BRISBANE, Australia – The two most important people in Manny Pacquiao’s boxing career, both Hall of Famers, met over breakfast Monday and spoke at length about the future of the Filipino star.
Promoter Bob Arum, here to add glitz and glamor to Sunday’s world welterweight title defense of Pacquiao against Jeff Horn at Suncorp Stadium, said that while he doesn’t doubt Roach’s honesty, the 85-year-old Top Rank chief, swears Roach could sometimes be too “subjective.”
“I talked with Freddie this morning and he told me that Manny’s in great shape but a lot of times Freddie says things that are not objective,” said Arum.
“He sees things subjectively. I got to really see. What he has left,” added Arum, who wants to know directly because he has something in store for Pacquiao in the US before the end of the year.
“We’ll see what state he’s in,” said Arum, who arrived here Sunday night from Los Angeles to oversee the runup to the fight already being hailed as the biggest in Australian history.
Sill, Arum feels Horn, though unbeaten, doesn’t have the experience to ruin his plans and Pacquiao’s desire to keep on fighting.
“He’s (Horn) a strong kid but if Manny fights the way he fought Miguel Cotto, not in a million years that he’ll beat Manny,” said Arum, who has been promoting Pacquiao the last 13 years.
Arum made mention of staging it in Qatar and even in Russia but it doesn’t look like those countries are ready to get involved given the current political landscape.
“But we’ll see what happens. I don’t really know because I don’t know what type of Manny we’re looking at,” said Arum.