Michael Marley
4/12/2007

SAN ANTONIO--It's hard to predict whether the former Swiss banker, Richard Schaefer, will laugh, cry or pick up the phone when he hears this one. Schaefer has, after all, more or less said that Arum, 75, is bordering on the senile and that he needs "to hand the reins" of Top Rank over to his stepston, Todd Duboef.

Speaking of mental problems, Arum said Golden Boy Promotions, which Schaefer operates for Oscar De la Hoya, is crazy if they do not instruct their battery of highly-paid lawyers to immediately ring up Arum's army of attorneys and to begin a peace process which will culiminate in an out of court settlement of the GBP-TR battle over the promotional rights to Filipino icon Manny Pacquaio.

"We are kicking the crap out of them at every turn," Arum told me Thursday night in the press room of the Radisson Hotel here. Top Rank presents Pacquaio against rugged Mexicano Jorge Solis on its big "Blaze Of Glory" self-distributed PPV show Saturday night at the Alamodome.

And why should GBP throw up the white flag of surrender? (This can be a touchy subject, this surrender thing, when you are within actual earshot and any kind of other type of shot of the Alamo.)

"Now is the time to sit down and settle the case, really, because there is no doubt that we will win the case eventually. Meanwhile, the lawyers are getting so much money. I am open to settling this case and settling it now. I will settle it out of court. Will I sit down and talk with Schaefer? I will sit down with whoever I have to in order to settle the case. Under provision 8A of the bout agreement we had with Manny for the Erik Morales fight, he could not sign any other boxing contract of any kind. It was clearly prohibited"

Arum said it was "dirty pool" when GBP's attorneys tried to voluntarilyl schedule and then to get a court to compel a court to order a specific date for a deposition of the Pacman. Arum saif the GBP lawyers wanted to schedule the deposition of Manny before this bout with Solis. According to Arum, a Magistrate Judge in federal court in Los Angeles did not set a compulsory date for the fighter's deposition. Arum also said that Pacman will be busy campaigning for the Filipino Congressional seat he hopes to take away from veteran pol Darlen Antonino-Custodio after the Solis bout.

"The Golden Boy people, they should settle this," Arum said. "They must be masochists, they must like getting the crap kicked out of them"

Love that Bob! You must admit Arum is flexible and versatile. Not many people can flash the peace sign and flip you the finger at the same time.

(mlcmarley@aol.com)