"When are people going to remove the cover, the cloak that's over that table? When are they gonna remove that cloth and then you see it's not a table underneath it. Oh my goodness, it's not a table at all. That's not a table. When are they gonna realize that that cloth or cloak is Arum and be honest with yourself and realize the man lies every time he talks. The man is a promoter; every other word he says is a lie in my opinion. It's whatever is convenient and it's whatever makes sense, from a money standpoint or a business standpoint, for him to say...if you are in the media, or even a fan, and you believe the stuff that Arum says, then you deserve to be stuck with that bridge. He's gonna make Mayweather the bad guy and he's going to put all of the fault on Mayweather, and he's gonna do what he has to do to continue to be the best that he can be in his business, which is to make the most money and to be in position where he has the options that he wants. And unfortunately, that may not always be best for the fans, for the fighter, or the sport. That's what he does; Arum should get on his knees and thank guys like Muhammad Ali and Manny Pacquiao; starting with Muhammad Ali and thank guys like Manny Pacquiao for allowing him to be in that position to do that. He's made a lot of money because of these guys," stated ESPN commentator and world-class trainer Teddy Atlas, who shared his thoughts on whether or not a mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will ever come to fruition. Check out what else he had to say!
PC: We left off with you talking about Pacquiao not seeming to have that same passion or urgency for the sport of boxing, and that mentally, you see some erosion. Pacquiao has been in some tough wars as well. A fighter only has so many fights in them. Do you think those fights are catching up to him?
TA: I think physically, he's okay. I think he has been in...some of the fights have been one-sided recently, but if you look back to the 3 fights with Marquez, they were all tough fights. At the fights before Pacquiao arrived to this superstar status and this level he is at now, and that he has had the last 5 years, before that, he was in some tough fights. But his last fights with De La Hoya, Hatton and Cotto, they weren't real tough fights. Then there were some fights that, even though they looked like they were one-sided fights, there was some wear and tear on his face. You looked at it and you say, "Wait a minute, I thought it was easier than that." That told me more of not that he took a lot of punches, but he took punches that we didn't notice. We just noticed what he was giving. We didn't notice what he was taking. So it told me a couple of things. Yeah, he's getting caught with some punches. And it also told me that he was susceptible; that he was susceptible in certain areas and we might not have been realizing he was susceptible. That's one of the reasons why I picked then and I pick now, if that fight ever happens, for Mayweather to win that fight and to win it handily. I'm not knocking Pacquiao, for all of those idiots out there saying, "Ah, he's talking bad about Manny again; he hates him." Why don't you shut up and go buy an ice cream soda and calm down. I have nothing but admiration for Manny Pacquiao, mostly for the person that he seems to be. So I have nothing but love and admiration for that person. That's the most important thing. What he does with the position that he has, that's the most important thing and the thing that makes him special, or it gives him a chance to be special. But I think that Mayweather, I happen to like Mayweather too. I appreciate Mayweather in areas that people wanna knock the hell out of him, but I don't wanna knock the hell out of him. I wanna say, "Hey, smarten up Floyd. Smarten up a little bit." I wanna say that sometimes, but I also wanna appreciate where the kid comes from and I wanna appreciate the things that maybe aren't so easy to see and maybe takes a little thinking and a little patience and a little understanding before you can see stuff. I have a little bit different look at Floyd and appreciation of Floyd. I happen to think that if that fight is made, that Floyd wins that fight. I think he wins that fight and maybe wins it easier than people think. Maybe!
PC: Most people that I speak with in the industry, and my partner Ben Thompson has reported on it, but many feel the fight will never happen, not because the fighters don't want to fight one another, but because Bob Arum won't let this fight happen for several reasons. What do you think?
TA: Yeah, I agree. When are people going to remove the cover, the cloak that's over that table? When are they gonna remove that cloth and then you see it's not a table underneath it. Oh my goodness, it's not a table at all. That's not a table. When are they gonna realize that that cloth or cloak is Arum and be honest with yourself and realize the man lies every time he talks. The man is a promoter; every other word he says is a lie in my opinion. It's whatever is convenient and it's whatever makes sense, from a money standpoint or a business standpoint, for him to say. It's not attached to anything else. It's not attached to anything else in respect to the public, media, to the fighters, to himself, to any kind of understanding or belief that he has a responsibility to say things that have merit to what he says and that have proof to what he's saying. It has no responsibility and it doesn't even seem that he thinks responsibility matters. All that matters is for him to promote the next fight and to make the next fight the biggest fight for him to make the most money. If it's not that fight, and that fight doesn't make sense to him because of economics or because of other things, then he's not gonna promote that fight. He prefers to move it down the road to make it look the way he wants it to look. That's what he does and that's what he's done his whole life. That's what these promoters do. And there are people on the internet that actually take what he says serious. If you are taking one out of every four words that he says seriously, then you're naĂ¯ve. I don't know where you are living. I really don't know what world you are living in, but I have a question for you. Did you buy a bridge today? Did you buy a bridge today, because maybe you did, and God bless you that had the money to buy it, but don't cry when the government comes and takes it away from you and says it's not yours and that the guy had no right to sell it to you. Don't cry! Don't cry! Because if you are in the media, or even a fan, and you believe the stuff that Arum says, then you deserve to be stuck with that bridge. He's gonna make Mayweather the bad guy and he's going to put all of the fault on Mayweather, and he's gonna do what he has to do to continue to be the best that he can be in his business, which is to make the most money and to be in position where he has the options that he wants. And unfortunately, that may not always be best for the fans, for the fighter, or the sport. That's what he does; Arum should get on his knees and thank guys like Muhammad Ali and Manny Pacquiao; starting with Muhammad Ali and thank guys like Manny Pacquiao for allowing him to be in that position to do that. He's made a lot of money because of these guys.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]