SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Arum said a fight on that date, which takes place during the weekend of Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, should be reserved for fighters of Mexican descent.
“May 2, that Cinco de Mayo weekend, is a Mexican holiday. It is a big Mexican-American holiday. It’s a fight date being talked about for Mayweather, Pacquiao, even [Miguel] Cotto, but they’re not Mexicans or even Mexican-Americans,” Arum said.
“The only Mexican who is a draw on that date is Canelo [Alvarez].”
May 2 was thrown around as a probable fight date by Mayweather (47-0; 26 knockouts) during an interview with Showtime Boxing a few days back. This was received negatively because of the proximity of the date to Cinco de Mayo, and because a potential fight between RING magazine middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Alvarez could take place on the same date on HBO.
“Canelo is a hell of a fighter. But even though he wants to face Cotto on May 2nd, I beat both, but Canelo is a hell of a boxer. Cotto is a hell of a boxer,” Mayweather said in response to the criticism.
“They’re both excellent boxers. Both are good punchers, they both are strong guys. But they said that’s a Mexican holiday but the last time I checked, Cotto is Puerto Rican. And I put it like this, since they feel like May 2nd is a Mexican holiday, I say you know what, ‘I respect you guys. Fight in Mexico.'”
Arum believes that Mayweather vouching for a May 2 fight with Pacquiao despite the cultural implications is something someone of his character would do.
“I see Mayweather as poaching on a Mexican holiday and being disrespectful to the Mexican people,” Arum said, holding back no punches.
“Everybody agrees with that, except Mayweather. He is putting his ego before respect for people.”
48 million homes
Arum revealed during his interview with The Telegraph that Pacquiao’s one-sided victory against Chris Algieri, 119-103, 119-103, 120-102, in Macau last November garnered huge viewership from mainland China, reaching up to 48 million.
“It was a huge success. Forty-eight million homes watched it. That’s effectively over half the population of the UK. Boxing is becoming a major sport in China. I want to build the audience as much as possible before we even think about pay-per-view.”
Arum also mentioned that Pacquiao’s next fight could take place either in April or June.
But in the meantime, the 8-division Filipino boxing champion is scheduled to judge the upcoming 2015 Miss Universe contest in Miami, Florida next month.
“The only thing we’re planning with Pacquiao is that he’s going to be a judge at one of these beauty contests – Miss World or Miss Universe, the one in Miami, in January,” said Arum. – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.