An open letter to Bob Arum

An open letter to Bob Arum

by Andrew Schweitzer

Dear Bob Arum,

     I'll admit, that opening statement might seem a little extreme to you, sir, but at the same time, your recent decision to have Manny Pacquiao fight Shane Mosley has me wondering if we've done something to upset you.

     If we have, well to be honest, I wouldn't think that you'd have thicker skin than that. And since I can't think of anything boxing fans have done, why do you force this unnecessary and pointless matchup upon us?

     Let's look at the facts: You promote Manny Pacquiao, the best fighter in the world; a man who obliterates anyone you put in front of him. And now after making mincemeat out of Antonio Margarito's face, you think the next challenge for him is Shane Mosley?

      Let's look at Mosley: He's 39 years old and will not have won a fight in a little over two years once this bout takes place. He was dominated by Floyd Mayweather for 10 or 11 rounds (Though he did catch Floyd with some good shots in round 2) and was only able to manage a draw with Sergio Mora.

     We were willing to go along with the Margarito fight because for the most part, we wanted to see what he could do when he wasn't loading his wraps and because we also wanted to see the crap beaten out of him by the Pac-Man...but this?

     Come on, you can't even believe that this is going to be a competitive fight. I've read articles where you say Mosley is dangerous but then I remember last May when asked about Mosley/Mayweather and you replied that it didn't interest you because Shane was too old and that it probably wouldn't be a good fight.

So what has Shane done lately that has suddenly made him capable of beating boxing's best fighter?

     Wait, I think I remember. He walked away from Golden Boy Promotions and once you saw that Oscar de la Hoya wouldn't be involved in the promotion, decided, "Hey, age is only just a number" and signed him. It's too bad you didn't apply that same philosophy to Juan Manuel Marquez, who seems to be aging like a fine wine and getting better with each year. I'm hoping you saw his fight with Katsidis. Or maybe you did and that's why you didn't sign for a third fight between him and Pac-Man.

     You keep making comments about how Marquez should beat (Insert random fighter) first before thinking about a third fight with Pacquiao but why didn't you apply this to Mosley? Hell, at least JMM has been winning fights. But this goes back to a post I made a few weeks ago, only in boxing can you lose one fight, get a draw in another and still land the biggest payday of your career.

     But then again, Bob, maybe this isn't all your fault. After all, Pacquiao did agree to go along with the fight, however Manny is his own "Yes-Man". You could tell him that you want him to fight me and I think he would go along with it.

     However there is someone else who a lot of people aren't pointing fingers at and I think it's time that we all give her a good pointing at: Shane's ex-wife, Jin Mosley.

Yeah, Jin, we saw your monthly personal expenses list on TMZ. For those of you who didn't:

OK, Bob, I think it's safe to say that all the blame doesn't belong to you. But you certainly are deserving.

Andrew Schweitzer is a contributing writer for boxing4free.com. When not writing or discussing the sweet science, Andrew can be found at the gym or at work. Currently he is pondering why someone needs to spend $5K on clothes a month. Jin, they're called 'closets'. You don't need to throw clothes away once you wear them.
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