Because Everything Isn't Exclusive, All The Time!

November 25, 2006

EXCLUSIVE:
Arum Beat Oscar With Golden $$$

By Will "The Thrill" Trillo & Nat Gottlieb
Foto Folly: Bret "The Threat" Newton
 


Forget what you've read everywhere else, sources in Manila have given Pound4Pound.com the exact rundown on what Bob Arum gave Manny Pacquiao, which quite frankly, makes the deal Golden Boy offered up pale in comparison.
Here's what Arum laid out on the table for Manny, in a real financial coup Arum offered him an $800,000 signing bonus, a 7-fight deal with a minimum purse of $3 million &, fasten your seat belts, PACQUIAO'S OWN COMPANY GETS TO SHARE IN THE FIGHT PROFITS, something Oscar didn't offer. So Arum's offer basically dwarfed the one offered by Oscar.

Also contrary to what has been written, Golden Boy did  not offer Manny a seven-fight deal, nor was the $500,000 he received all bonus, that's not only according to our Philippine source but it's something Arum also broke down to those who were listening at the Grand Finale post fight press conference.

Golden Boy's deal you ask? 

Well first let's clear this up, our source shoots down the theory of Oscar picking Manny up at the airport and revealed that Paq was picked up at his hotel and whisked off to a restaurant, without any advisors mind you, and that's when and where the deal was made. $500,000 in cash, which they allegedly had in a suitcase and handed over to Pacquiao. But only $350,000 was a signing bonus. The other $150,000 was an advance on their first fight. GB offered a six-fight deal, not seven, with Manny guaranteed a minimum of $2 million per fight, plus a share of the PPV. So, with a loaded briefcase under his arm, Manny signs.

Day's after this meeting, when Manny meets back up with Arum, Bob tells him to hire a big Vegas law firm, Harrison, Kemp, Jones, which specialize in high end litigation. Manny meets with them and they advise him that Arum is right, that GB has not a legal a leg to stand on. Sometime thereafter Manny attempts to return the briefcase full of Jack, only to have Golden Boy refuse to accept it.

Obviously, besides the disparity in money, a huge incentive Arum offered that GB didn't was a share of the promotion profits for Manny's own company.

 


Not to be lost in all this is the signing and not so subtle press release from Top Rank announcing that they just retained the services of hot Filipino fighter Bernabe Concepcion. At 19-1-1 with 10 knockouts, Concepcion won the WBC Youth Super Bantamweight Championship this past weekend on the Pacquiao v Morales III championship event.  "Our matchmakers really, really like Concepcion and we are thrilled he is on the Top Rank team," said Bob Arum. We are sure Arum is also thrilled to be grabbing fighters from a country that Golden Boy must have thought they had signed, sealed and delivered.

As for Manny's next fight, Arum holds all the cards. Barrera wants Pacquiao badly, but we are told Oscar has put  his foot down and will not deal with Arum. 

On the other hand, Arum could care less. His first fight with Manny will be in Macau, where Steve Wynn ( who our sources said  put up a huge chunk of money in the Top Rank/Pacquiao deal) has just opened up a new hotel.

Being mentioned as opponents are Edwin Valero and Joan Guzman.

From the looks of things, this one is going to get a lot hotter over the next few months, but one thing is clear, Manny Pacquiao is the most exciting fighter in boxing right now and his stock is rising faster than his 3-round demolition of Erik Morales.

Due to a rash of stories that came out this week after we broke the original news, and the fact that those stories tried to read as if they were the news breakers, we are forced to start time stamping our news breakers....it won't stop the thieves from pilfering our stories, but it will give our loyal readers an idea of how seriously we take our work.
 
Posted Saturday, November 25, 2006  3 am PST





Stay tuned to Boxing2006.com & Pound4Pound.com as we will bring you any updates on these comments as we get them.

_______________________________________________________________________________________
 
 

BoxingExclusive.com, Because Press Releases Aren't Exclusive. Because Every Single Interview You Have To Pay To Read Or Watch Aren't Exclusive. Because It's Not Exclusive If Everyone Has It. Because A John Ruiz Interview Isn't Exclusive!