Richard Schaefer, CEO Golden Boy Promotions: Yes, it is indeed fight week for the biggest fight of our sport. This is our Super Bowl, the two most popular, most exciting fighters of our generation will face off this coming Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight will be shown live on HBO Pay-Per-View, and it’s going to be starting with the very exciting under card showcasing some of the best young, emerging stars in our sport. The telecast will start at 6:00 pm PT/ 9:00 pm ET.
I just want to say how immensely proud I am of Oscar de la Hoya. Today just prior to departing to Las Vegas, he will have his statue unveiled in front of STAPLES Center alongside Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky. The 14-foot statue is a tribute to the most charismatic and exciting fighter of our generation. And I think for all of us who are one way or other involved in the sport of boxing, we can feel proud today to have our iconic figure, Oscar de la Hoya, getting this kind of tribute and recognition. I think it’s great for the sport of boxing altogether.
We started three months ago with what became the most impressive press tour of all time. The Dream Tour took us from the Statue of Liberty to the tallest building in the United States in Chicago, the Sears Tower, to the mission Apollo control room in Houston, to the Alamo in San Antonio to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and to the streets of East Los Angeles. Along the way, these fighters were greeted by thousands of fans. It almost felt at times like Beatlemania.
These are without question the two most popular fighters of our generation. The press and media exposure these two athletes received in the past few months is absolutely amazing. Beside all of the major sports publication, web sites, and TV networks coverage this fight received very early on really captured and showed how it captured the imagination of people from all over the world. It wasn’t just in the sports papers, but general interest publications such as Time Magazine, Vanity Fair, to business publications such as Forbes Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Sports Business Journal, specialty publications like the Men’s Health, Muscle & Fitness, all covered this fight extensively.This is great news for our sport.
NBC Sports will air on the date of the fight, December 6, a sit-down interview with Oscar. Again, I think to have our fight on network television exposed I think is great. As well, FOX will show a half an hour special on December 5 at 10:30 about this amazing match-up. And new media, such as Facebook, are offering special social networking promotions. iTunes will market Oscar’s favorite 12 hits, which will be posted December 2. So for the first time, there are special promotions focusing on the younger audience, which we want to introduce to the great sport of boxing. The results on these online promotions have been absolutely staggering with millions of hits online.
Our sponsors are reporting very, very strong tracking in their point of sales. These results are way ahead of the De la Hoya-Mayweather fight. And so I really think the stage is set. The two biggest names in the sport will fight each other.
Over the past months, we all know the kind of difficult times this country and in fact the whole world is going through. Those who know me know as well that I called it pretty early on. Over a year ago I had discussions with various writers and friends of mine telling them that I see some clouds appearing on the horizon. And, I have to say I didn’t think it was going to get that bad, but it did. But now I really want to say is that I’m starting to see some very encouraging signs. There is light at the end of the tunnel. And I think this Saturday, you are going to see the two best fighters in the world, the two most exciting fighters in the world, giving it their all, giving it their best.
I think for sports fans from around the world, not just boxing fans, but everyone who likes to be entertained on Saturday, the place to be is going to be either live at the MGM Grand or right at home in front of your TV. Don’t miss out on this fight.
Bob Arum, CEO Top Rank Promotions: Whenever times are bad, entertainment if it’s priced right does very well. And on a pay-per-view fight, even one with a price tag is $54.95, it is very inexpensive if you follow the lead of our Hispanic and Filipino friends predominately that watch it in groups.
Now you take four couples. They get together, watch the fight, buy beer with tacos or Domino pizza, which are one of the sponsors, and the evening is cheaper than going to a movie and going out for a bite afterwards, much cheaper. Therefore, I think a lot of people are going to do it. It’s a big event. It’s great, opportunity to socialize. People have been used to socializing the Thanksgiving holiday and they’re getting ready for Christmas. And this is another opportunity for people to get together, watch a tremendous event, enjoy it, cheer, and it’s like watching a Super Bowl. So I’m very bullish on how well the pay-per-view is going to do.
Now as the fighters head to my city of Las Vegas, interest here is picking up tremendously. That’s the good news. Most of the tickets are gone. They’ve reconfigured the arena so there are a few tickets that can still be bought. We have massive numbers of seats available for closed circuit in Las Vegas at both Mandalay Bay and at MGM Grand.
And what’s even more good news is that Las Vegas has been struggling to bring in people. And rooms are at an all-time low. There are plenty of rooms available all over town. You can get rooms even on the weekend at top hotels for no more than $109 a night. o this is the opportunity to come and come to Vegas, enjoy the weekend, watch the fight, either on closed circuit or at the live arena, closed circuit tickets in some places are as low as $40 or $60 at the MGM Grand.
