Arum wants Mosley, not Mayweather

MANILA, Philippines - Unless Floyd Mayweather comes to his senses, Bob Arum would rather see himself promoting a fight between Shane Mosley against the winner of the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto showdown on Nov. 14.

Arum, the maker of great fights, has described Mayweather, who insists that he’s still the best out there after coming out of a long retirement to beat a smaller Juan Manuel Marquez, as “delusional.”

He said Mayweather can’t even beat Mosley, Cotto or Pacquiao, and the undefeated ex-pound-for-pound champion is out of his mind to think of getting 60 percent of the purse if he gets to fight the Filipino superstar.

Arum, who was in the Philippines last week to take a glimpse of Pacquiao’s training in Baguio City, told Boxing Scene that Mayweather should fight Mosley, but since the flamboyant American won’t do that, then he better stay on the sideline.

A separate article that came out of SportingNews.com said Arum would “strongly encourage” the winner between Pacquiao and Cotto to fight Mosley instead for a unification of the WBA and WBO welterweight titles.

It was reported recently that the purse split between Pacquiao and Mayweather will keep the fight from happening because neither fighter would settle for anything less than a 50-50 split.

“If I start hearing 60-40 (from Mayweather) that just tells me to hang up and move on to the next guy,” Arum was quoted as saying.

“I think Cotto probably beats Mayweather. I think Manny probably beats Mayweather and I think Mosley beats Mayweather.”

Pacquiao, meanwhile, slugged it out for another six rounds with his sparring mates in Baguio City, raising the total number of rounds to 24 after five sparring days.

Pacquiao has been working out with American Shawn Porter and Mexican Urbano Antillon as he continues to await the arrival of another sparring partner in Jose Luis Castillo.

Castillo, the former WBC lightweight champion who has fought great fights against the late Diego Corrales and Mayweather, was supposed to arrive last Tuesday but until yesterday he was out of the radar.

Notes: The World Boxing Council, the most prestigious boxing body in the world, has thrown P50,000 or roughly $1,000 to the Philippine Sportswriters Association fund drive for victims of tropical storm “Ondoy” two weeks ago. The WBC, through its president, Jose Sulaiman, and its executive secretary, Mauricio Sulaiman, coursed their donation through Dr. Allan Recto, a close friend of Manny Pacquiao, and based in the United States. “I was sending emails to some friends in the US regarding the Ondoy disaster and Mauricio Sulaiman was among the first persons who replied,” said Recto. “And from the WBC’s own fund, they donated $1,000.” Recto said he had organized a separate drive for used clothing and other necessities but is having dificulty getting clearance from Philippine authorities to send the relief goods to the Philippines free of government tax.