Bob Arum on Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Sergio Martinez

In last Saturday's HBO televised rematch of his disputed, December 2009 majority decision loss in a clash of southpaws, WBC middleweight (160 pounds) king Sergio Martinez scored a sensational second-round knockout of Paul Williams in the first defense of his crown.

The 35-year-old Martinez rose to 46-2-2 and earned his 25th career stoppage, and Williams slipped to 39-2, with 27 KOs after being stopped for the first time. Martinez's effort came a week after 31-year-old WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) added the WBC's vacant junior middleweight (154 pounds) crown with a unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs), marking his 13th straight victory during a run that includes eight knockouts.

Martinez, his promoter, Lou DiBella, and his manager, Sampson Lewkowicz, believe that a Pacquiao-Martinez fight would be a mismatch, with Lewkowicz saying that Martinez would win by knockout. Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank CEO, Bob Arum, disagrees with what the result would be.

But Arum also told FanHouse in this Q&A that Martinez is too big for Pacquiao right now, even as Arum pursues match ups opposite six-time titlist Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs), five-time champion Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), WBC welterweight king Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KOs), and, perhaps, a third bout with WBO and WBA lightweight (135 pounds) titlist Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KOs), who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.

FanHouse: Would you consider a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Sergio Martinez?

Bob Arum: You know, it's really not fair to talk about having a Manny Pacquiao, or, even, a Floyd Mayweather, go up two weight divisions to fight Sergio Martinez. I haven't talked to Manny about it.

But I want to do, as I said before, is have one fight, maybe two fights, for Manny Pacquiao with two guys more his own size. I don't want to keep putting him in with much bigger guys at a much bigger weight where he gives away 20-something pounds when he fights.

Forget what they weigh in at the day before the fight. The last fight, he gave away 20-something pounds when he fought. That's what he would be doing, or even more, once again if he were to be in a fight with a Sergio Martinez.

That's not right. You can do it once in a while, occasionally, like we did with Antonio Margarito. But you can't keep doing it as a steady diet and trying to prolong the guy's career.


Why not in this special situation?

Because even if he beat Martinez, which I believe that he would, and even if he turns it into a fairly easy fight, because he's fighting someone who is a much bigger, stronger guy, he could get hurt like he did in there against Antonio Margarito.

You can get him hurt once in a couple of years, but you can't keep getting him hurt every fight and expect him to continue fighting.


Would this be something that he would consider for perhaps the last fight or the swan song of his career perhaps in a year or two?

I don't know. I don't know. Manny Pacquiao is the greatest fighter that I've ever seen, and I keep telling people that and repeating that, but he is also not Superman.

The next thing that they will talk about is Manny Pacquiao fighting [IBF super middleweight (168 pounds) Lucien] Bute or one of the Klitschkos. There's got to be a limit to this thing.

I mean, when you mentioned to Lou DiBella about Sergio Martinez fighting Lucien Bute, then didn't he say, 'Oh no, Lucien Bute is much too big, etc., etc?' Well, what about my guy?


That makes sense, but didn't Lou DiBella also say that Sergio Martinez (pictured at far right) would consider a move up to fight Lucien Bute if there was going to be a big pay day in it?

Yes, but he said that knowing that there would never be a monstrous pay day in that fight.


Are there any updates on talks for Manny Pacquiao against anyone else on the horizon, such as Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley, Andre Berto or Juan Manuel Marquez?

No. Nor will there be any until I go to the Philippines and speak with Manny about it in mid-December. That's when I'm going to talk with Pacquiao.

I'm still hoping that Floyd Mayweather surfaces so that we can make that fight. I'm still hoping for that. I mean, that's still our No. 1 priority.

But if that won't happen, then, as we get closer to my date of departure, which is Dec. 12, then we will explore Shane Mosley, and Andre Berto, and, maybe even Juan Manuel Marquez.

Anybody like that would make an attractive fight.