Sunday, July 01, 2007 Pacquiao-Barrera again By Rommel C. Manlosa Sun.Star Staff Reporter
MEDIATION worked wonders as two warring promoters have now come to terms for the good of boxing.
Golden Boy Promotions of Oscar De La Hoya and Top Rank Promotions of Bob Arum ‘promotional war’ finally ended and the much-awaited rematch between the Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao and Mexico’s Marco Antonio Barrera is now a done deal.
Pacquiao-Barrera II, which is expected to be another crowd-drawer, is on for Oct. 6 at the 12,000-seater Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This fight will be co-promoted by both Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank.
“The settlement, reached Wednesday and signed Friday, was jointly announced by the companies Friday. It puts to bed several lawsuits between the firms, including the one at the center of the dispute: ownership of the promotional rights to junior lightweight star Manny Pacquiao, who had signed contracts with both companies before pledging loyalty to Top Rank,” Dan Rafael reported at espn.com.
No terms were mentioned because of a confidentiality agreement, but Rafael mentioned that “bouts between Pacquiao and Golden Boy fighters will be co-promoted by the companies. If Pacquiao fights an opponent outside of Golden Boy’s stable, Top Rank will promote the fight with Golden Boy being paid on the event.”
With the agreement sealed, Golden Boy chief executive officer Richard Schaefer met Arum, and the two decided on the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch in just 10 minutes.
“The big picture is that it will enable so many fights be made quite easily because Schaefer and I are both business people. We made Pacquiao-Barrera at lunch in 10 minutes,” Arum told Rafael.
Pacquiao vs. Mexico
Both Arum and Schaefer have retired judge Daniel Weinstein, the chief mediator, to thank for, as the two groups’ alliance means a great advantage for boxing fans. Their brief war held the boxing audience hostage.
“He (Weinstein) played a very instrumental role. If not for him, I don’t think we could have done this. He really took ownership of the case and understood how delicate it was,” Schaefer told espn.com
However, the agreement doesn’t only settle Pacquiao’s promotional case but it also put to rest lawsuits each side filed against each other.
Dela Hoya filed a case against Arum for the accounting of all his fights under Top Rank, while Arum also filed a revenue suit on dela Hoya’s fight against Ricardo Mayorga last year.
Arum was dela Hoya’s promoter for years, before the Golden Boy broke away from Top Rank and founded his own promotional outfit that competed not only for fighters, but for television schedules as well.
Now that both promoters are working harmoniously, Pacquiao can now boost his legacy as GBP’s stable of strong fighters are now just signatures away.
Aside from Barrera, who he downed in 11 rounds in 2003, Pacquiao can also fight WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, WBO 130-pound king Joan Guzman and WBA kingpin Edwin Valero, whose promoter Akihiko Honda is a close friend of dela Hoya.
Aside from Pacquiao against the rest of the Mexicans, other fights in the offing are the fourth Barrera-Morales bout, the Shane Mosley-Miguel Cotto fight, the Humberto Soto-Joan Guzman encounter or the Jorge Arce-Fernando Montiel match.
