Fight execs ponder Dallas offer

The Cowboys Stadium owned by Texas billionaire Jerry Jones remains in the running to host the coveted Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum revealed Friday.

“Dallas sent us (by email) an incredible offer,” said Top Rank chief Arum despite the last-minute decision to cancel a trip there to inspect the facilities of the 80,000-seat venue that is being dangled by Jones to host what could be the richest fight in the history of boxing.

Arum said Jones’s staff also had sent Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive Officer Richard Schaefer a copy of the document.

Arum, Schaefer and HBO executive Ross Greenburg were scheduled to meet with Jones and visit the stadium located in the city of Arlington (20 miles from Dallas) on Wednesday but Schaefer called Arum at the last minute, telling the Top Rank big boss that he was no longer interested in going to Texas.

Apart from the Cowboys Stadium, also bidding to host the March 13, 2010 bout is the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which is the favorite to get the rights to hold the fight, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, and even the Republic of the Congo, which is in Central Africa.

Still, Arum could not commit to Dallas as the site of what is being hyped as the battle of two pound-for-pound kings.

“We’ll know early next week (where the fight is going to take place) because we have to review everything,” said Arum, who has now instructed his stepson, Todd duBoef, to hold talks with Schaefer.

“I am not talking to Schaefer,” said Arum, who suspects that the right-hand man of Oscar De La Hoya, “has an agenda.”

A day after Schaefer announced that he was backing out of the Dallas trip, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was also making a bid to acquire the Pacquiao-Mayweather match.

Source: mb.com.ph