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DON’T
tell Bob Arum that a win by Manny Pacquiao over David
Diaz is already a forgone conclusion.
In an
interview with dzSR’s Sports Chat Monday morning, Arum
warned Pacquiao to be at his best for his ambitious
crack at the world lightweight crown.
“Diaz
has an iron-like chin, I would say it’s almost
impossible to [win over] him by knockout. So he’ll be in
there fighting, scrapping with Manny and unless Manny is
in unbelievably great shape, he won’t be able to go 12
rounds,” said Arum in the interview.
Diaz,
31, has been fighting under Arum’s Top Rank Inc. since
he turned professional in 1996.
“You
have to look at the two. Fighters’ styles always make
fights and Manny is faster than Diaz, and he has a lot
more skills than Diaz,“ said Arum. “But Diaz is a very
unusual fighter, he is very rugged and he is very
determined.”
The
southpaw Diaz (34-1-1, 17 knockouts) snatched the World
Boxing Council (WBC) interim lightweight crown against
the favored Mexican Jose Armando Sta. Cruz via
10th-round technical knockout in August 2006 in Las
Vegas.
Diaz
cemented his claim to the regular title when he beat
another highly favored Mexican, the legendary Erik
Morales whom he decisioned inside 12 rounds August last
year in
Rosemont,
Illinois.
“I knew
that Erik was more skilled but David hung in there and
prevailed. David Diaz is one of those overachieving
fighters who’ll stay in to the bitter end and manages
much, more often than not, to pull off a victory,” said
Arum. “David Diaz is one of these guys who is tough as
nails, throws a lot of punches although he is not the
hardest puncher in the world and he really constitutes a
difficult opponent for anybody.”
After
weeks of speculations regarding Pacquiao’s next fight,
Arum confirmed to the radio show that everything has
been set and that tickets already went on sale last
weekend.
“The
fight is on June 28 at Manny’s home in the United
States, the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas,” said Arum.
“Manny will try to accomplish what no other Filipino
fighter has ever done, win world titles in four
different divisions.”
Arum
said that for the first time in Pacquiao’s career, only
eight tickets per person can be purchased after the
box-office people told Arum about a tremendous demand
for tickets.
“There
are 11,500 available tickets to be sold and more than
7,000 have been sold as we speak now [Sunday] here in
the United States,” said Arum. “The box-office people
felt it was fair to limit the number of tickets. They
said that it’s the biggest first-day sale for a Manny
Pacquiao fight ever and they had to limit orders to
eight seats per customer.”
Arum
said he was told by Pacquiao about the Filipino’s
arrival in the United States by May 1.
“The
press conference to announce the fight will be held in
Los Angeles on May the 3. The reason we haven’t hold it
earlier is because I didn’t want to put Manny to the
inconvenience coming to the United States for the press
conference, flying back to the Philippines and then
coming back to the United States to train,” said Arum.
There
will be an ambitious schedule for Pacquiaoto promote the
fight as he will be flying to different places namely
San Diego,
San Francisco, Phoenix and Chicago.
“It will
all be by private plane so that Manny will be able to
greet his fans in all those cities,” said Arum.
The
29-year-old Pacquiao (46-3-2, 35 KO’s) last fought March
of this year when he won the WBC super featherweight
belt via 12-round split decision win over bitter Mexican
rival Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas. |
