EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: THE BOBFATHER
By G. Leon

GL: Can you give us some final pre-fight thoughts about The Event, Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey at Dallas Cowboys Stadium on March 13?

Bob Arum: I think everybody is anticipating a terrific fight. Clottey is in the best shape he's ever been in. I was with Pacquiao the last couple of days and his training is absolutely phenomenal. I brought Julio Jr to the training session yesterday to show Julio what it means to train hard, to become a world class fighter and Julio Jr couldn't believe what he was seeing. Tickets are great, we're on track for a sellout. If we don't sell out it will be very, very close, but I really think it will be sold out. The PPV reports are very, very good and we look to do very big numbers, equal to what we did with Manny Pacquiao's last fight against Miguel Cotto."

GL: Really? You're expecting this to do as many homes as Pacquaio-Cotto?

Bob Arum: "Absolutely. I think the fight will do no worse than 900,000 - one million [pay-per-view buys]."

GL: What can you tell us about the undercard?

BA: "[Jose Luis] Castillo and [Alfonso] Gomez is a tremendous fight with two guys who will leave it all in the ring. Soto and Diaz is a good fight. Both guys are in great shape. Diaz is a tough out for anybody and Soto is a banger, so that's going to be a great fight. Duddy is in real tough with this Medina kid and Julio told me yesterday that Medina was going to beat Duddy."

GL: Are you still planning on making a fight between Chavez Jr and Duddy later this year?

BA: "Yeah. Absolutely. The fight will take place some time in September."

GL: Any updates on Margarito?

BA: "He's going to be fighting on May 8th in Agua Caliente Mexico. He'll be fighting in a bull ring, we'll look to do 24,000 people. Margarito will fight Carson Jones. There's going to be a couple of other exciting fights on the card. Jorge Solis will defend his title and Bruce Trampler is working on a great match between Antillon and Bradon Rios."

GL: Gamboa, Juan Ma Lopez?

BA: "Juan Ma is going to fight in July in Puerto Rico. Depending on how Gamboa comes out on March 27 will probably fight Cabellero at some point this summer and then we might pair that up with Valero against Lamont Peterson."

GL: Do you expect March 13 to be Manny Pacquiao's last fight?

BA: "I don't know. If Pacquiao wins the election and his candidate Villar wins the Presidency then there's a great possibility it could be his last fight. But if Manny loses the election it certainly won't be his last fight. And if Manny wins the election, but Villar doesn't win, it won't be his last fight."

GL: That might be all the incentive they need to vote against him.

BA: "That very well might be, but if you ask me I think he's going to be fighting."

GL: Do you have any thoughts on the Mayweather-Mosley event?

BA: "Not really. I haven't been following it, but it depends on which Shane shows up. If Shane who fought Margarito shows up he has a helluva shot to win. But you know, 16 months off for an old athlete is a lot to ask."

GL: Are you sort of rooting for Shane knowing that it would be easier to close Pacquiao-Mosley than the already failed Mayweather fight?

BA: "I always root for the nice guy, so that tells you who I'm rooting for."

GL: That's pretty much it Bobfather, closing thoughts?

BA: "We got a lot on our plate. Kelly has a tough titlel defense on the 17th of April in Atlantic City. In May we've got this huge PPV from Mexico. Then in June we're bringing the first fight to the New Yankee Stadium and everybody is very excited about that."