every move Pacquiao makes, could very well be his last in boxing.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com