Bob Arum Evokes Nazis, Joseph Goebbels In Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Feud

Manny Pacquiao, of the Philippines, center, holds his championship belt as he stands with promoter Bob Arum, left, and trainer Freddie Roach after winning his WBO welterweight boxing title fight against Miguel Cotto, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. hadn't even left the ring after defeating Miguel Cotto in a fierce 12-round bout on Saturday night in Las Vegas when he began talking about matchup that fight fans the world over have been craving: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

"I was looking to fight Manny Pacqiao," Mayweather told Larry Merchant of HBO shortly after beating Cotto in a unanimous decision. "That fight didn't happen because, and I don't think the fight would have happened because of Bob Arum. Bob Arum is in the way. He's stopping the Pacquiao fight. Let's give the fans what they want to see. They want to see Mayweather and Pacquiao."

Although an actual boxing match has yet to materialize between the two fighters, both fighters' camps have traded verbal jabs for quite a long time. Days after Mayweather threw this latest haymaker at Arum, the powerful boxing promoter responded during an appearance on ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas with Gridlock.

"You see Mayweather is from the school of propaganda that Joseph Goebbels, who was [Adolf] Hitler’s publicist, adopted," said Arum, who has said several times that Mayweather won't fight for fear of losing. "The more you say things over and over again the more people believe them. The fact is clear that Pacquiao has agreed to unlimited drug testing so that is not an issue and for two years everybody agreed that the proceeds would be split 50/50."

Click HERE to listen to the segment.

Aside from showing that Godwin's Law may apply to boxing negotiations as well as Internet arguments, Arum paid Mayweather a backhanded compliment by calling him a "genius when it comes to boxing."

"He knows styles and the fact is he knows that it would be extremely difficult for him to beat Pacquiao because Pacquiao is a fast, left-hander who hits with tremendous power in his left hand. I promoted Floyd for over 10 years and anytime you raised the prospect with him of fighting a southpaw he went crazy," he said.

Back in January, Mayweather called out Pacquiao on Twitter and challenged him to a May 5 fight in Las Vegas. But Pacquiao's camp said that date wouldn't make any sense from an economic standpoint because they would have to fight in a smaller venue.

With Mayweather facing a 90-day jail sentence and Pacquiao having his next fight already scheduled it remains to be seen if these two will ever touch gloves. Both sides want to point fingers at the other but who do you think is really to blame?

The interview was transcribed by Sports Radio Interviews.

Also on HuffPost:

From our partners

• The 50 Worst Sports Movies - Bleacher Report
• 20 Reasons Baseball Is The Worst - Bleacher Report
• Sports Stars Of The '90s: Where Are They Now? - Bleacher Report

Comments

[IslamicPacifist]

03:33 PM on 06/09/2012

lol Godwin's law strikes again...

[insightdeluxe]

01:59 AM on 05/14/2012

wow. arum's out there. i've been following this whole arum/pac/$$$ debacle and it's been arum's camp that has stood in the way the whole time. the drug test thing was a ruse to avoid the fight on arum's side. it's not out of the ordinary to have drug testing of any kind for a championship boxing match. the problem is arum is a control freak. he cant stand to see $$$ call the shotz and take home the lion's share of the purse. $$$ offered the arum camp $40 million guaranteed. that wasn't enough! c'mon! X-mas 2012 might be possible. let's keep our fingers crossed. and pac better be ready for bradley!

[Ty LaRue]

06:44 PM on 05/12/2012

Never trust a boxing promoter

[specultr]

12:27 AM on 05/11/2012

Have the fight in Folsom prison, Floyd's new home.

[jhightiger]

12:10 AM on 05/11/2012

Mayweather will do anything to keep his record in tact. Even if it means selling wolf tickets

[Big Chee]

04:12 PM on 05/10/2012

I will continue to preach that Bob Arum is the problem as far as why this fight isn't happening. He continues to prove it, but the hate for Floyd Mayweather's Jack Johnson act allows Arum and his words to be taken as gold.

[happyblackman]

02:29 PM on 05/10/2012

Wow! It's official. Don King is classier than Bob Arum!

[Nick Stuart]

02:02 PM on 05/10/2012

But does the utterly fatuous "Godwin's Rule," apply to a son of orthodox Jews like Arum? Gee, what loopholes in our Correctness must be considered or constructed if the stark lessons of the Nazi behavior during the 1930's and 40's are to be learned from or repeated, as George Santayana pointed out. If Arum is perceived the Goebbels technique--or the Rove method--than who is some self-appointed net geek to impose some "law"?

[Iain Banks]

01:22 PM on 05/10/2012

Pacman for all his celebrity is still not in control of his company, he's pretty much an employee beholden to the thoughts of Bob Arum - who is a less flashier sort of promoter like Don King. Bob Arum takes nearly 30% of Pacman's income, that is outrageous.

[Progressive1]

04:56 PM on 05/13/2012

Flo mo logic... Always an excuse and always someone else's fault that the fight is not happening.

[insightdeluxe]

01:51 AM on 05/14/2012

are you ignoring arum's role in all this?

[nikki717]

12:40 AM on 05/10/2012

Bob is pushing it with this comment. I would love to see the fight go down however.

[Agent69]

12:33 AM on 05/10/2012

They should Just Fight! Floyd's great boxing technique and quickness VS Manny's overwhelming speed and power.

Boxing's Greatest Defense VS Boxing's Greatest Offense!
I just can't wait. And I bet everyone feels the same way as I do..Let's Get Ready To Rumble!!

[hrc04]

12:05 AM on 05/10/2012

Ok, can we stop saying Floyd is the evil side in this rivalry now? He's never crossed the nazi line.

[Spartan112]

02:30 PM on 05/10/2012

He called pacman gay, made racist comments about him, and accused him of steroid use...does that make him the "good side"?

[hrc04]

03:02 PM on 05/10/2012

He's not the good side. But stop painting Pacquiao's camp as being persecuted for their righteousness.

[Agent69]

11:13 PM on 05/09/2012

I hope this fight happens right after Mayweather goes out of prison. can't wait.

[montanasian]

10:24 PM on 05/09/2012

Lets see this fight! Lets see this Fight. Fight Fight! FIGHT!

[muba3123]

10:55 PM on 05/09/2012

i agree