It's Clottey for Pacman

By Nick Giongco - Texas billionaire Jerry Jones is sending a private plane to pick up Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum in Las Vegas so they could finalize the deal for Manny Pacquiao’s world welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey of Ghana at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas on March 13.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said on Friday night (Saturday afternoon in the Philippines) that he and stepson Todd DuBoef, president of the promotional outfit, is scheduled to meet with Jones during the weekend.

“They’re sending a plane for us,” Arum told the Bulletin.

Clottey, according to Arum, “has agreed to the terms” and that the trip to the Lone Star State is a mere formality of the fight taking place there.

If everything turns out well, Arum said a kickoff press conference will be staged in New York and Dallas next week and that he has alarmed Pacquiao’s camp about the Filipino fighter flying out of Manila to attend the affair.

Arum had no choice but to train his sights elsewhere after a disagreement with Floyd Mayweather Jr., his advisers and Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), the Oscar De La Hoya-owned company that Mayweather tapped to represent him in the negotiations.

Arum said Mayweather, who he promoted before the two parted ways some years back, simply didn’t have the nerve to face Pacquiao as evidenced by his outrageous and unsupported demands over blood testing.

Mayweather is still attempting to make the Pacquiao fight but Arum has turned a blind eye on the American fighter’s last-ditch effort to land a lucrative payday.

The Cowboys Stadium initially expressed its desire to host the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight but the MGM Grand in Las Vegas eventually was awarded the rights.

But when the two sides failed to come to an agreement – despite the intervention of a noted arbiter in Daniel Weinstein early this week – Arum told Mayweather to get lost then was informed once again that Dallas is keen in bringing boxing to its state-of-the-art venue.

The 32-year-old Clottey, now based in Bronx, New York, has logged a total of 248 rounds for a record of 35-3-0 win-loss-draw record with 20 knockouts, while Pacquiao has fought 305 rounds and holds a record of 50-3-2 with 38 stoppages.

Clottey is best remembered by fight fans as the puncher who gave Miguel Cotto a taste of hell when they fought in June 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Many ringsiders were of the opinion that Clottey did enough to win although Cotto wound up with the decision.

Source: mb.com.ph