The fight itself, I don’t have to talk about how great it is. Both fighters have trained tremendously for the fight. And it should be a great night of boxing and a real tribute to the sport of boxing.
Dan Rafael, ESPN: There was a period of time when Golden Boy tried to sign Manny Pacquiao.
I would like each of you to talk about just the weird sort of way things went where on the one hand, you think Golden Boy is going to sign Manny Pacquiao and promote all kinds of big fights for him to the point where you guys go through your battles, everything seems to have worked out. You’ve done a ton of big fights together. And now low and behold, it’s Oscar who tried to sign Manny, fighting him in the ring in six days. It’s kind of a weird situation.
Richard Schaefer:Well I think things happen for a reason. And when that whole episode happened when Manny signed with two people there were some hard feelings between the two promoters. There were some hard feelings on Oscar’s part, vice-versa Manny Pacquiao as well. But ultimately once the dust settled and as some writers refer to “the cold war” was over and the result is you actually come out of these kind of situations bigger, better, and stronger.
The fact is that Top Rank and Golden Boy in the last 12 months or so have put together some of the biggest fight of our sport. I think we realize, we need to do what is the right thing for the sport and for the sport’s fans, which is to keep on bringing them the biggest and best fights we can do.
Dan Rafael: Bob, do you have any thoughts about the way that went down?
Bob Arum: Yeah, I agree with what Richard said. I also would want to give credit to the mediator, who talked sense into both of us, Judge Daniel Weinstein, who handled the mediation in such a way that it brought both sides together so we could resolve this issue and go on as Richard has explained.
Dan Rafael: When Oscar spoke about it, he spoke about it in the sense that part of the reason that he wanted to do this fight with Manny among all of the various reasons to do it was part of him felt it was a little bit personal because he felt disrespected by what went down when Manny pledged his allegiance to Bob and you guys all wound up in court. And Manny basically said nothing personal, but Oscar made it sound like he’s taking some of it a little personal.
Richard, do you get a sense of that or is it just Oscar trying to promote the fight?
Richard Schaefer:No Oscar was very disappointed in Manny. And Manny somehow has that ability to attract chaos. And, I try to tell Oscar it’s really Manny attracting this kind of chaos. But Oscar is ticked off, he is very disappointed. And more than once, he said I’m going to make him pay.
Michael David Smith, AOL Sports: First for Bob, could you talk a little bit about how important Manny’s popularity in the Philippines is to promoting this fight? And of the fighters you’ve been around, is he the most beloved in his home country?
Bob Arum: Yeah you have to understand, when you promote a Manny Pacquiao, it comes with a lot of tremendous responsibilities because an entire nation, a nation of 90 million people, is focusing on his every move. There are extensive articles written, three, four, five a day. It is the most important topic of conversation in the Philippines. The highest elected officials are fixated on Manny and on this fight.
Indeed, I think the Senate and Congress in the Philippines is going to close this week because they won’t have a quorum because senators and congress people are flying over here in tremendous numbers. I know the vice president of the Philippines will arrive here on Wednesday in Vegas. It’s something that is totally and completely different from promoting another fighter, no matter how popular he is.
Now nobody that I ever promoted was as popular as Muhammad Ali. I promoted many of his fights. But it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t one country almost as one person rising up and making it such a national issue as they do for Manny. He is not only beloved, but he is very important to the way the country of the Philippines acts and lives.
Michael David Smith: Oscar is by far the number one pay-per-view draw in American boxing. And does that mean that the sport will take a hit in popularity when Oscar retires? And how big a problem is that for the sport of boxing in the United States and in North America?
Richard Schaefer: No fighter is bigger than the sport. And the sport has been around for hundreds of years. So I don’t think that the sport or pay-per-view business is going to disappear with one fighter retiring. I really don’t think so.
And you see that in other sports as well. When Michael Jordan retired from basketball it took a little dip before rebounding and new stars emerged like LeBron James to revitalize the sport. You’re going to see the same in boxing. There will be others who will be stepping up and others will be emerging as stars of tomorrow. And with that being said, you really should all pay particular attention to the great undercard, which we have. Victor Ortiz faces Juan Manuel Lopez, showcasing two of truly the best young fighters our sport currently has.
And it’s going to be up to us, the promoters, to give these fighters the right framework and the right platform to which they can grow and become the kind of pay-per-view attractions Oscar la Hoya has become.
Bob Arum: I’ve been this sport since ’66. And I remember what a big hit it was when Ali left the scene and later when Sugar Ray Leonard left and then later when Mike Tyson left. But boxing always has that knack of renewing itself. Sometimes it takes a few years, sometimes less. But it always renews.
I mean, you know, people said after Ali retired boxing would never be the same. And boom, we got Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, and in a lot of ways it was bigger than ever.
Michael David Smith: Richard, are you promoting two cards on the night of January 24th, both Affliction MMA and Margarito-Mosley?
Richard Schaefer: I don’t really want to talk about that right now. The one thing which is for sure is that Sugar Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito are going to fight January 24 from Mandalay Bay.
Nancy Gay, San Francisco Chronicle: Bob, you’ve seen Oscar over the years change trainers so many times. And historically, do you believe that that can help a fighter? Or do you think that that could impact him in a negative way, especially in this fight coming up?
Bob Arum: I think it’s very difficult when you change trainers as frequently as Oscar has done. I don’t think it helps. It’s the same way as a football team where the coach changes every year or two and there’s a flux in the organization and they can’t get used to a particular system. It probably is less harmful for Oscar because at this stage, he’s a veteran fighter and nobody really is going to teach him anything. But changing trainers, there’s always exceptions to the rule. But changing trainers is not a very, very good thing, particularly when you do it frequently.
Nancy Gay: Richard, you’re not only Oscar’s business associate. I’m sure you’ve become good friends with him now. And as someone who works so closely with him and has a personal relationship with him, do you feel at some point that you might want to say to Oscar this should be your last fight? That you’ve had a wonderful career, but this should be it. Do you ever feel compelled to do that? Or do you feel like you would never interfere with Oscar’s career plans?
Richard Schaefer:Well, no, actually, it is a subject which we discuss quite frequently. And I have accepted Oscar’s position. He is a really smart guy. He is a very, very good fighter. But he’s really smart outside the ring as well. And he will know to listen to his body and know when enough is enough and when the last fight is truly his last, his retirement fight.
But what he really wants to be able to assess his performance, not just the night of the fight, but the entire camp, how he feels, and then make that decision.
And it might be — I’m not saying it is — but it might be Oscar’s last fight. It really depends on how he feels, not necessarily just with winning or not winning, but just how his body feels. And he will know when it’s time to hang up. So I’m not really into hang them up. I’m not really that worried about it.
Robert Morales, Los Angeles Daily News: I know that a lot of people are looking forward to this fight. And, of course, you have those who are not because of the size differential. Now forget about the middleweight thing because Oscar only fought there twice. And he was never really a middleweight. However, he has fought eight times at junior middleweight and Manny has not fought at higher than lightweight. So because of that, some people in the boxing community, including some boxers — and yes, there may be some jealously involved. I understand that — think that this a no-win situation for Oscar. So to convince those people who are wondering if they should buy this fight or not because they might think it’s a no-win situation for Oscar, give me your best sales pitch why should they overlook that and why should they buy it anyway.
Bob Arum: Well, let me tell you that this flies in the face of the whole history of boxing. Where throughout history, smaller guys went up in weight. Now it has to be an exceptional smaller guy. It can’t be the ordinary run-of-the-mill smaller guy. But the exceptional smaller guy went up in weight to fight great, great fighters in a higher weight. And very often the little guy won. That happens all the time. Now from my standpoint as some other caller asked, I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to Manny Pacquiao, who is the icon of a nation of 90 million people.
I would not have allowed this fight to happen if I didn’t feel in my heart of hearts that Manny could win the fight. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to win. I really believe that he will win and that it is very, very competitive. Remember, in Manny Pacquiao, you’re not dealing with just an ordinary fighter or a great fighter. You’re dealing with somebody that represents a country that’s one of the greatest allies of this country that has 90 million people. Now that means something.
And you don’t put somebody in a fight that you believe he can’t win and your matchmakers believe he can’t win just for money. You don’t do that. And so I believe that Manny will win the fight. I believe that he can win the fight. Freddie Roach believes that he will win the fight. Bruce Trampler believes that he will and can win the fight. And those are the people whose views I respect. The haters out there and the know-nothings out there, they can say what they want. It has no effect on me.
Robert Morales: Boy, that’s pretty damn good. I don’t know if Richard can top that or not.
