Jerry Jones Has Fallen In Love With Bob Arum and Manny Pacquiao
There is a love-fest brewing down in the Lone Star State, and if everything goes according to plan this weekend when the participants are expected to get it on for the first time, we can expect to see some love children popping out real soon—lots of 'em. And we won't even have to wait nine months.
Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum and incomparable Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have joined forces to promote Saturday night's WBO welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey at the new Cowboys Stadium and have, in all honesty, taken to each other like a pair of smitten 15-year-olds.
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"I've admired Bob from afar before I had a personal relationship with him and it's just great," Jones told HBO on Wednesday, which will be televising the mega fight on pay-per-view.
Responsible for building the most obscene sports venue in the history of mankind, for the equally obscene price tag of $1.2 billion, Jones has planned all along to open the doors of Cowboys Stadium to much more than just football. And he knows very well the importance of making a good first impression with every new rendezvous christened at the swank Arlington, Tex., location.
"I can't have any mistakes in the initial events at this stadium," Jones said. "So I've got to go and make decisions with the highest quality people I can find, and when [Bob] initiated this idea and called, I jumped all over it...And certainly Manny Pacquiao was a big part of it but Bob Arum was the deal."
Initially considered to host the showdown between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. back in early December, when those negotiations had yet to be punted into outer space by Little Floyd and his insatiable ego, Arum quickly returned to "the greatest arena in the world" when he inked the fight between Pacquiao and Clottey in mid-January.
"This Cowboys Stadium, I've tried to describe it to people and I always come up short," Arum told HBO. "Until you see it yourself, and you're in that place, you can't appreciate what an unbelievable structure it is. And Jerry Jones is one of the most unique people that I've ever met...It's just a pleasure to work with him and to be around him and to do an event like this with him."
Aptly titled "The Event," Pacquiao will be looking to showcase his aggressive, unrelenting style against the former IBF welterweight champion from Ghana and add to his legacy that includes three Fighter of the Year awards, one Fighter of the Decade award, and one mythical crown belonging to the pound-for-pound king. A resume that puts him right in line with Jones' ultimate vision for the stadium that he built with a 72-foot tall, 160-foot wide, high-definition video board hanging in the middle.
"I have a responsibility to the Cowboys and the NFL, we don’t want to deal with anything but the top," Jones said during a conference call this week. "I made my mind up with the commitment to this stadium that I wasn’t going to be associated with anything but the best and working with the best. The make-up of Bob and Manny is what influenced me. I want to do everything I can to create interest in the stadium. Having Manny here and this competition, it says everything that I want to say."
With the right statement tomorrow night, Jones and Arum have their eyes set on making a habit of hosting fights in the worldly stadium. They have a Hispanic-themed event already in the making for later this year, and ultimately, they want to schedule two or three mega fights annually moving forward.
"This elevates boxing to a new level," Arum said. "Wait until you see it the night of the fight, it's going to be spectacular."
Hopefully there will be many more spectacular nights just like it.
With love, anything is possible.
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Photo: Manny Pacquiao (L) and Bob Arum (R)
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