Thursday, December 20, 2007 Arum shoots down Valero vs. Pacquiao match
DESPITE the stunning win of Venezuelan Edwin Valero last Sunday, Bob Arum, promoter of Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao isn’t interested in a Pacquiao vs. Valero match.
The Top Rank promoter isn’t open with the idea of the two of them facing each other and thinks that nobody is interested in that fight despite Valero’s impressive 23-0 record, with all his wins by knockouts.
“Nobody has heard of him (Valero) in the United States and putting him in a fight against Pacquiao in Macau is not attractive,” Arum said in an interview with boxingscene.com. The promoter also shot down Valero and said only people familiar with boxing have heard of him, unlike Pacquiao, whose popularity transcends the sport.
Valero has been calling out Pacquiao for over a year but the Pinoy icon shot the offer down and even caught Valero’s ire after he said the boxer padded his record by fighting “tricycle drivers.”
Arum also pointed out that the Venezuelan knockout artist still can’t fight in the US because he failed a mandatory MRI test. Valero suffered a motorcycle accident which cracked his skull and he had surgery to remove the blood clot in his brain.
Arum also stated that the fight will never happen because he doesn’t want the fight to end up in a fatality.
Pacquiao will next fight in March 15 against Juan Manuel Marquez and Philboxing reported that Pacquiao’s handlers are confident they will surpass the 350,000 PPV buys the superstar usually gets in his US fights. (EKA)