Richard Schaefer:No, I’m just going to second it. Look, the fact is when – I think this is – there’s really a lot of jealous people out there. There are some fighters, which are jealous and there are some promoters, which are jealous. And this is very unfortunate that these – as Bob says, these haters and know-nothings feel like they need to attack what will be an unbelievable fight. And I think it really has to do with jealousy. It is unfortunate, but it seems like the sport of boxing has these certain media members and certain promoters and certain fighters, which are always jealous if they’re not part of it. I am going to leave it at that. I think Bob answered it extremely well.
If they are honest with themselves that Manny Pacquiao comes to fight and Oscar de la Hoya comes to fight. And you know it’s going to be a hell of a fight Saturday night. And that is what our sports needs. I think we should all look forward to that. And we’ll leave it at that.
Robert Morales: One last thing and for both of you guys, if you will, Oscar being honored at STAPLES Center today with a statue, why do you guys think that Oscar has become what he has become, which, in fact, is the biggest money making fighter in history?
Bob Arum: Well, I think one of the reasons is that he’s generally delivered. You know, the fights have been hyped and generally fights have lived up to the hype. And I think people enjoy watching him fight and he’s crossed over to the general public. And I think that that to a great extent is responsible for his success at the box office.
Richard Schaefer:Yeah, I think what it is, they say styles makes fights, but I think styles make fighters as well. And if you have somebody as exciting as he is, that is really what makes him.
Tim Dahlberg, Associate Press: You’re talking up the potential of the fight and everything in today’s economy. But, given that the Pavlik-Hopkins fight didn’t do well and tickets are suddenly available for this fight again. If you were to make this fight, again, knowing how badly the economy has tanked, would you have done it, number one? Or – and would you have changed prices in tickets and pay-per-view?
Bob Arum: Well, you know, certainly we would’ve done the fight. I think that if we were establishing the price today for pay-per-view, we might’ve considered lowering it $5 down to $50. Otherwise, the tickets for the right in the first hour close to $15 million of tickets were sold. And why would you change any of that? Now it’s true that some of the people who bought tickets were brokers. And then when the economy, went bad and when people were out of – Wall Street people were out of work, they had trouble unloading it. But all of them are going to unload it. The fact that they’re not going to sell it for 2 or 3 times face value, that’s too bad. But, I’ve been very satisfied with ticket sales. And I am sure we’re going to be very, very satisfied with pay-per-view sales.
Richard Schaefer:Well, and I think what it is, just because it’s not a very stellar economy, that doesn’t mean you can’t make big fights anymore. I think what’s going to happen is as I said in my opening remarks, I do believe that the economy is going to come out of that. And usually they do bigger, better, and stronger.
But until that really happens to the full extent, I think it’s going to have to be a combination of factors to get maybe some of these big, big fights done. And that is they’re going to certainly be less revenues in the pot, so the fighters are going to have to understand, it’s going to be a different split. It’s going to be a different amount of money is available. And those who understand that will continue to be in the biggest fights of our sport. And those who don’t, they will be sitting on the sidelines and watching.
Bob Arum: And what we’re doing, for example, February 21, I’m going to have Pavlik defend his middleweight title. And on the same card from a different location, I’m going to have Miguel Cotto fight for a world title. And we’re going to put the two fights together and sell it on one pay-per-view card.
Tim Dahlberg: Are you guys putting out any predictions on how well this fight will do on pay-per-view? Or you just don’t know what’s going to happen based on how things are going?
Bob Arum: If you ask on Thursday when we see the tracking numbers, we can give you a more intelligent answer. But everything that we have at this particular point, which isn’t tracking yet because we don’t know, sponsor reports, cable system reports, DIRECTV reports, they’re looking at the de la Hoya-Mayweather fight as being comparable to this one. Whether it ends up that way, we’ll know better on Thursday.
Michael Rosenthal, The Ring Online: A lot of people, Bob, sort of describe Oscar as maybe your masterpiece in terms of your promotional career. Do you think that’s true and do you think you get enough credit for that? Or do you care?
Bob Arum: I think that some of it is true. Obviously you have to build a foundation and build the building. But the fact that I don’t get enough credit for it or do get enough credit, I couldn’t care less. I did what I did. And you go on to it. I’m not in this business to get credit from anybody, except from the bank.
Michael Rosenthal: As part of the personal gratification, forget the money thing, personal gratification, you must look back with pride.
Bob Arum: Well, I really don’t. I don’t look back. God damn, I’m 77. If I look back, I would stumble and fall. I just look forward.
Richard Schaefer:Well, I think the fact is, everybody knows who Bob Arum is and what he has done, not just with Oscar, but with many other fighters. And that’s what makes him the Hall of Fame promoter and that makes him the kind of promoter he is.
