Empathetic Bob Arum: Floyd Mayweather was sweet, naive kid, I wish him well

Please, don't tell anybody but, inside that aged crocodile hardened exterior of legendary promoter Bob Arum lies an empathetic, compassionate human being.

Why ruin the man's image this close to his 79th birthday?

And, when it comes to the plight of beleaguered Floyd Mayweather Jr., Arum and his contemporary career rival, Don King, are Ebony and Ivory, singing in perfect harmony.

Sure, the pair of promotional dinosaurs have a commercial angle. King would still love to become the guiding light of Mayweather's wobbly career and Arum still sees his ultimate touchdown as making the Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao super bout.

But, make no mistake, Arum is not putting his verbal foot up Mayweather's posterior.

Instead, speaking to me on Tuesday as he continued to try to regain his personal emotional balance so soon after the mountain climbing of his beloved lawyer son, John B. Arum, the promoter said both he and Top Rank president Todd duBoef (Arum's stepson) had been exchanging fond memories of Mayweather's long stint under their promotional banner.

"Really, I wish Floyd the best," Arum said. "I have some fond memories of Floyd.

"I remember when he came to our offices one day, wearing some crazy outfit that had all the colors of the rainbow in it. I remember, or I should say that Todd reminded me, that Floyd was really a sweet kid back then, one of two fighters who got invited to Todd's wedding.

"He was very sweet but very naive about a lot of things back then. Since such a young age, all he did was train to box and box.

"On another day, he was at our office and was clearly exhausted. Todd asked Floyd why he was so exhausted and Floyd said he had been running all over town to pay his phone bill and his light bill and this bill and that bill," Arum said.

"We told him he could pay all those bills with personal checks but he didn't know that. All his life was boxing, boxing, boxing and nothing else. So I'm not going to kick him now, I feel bad for him."

On other topics, Uncle Bob proclaimed:
KELLY PAVLIK: "Kelly goes to training camp this weekend in the Poconos and once he is ensconced there, we'll announce our plans."

BRANDON RIOS: "I think that his victory (over Anthony Peterson) might be a star is born kind of victory. The kid was a screwup, a goofball but under (trainer) Robert Garcia and the girlfriend who is now his wife Brandon has matured. His future is bright."

MANNY PACQUIAO, expressing empahthy for booze and cocaine addled former foe Ricky Hatton: "That is the kind of guy that Manny is."

ON MOVING TICKETS FOR MANNY-MARGARITO NOV. 13 IN TEXAS: "Tickets go on sale Saturday down there but early word is good. I think we will outdo Manny-Joshua Clottey (50,000 approximately in the seats at Cowboys Stadium). The Cowboys season ticketholders are hot for the fight and I think we can exceed the Clottey fight."

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: http://examiner.com