Pacquiao vs. Bradley 3 Fight News: Promoter Bob Arum Unbothered Amid Calls For Fight To Be Postponed
Top Rank Promotions head honcho Bob Arum is not worried about the Philippine politician who is clamoring to postpone the rubber match between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.
Rep. Walden Bello, who like Pacquiao is a candidate for Senator running in the May 2016 Philippine Elections, believes that the Filipino boxing icon is getting more exposure and media mileage through the promotion of the said fight.
According to him, Pacquiao already holds a big advantage in terms of his political campaign through the said fight. Bello says the third fight between Pacquiao and Bradley should be postponed to a later date after the elections, as opposed to the originally scheduled April 9th date.
In a report by Ronnie Nathanielsz for Boxingscene, Arum clarified all the issues raised by Bello. Firstly, he noted that they will not be publicizing that Pacquiao is running for office, nor will they be holding any politicial rallies while "Pacman" is in the United States in training camp, preparing for the Bradley fight.
Arum did clarify that Pacquiao would need to be careful about what he says, particularly during media sessions. However, he also noted that it would not be that easy since Pacquiao has a knack for "saying what's in his heart."
"Manny is such an open person, he'll talk to anybody about anything," Arum said. "If you ask him a question about the elections, he's probably going to want to answer you. That's the way he is."
"And as we saw last week (when he made the comments against same-sex marriage), his honesty sometimes gets him into trouble," he added.
Pacquiao's stance against same-sex marriage drew the ire of many people, particularly those from the LGBT community. The said comments also cost him his sponsorship when Nike, his long-time apparel sponsor, decided to cut their business relationship with the eight-division world champion.