So, I think he knows everybody knows, what he has achieved. And so I think he is and I’m sure he will go into the history books as the best and greatest promoter ever.
Michael Rosenthal: You guys were talking about how somebody will emerge eventually when Oscar steps down. This is just speculative, obviously, but is there a fighter or a kind of fighter or a kind of person you guys have in mind to be that savior or the next star? Or is it just you just know it when it comes?
Bob Arum: Again, who would’ve figured that a 17-year-old kid – or 18 at the time who got – couldn’t make the Olympic boxing team and got beat by a mediocre guy to lose out on the team would emerge as this incredibly interesting and exciting heavyweight, which Mike Tyson did? Who ever figured that after Ali there would be a heavyweight who was run out of the ring in the amateurs by Duane Bobick — and I was there. I’m not just saying it. I saw him being run out of the ring by Duane Bobick. And he became a super heavyweight champion and that was Larry Holmes.
The answer is, you don’t really know until it happens. You can guess that. You can guess Victor Ortiz or Juan Manual Lopez. But you’re guessing. The guys who have talent, whether they can reach the pinnacle of being a superstar, that you never really know. You just don’t know. And anybody who says they do- it’s more wishful thinking than anything else.
Michael Rosenthal: And looking back on Oscar, it was sort of a perfect situation. He just had all of the ingredients and then he hooked up with you and then the package just turned into this magic thing.
Bob Arum: Well, the stars were aligned with Oscar. And remember, you got to give credit to Oscar. I mean, Oscar de la Hoya doesn’t come along every day. Oscar de la Hoya, unlike a Tyson or a Holmes, was a shining star in the Olympics, like a Sugar Ray Leonard, for example. And he was articulate, is articulate, but, I mean, was articulate from the start. I remember interviews that he did on television where the pros were just astounded.
He knew early on that when somebody asks a question who is not going to be on television, he was like a producer asking the question that Oscar then sort of incorporated the question in his answer. He was a pro that way right from the beginning. And you don’t get many Oscar de la Hoyas starting in boxing with that type of presence.
Richard Schaefer:I think, there are some very talented young fighters out there. There are fighters, which have charisma as well. You look at the David Haye, you look at the Jack Dawson, you look at the Juan Manuel Lopez, you look at the Kelly Pavlik, you look at the Victor Ortiz, you look at the Robert Guerrero.
There are fighters out there, which can fight and have charisma and have a following or are developing a following. And, maybe one of them, maybe all of them, I don’t know, will come and eventually fill these shoes.
Michael Rosenthal: All right, thanks very much. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.
Bob Arum: Shows what a big fight this is. Everybody’s coming in on Tuesday. Usually they don’t come in till Friday.
Diego Aparicio, Al Dia: A fight like de la Hoya and Pacquiao makes a lot of international and national interest and or that we’re hearing that as we have a fighter that is going to be on the undercard, Roberto Marroquin. How important it is for kids like him to be in such an event to promote their early careers and how do you see kids like him in the future going into professional boxing?
Bob Arum: Well, I remember with Oscar, even though he was an Olympic Gold Medal winner, Oscar fought on the undercards of Michael Carbajal and George Foreman. That’s the normal process of building a fighter. You don’t become a superstar overnight and you don’t become a superstar by being a main event fighter from the get-go. You have to fight on undercards. And I think it – a kid that is fortunate enough to be on an undercard of a major fight promotion gets to know a little bit what it’s about. And so if he can reach the level of being in a big promotion, he understands a little bit what’s involved.
Richard Schaefer:Yeah, I think, you know, these are opportunities for these young kids to sort of like get a taste of the big time promotions. And I think this is a valuable lesson they can learn that when they eventually are going to be in these big fights that they sort of like have some experience to fall back on and that they are not going to be overwhelmed. And I think that’s the advantage when some of these young kids work with a big promoter like Top Rank or like Golden Boy, who can give them this kind of exposure and that kind of opportunity to get their feet wet in a way, to be part of a great fight weekend in Las Vegas.
Diego Aparicio: There’s another fighter here that was an Olympian, too, Luis Yanez. They say they have conversation with both Bob Arum and Oscar de la Hoya for signing.
Why have neither Golden Boy or Top Rank sign up such a fighter that had Olympic experience and supposedly he’s an American Gold Medalist and he hasn’t announced a signing with one major promoter. Is it because they asking for too much money or simply there hasn’t been any talks at all?
