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Boxing Capsules: Pacquiao focuses on Margarito, not Mayweather rant
ARLINGTON (AP) — Boxing champion Manny Pacquiao dismissed a derogatory online video posted by Floyd Mayweather Jr., calling it an "uneducated message" and choosing to instead focus on his upcoming fight with Antonio Margarito.
In the widely circulated video, Mayweather goes on an expletive-filled and sometimes racist rant against Pacquiao, the newly elected Congressman from the Philippines who faces Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium near Dallas.
Mayweather said during the video, which appeared this week, that he’s on vacation "for about a year" and would easily defeat Pacquiao after that.
"I just heard about that, but I didn’t see the video," Pacquiao said Friday, at the final stop of a three-city tour to promote his fight. "But it’s an uneducated message."
Mayweather, at times interacting with fans by phone on the video, claims Pacquiao "can’t speak no English" and has "never seen a contract he didn’t like." There are also suggestions that the Filipino sensation has used performance-enhancing drugs, assertions raised previously by the Mayweather camp that resulted in a defamation lawsuit that is still pending.
"It’s a really cheap low blow, but again, consider where it came from," said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer. "We tried to fight him. He said no. He doesn’t want to fight."
Roach said he hadn’t seen the Mayweather video.
Mayweather’s chief adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, did not return messages left by The Associated Press. His publicist, Kelly Swanson, said in an e-mail that she had seen the video but had not been in touch with Mayweather or Ellerbe and couldn’t comment.
Fans have been calling for Mayweather to fight Pacquiao, but negotiations have repeatedly broken down for what could have been the richest fight in boxing history.
When a deal wasn’t reached in January, Pacquiao instead fought Joshua Clottey, defeating him in March at Cowboys Stadium. When negotiations broke down again this summer, Pacquiao turned his attention to Margarito, whom he’ll fight for a vacant junior middleweight title.
It is unclear when the Mayweather video was made, but it appeared online this week when Pacquiao and Margarito were in the midst of their promotional tour. After stops in Beverly Hills and New York, the media tour wrapped up Friday at Cowboys Stadium — in an end zone plaza instead of on the field, which was being prepared for a college football game.
When asked about the possibility of a Mayweather bout Friday, Pacquiao responded: "I’m not looking for that fight. I’m satisfied with what I’ve done in boxing already."
Pacquiao said he’s only planning a couple of more fights before retiring, though he gave no indication of who the opponents might be. The seven-division champion said earlier this week that he would still face Mayweather if he accepted the fight.
Todd duBoef of promoter Top Rank said he had heard about the Mayweather video but "probably" didn’t have any interest in seeing it. Mayweather used to be a Top Rank fighter.
DuBoef also said he doesn’t want to hear Mayweather asking to fight Pacquiao, especially after his team denied that the second round of negotiations even took place this summer.
"It’s sad," duBoef said. "You hope that people are a little more mature than things like that. ... We’ve tried this twice (to make the fight). We tried it twice and you denied there were negotiations. Enough of that."
DuBoef said that Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) was ready to fight and not interested in waiting any longer on a bout with Mayweather, who is 41-0 after a unanimous decision in May over Shane Mosley. Mayweather took that fight after the Pacquiao deal fell through.
That was Mosley’s first fight since beating Margarito in January 2009, and the last time that Margarito fought in the United States. He was suspended for one year because a plaster-like substance was found in Margarito’s hand wraps before his bout against Mosley in Los Angeles.
Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) was denied an application to fight in California and had another application tabled in Nevada before the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation last week approved his application. That cleared the way for another high-profile boxing match at Cowboys Stadium, the $1.2 billion showplace built by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
When Texas licensing executive director William Kuntz spoke Friday, he said Jones paved the way for major boxing events in Texas. While he didn’t address Margarito’s license issue, duBoef applauded the decision by Texas regulators.
"They did a terrific job. They did research, they didn’t rush to judgment," duBoef said. "They didn’t listen to hype, they didn’t listen to hyperbole."
Body of boxing promoter's son found on Wash. peak
SEATTLE (AP) — A five-day search for the missing son of top boxing promoter Bob Arum ended when a helicopter located John Arum's body on a rugged Washington state mountain in North Cascades National Park, authorities say.
The body of the younger Arum, an experienced mountain climber, was spotted Friday afternoon from a National Park Service helicopter at about the 7,700-foot level on the north face of 8,500-foot Storm King Mountain, park spokeswoman Kerry Olson said.
Previous flights had been made in this area, but recent snow melt made it possible to locate the 49-year-old Seattle environmental attorney's body, she said.
It wasn't possible to retrieve the body, but Olson said it was clear to searchers that Arum was dead.
"There was no doubt of that," she said, adding it appeared that Arum had fallen.
National Park Service workers were trying to develop a plan to recover the body, which is in an area so difficult "that people can't rappel down or climb up to it," Olson said.
The search began Monday after Arum failed to return from a solo weekend trip to scale the mountain, which is about 85 miles northeast of Seattle. Family members said the climb was part of Arum's goal of reaching the summit of the 100 highest peaks in the state.
"His plan was to climb Storm King on Saturday, Aug. 28, so it's probably a safe assumption that he fell that day," Olson said.
Arum's backpack was found Wednesday on a trail on the mountain's less arduous south side, Olson said. The backpack was found at about 7,400-feet along a climbing route, and climbing gear was missing from the pack.
Climbers often take only essential gear to lighten their load while attempting a summit.
Arum's smaller pack was found higher on the mountain on Thursday, and Olson said his body was found about 300 feet below that spot in an extremely steep area with a lot of loose rock.
About 20 people, some using trained search dogs, participated in Friday's search, along with four helicopters, two of them King County sheriff's aircraft with heat-seeking equipment. Counting coordinators and support workers, about 50 people were involved in the search, Olson said.
John Arum's profile on the website of his Seattle law firm, Ziontz, Chestnut, Varnell, Berley and Slonim says he served on the board of the Washington Environmental Council from 1997-2004 and from 2006 until the present.
He got his undergraduate degree in political science from Reed College in Oregon and graduated from the University of Washington Law School.
Other lawyers in his firm did not immediately respond to Associated Press e-mails seeking comment Friday night.
Earlier this week, Bob Arum left Los Angeles to join park rangers coordinating the search effort. He had been on a three-city tour promoting the Nov. 13 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. His stepson, Todd duBoef, took over the tour that also stopped in New York and Dallas.
Representatives of Bob Arum were not immediately available for commentlate Friday night.
-- George Tibbits
