Golden Boy & Top Rank Bury The Hatchet For "Will To Win"
Numerous Subplots Make You Wonder..."Will It Last?"

By William Trillo
Photos: Bret "The Threat" Newton
 

Last Thursday Oscar De La Hoya took the podium and he spread out his arms telling the packed house, "This is History!" And with those simple three words the feud between Oscar and his former promoter Bob Arum was over and Manny Pacquiao vs. Marco Antonio Barrera were cleared and the rematch was set to take off.
 
The long and well chronicled battle between Top Rank & Golden Boy appears to be over and it opens the door for some very big and lucrative bouts to made.
 
Yes, it's no big secret that by coming together the 2 top promoters stand to make huge profits from this accord, no doubt that helped mend the fence. But coming from the perspective of a boxing fan, I couldn't be more thrilled with the union and I am very excited about the prospects for great battles in the near future.
 

My fear is there are a number of subplots here, and sooner or later one of them is going to cause ego to raise it's ugly head once again and the love affair could come to an abrupt end...I hope I am wrong.
 
It worries me when Manny Pacquiao comes in two weeks late for his press conference. It worries me that only those close to him knew he had a return flight booked and was headed back home the same day he flew in. That's right, Top Rank didn't know and neither did his trainer Freddie Roach.
 
And what about Top Rank and Roach you ask?
 

Well, it's no big secret there is no love lost there and although Roach trains Paq, sources at Top Rank refer to Roach as a "Golden Boy" trainer......whatever that means, but it doesn't sound positive.  
 
Manny is a case onto himself.

In my hunt to find out why Manny was hesitant to come to the U.S.A. and why he only stayed long enough to address the media before taking a flight back home, I was told Manny is going home because of the new girl in his life.......no not that, but that was what I thought first myself.
 

I am assured The new girl in his life is his daughter, Mary Divine Grace, who was born last October.
 
As a Father of two girls I understand his love for his baby, but I have to wonder who Manny was text messaging during the entire press conference. At less than a year Manny's baby girl is too young to text. 
My girls didn't start texting until they were in their teens (they haven't stopped yet). 
 
Something is up, that's for sure!
 
His closest advisors told me Manny had to get back for pressing business ( maybe that explains all the text messaging) and he could be back to L.A. as early next week or as late as the first week of September.
 
It's Manny's world and we all live in it.
 
I just wonder how long his promoters and trainers will be able to endure life in Manny Land.
 
On a side note, I found out before I sat down to write this piece that I am not the only one who thought Marco Antonio Barrera appears to have aged considerably since the last time we saw him.
 

Be it stress or one too many fights, calling him "The Baby Faced Assassin" has become a bit of a stretch.
 
Hopefully Marco hasn't aged too much in ring years though, because if he comes in fully prepared we could be in store for a classic war we are dying to see.
 
The classic war we don't ever want to see ever again is the one between Oscar & Arum.
 
If all goes well, Arum will give Oscar back the Gold Medal he won for his Mother at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the boxing World "should" live happily ever after.

Questions Or Comments? Email Will "The Thrill" Trillo