Bob Arum: I have never talked – I don’t know who you’re talking about. I never talked to him…maybe my matchmaker did, but I never talked to him. I don’t know who he is.
Richard Schaefer: No, I don’t know either. But it might be that they have conversations with our matchmakers. And sometimes it is as I said, some of these fighters think that you’re still living in 2007 and often the kind of sign-on bonuses, which for a minimum purses, which are required, are just not reality anymore. And that’s why sometimes some of these young fighters, even if they are very talented, are basically not being picked up by a promoter. That’s at least the way I look at it. But, again, I don’t know who that fighter is.
Diego Aparicio: What is the issue, let’s say procedure for a fighter to be looked by you and consider for a contract? Do you give them multi-annual contracts right away? How does it work out?
Richard Schaefer:Well, maybe we can discuss that when in Las Vegas.
William Trillo, Pound4pound.com:Richard, not taking away from what Oscar’s receiving today, he deserves it. Bing from LA, I never questioned that. What I am questioning is the timing and, this being fight week, normally this is a day that a fighter really starts mentally preparing for a fight, getting mean, getting angry. Am I wrong to think that maybe this timing is just a little bit off?
Bob Arum: The statue is better than being on Jay Leno.
Richard Schaefer:I think, you have to understand, this is a dream come true for Oscar as well to be there next to Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, to do that. To get that kind of recognition going into the biggest and most important fight of his career in Las Vegas I think what that will do is it will give Oscar additional fire. And he’s excited about it. It’s a tremendous honor and I don’t think there could have been any better time for that to happen than Oscar taking off an hour later to Las Vegas and getting that kind of honor from STAPLES Center and from the City of Los Angeles bestowed upon him.
William Trillo: Bob, in regards to where Manny’s at right now, we know there was supposed to be a big sendoff from him from Wild Card. And Freddie shut that down. And there’s even a slight rumor now that the reason he shut it down because training camp hasn’t been going so well for Manny and he needs every second he can get. Any validity to that at all?
Bob Arum: No, training camp has been going absolutely great. I think Freddie shut it down because Freddie wants to have one more normal day training. And then Manny won’t even be on the bus. His people are going to be on the bus. Manny is going to be driving to Las Vegas the way he usually does. And Freddie is driving to Las Vegas in his car the way he usually does. And a lot of it is superstition. They just want to do things the way they’ve done them.
Freddie is a great, great trainer. And one thing about Manny is if Freddie told him to jump out a window, it’d make him a better fighter, Manny would do it because has complete trust in Freddie and I think it’s justified.
Diego Martinez, Reforma Newspaper: What is your opinion of the present worldwide economic recession? Is it possible it is affecting this fight–maybe in the salaries and how do you think it’s possible to break the record of pay-per-view from de la Hoya-Mayweather?
Bob Arum: Let’s hope, let’s hope. We need a little, you stop by one of the churches in Mexico, a couple of Ava Marias would help. You know, I hope we break the record, but who knows? Who knows? I mean, we come close, that’s still very, very good. It’s like an election. You don’t know until the votes have been tabulated, until the polls close. But all your prayers are welcome.
Richard Schaefer:Yeah, and I think as if you look back to 2007 when that fight was, May 2007, there’s no question about it, we were in a better economic environment. But you look at this fight here and you see what the sponsors have been doing of this fight is substantially more than they did for the Mayweather fight. And, generally everybody is in agreement with that that this fight, this is not going to be a Dancing with the Stars. This is going to be a fight. Both guys want to fight. They come to fight. And it’s going to be an exciting fight.
And I think that in that regard, this fight here this coming Saturday between de la Hoya and Pacquiao clearly has a big plus, a big leg up compared to the Mayweather fight.
Bob Arum: I wouldn’t be surprised if this fight is talked about in boxing history as one of the great, great classics in boxing the way people talk about the Ali/Frazier third fight, the Hagler/Hearns fight, the Leonard/Hagler fight, as one of the true, true classic matches in boxing. I mean, it can fail, but to be a very, very exciting fight. And I really believe it’s because it’s a big fight and because it’ll be so well contested that it will be one of the great, great fights in boxing history.
Richard Schaefer:See you all in Vegas.
Bob Arum: Where the weather is good, the sun is out, you know, you’ll enjoy yourself. I mean, those of you that are coming Tuesday, why don’t you come tonight? And if you’re coming on Wednesday or Thursday, you ought to come earlier. It’ll be a lot of fun. It’s a great, great, environment, a big fight in Las Vegas, nothing better.