Bob Arum; And the Goose that laid the Golden Eggs

This story is not for the feint of heart. It is very is sad but I believe it to be the truth.
During the wee hours of July 17th, despite saying he had negotiated with neither the Cotto nor Margarito camp, Arum let it slip that Dallas Stadium had the Nov. 13th date reserved for Pacquiao vs. Cotto. Immediately, a horrifying image popped into my head. My knees buckled, I fell to the floor, and everything went black. It was the image of Bob Arum and Jerry Jones, in a cloud of Cuban cigar smoke, sipping 20 year old scotch, shaking hands in the skybox of Dallas Stadium on March 13th. During the 12th round of Pacquiao/Clottey. The crowd was cheering wildly.

I awoke in a puddle of my own vomit. "Had I just Astral Projected?" I thought to myself. Whatever had happened, I had been shown something. A vision. Something evil, corrupt, smelly.

The minutes that followed were accompanied by a sad revelation. It was never going to be Mayweather. It was always Foreman or Cotto, in Dallas, for the 154lb championship. Always! Suddenly, It all became so clear. The answers were right there, in front of our faces. ARRRUUUMMM!!!!

From a matchmaker's standpoint, Pac vs Margarito makes no sense at all. No license, no belt, almost 6ft. We only believe in the possibility because he's also under the top rank banner. But for Arum it makes sense tossing around Margarito's name, it's for Margarito's benefit. He promotes Margarito also, and knows it's making Marg feel all warm and fuzzy inside thinking he has a chance at the Pac sweepstakes. Arum also isn't going to the table with Cotto without any other options, so he'll use Margarito to screw Miguel out of few million during negotiations. By keeping it in house he's basically pitting Cotto and Margarito against each other, meaning the fight goes to the lowest bidder so to speak. They both want Pac so whoever agrees to the smallest purse, catchweights, tests, etc. gets the fight. And since Margarito isn't truly being considered, Cotto ends up lowballing himself. Again. New addition Manny Steward is the sales pitch and the theme of the new 24/7.

Arum's prize pupil, the peoples champion, begins training as hard as usual completely unaware of his promoters evil deeds. Slowly, Arum sells him on the idea that nothing could be done to make the Mayweather fight, and that chasing an 8th world title is the only other option.

In the back of his mind, in that darkness, Arum knows he could have made the fight the world wants, the fight his fighter wants. "But then what? He thinks to himself. Every fight after would seem small by comparison. What if Manny lost? What if he wins, then retires? What will happen to my money? He weeps in bed clutching his piggy bank to his chest. And he decides then and there to milk Manny for as long as he can, and then put him out there for one last big payday. Because by then winning or losing won't matter, only the money will.

"A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once; however, upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose."