GL: How was your trip to the Philippines and what did it accomplish? "The trip was just great. I met with Manny and we had a big public announcement. Manny said that Top Rank was his promoter and he was going along with Top Rank. On Tuesday I will send a letter to (Richard) Schaefer making an offer for Barrera, if they accept it fine, if they don't then Pacquiao will fight in Macau. We gave him a list of nine opponents and the funny things is, on a fight that probably isn't as big as the Barrera fight, Pacquiao is going to make more money.

GL: The dispute between you and Golden Boy over Pacquiao's promotional rights has been well documented and it's still ongoing. Is any promoter whether it's your or Golden Boy able to make an offer to the other side? One of the things that Schaefer pointed out to me was that he was not making an offer to Top Rank, he was making an offer to Pacquiao. At this point in time is any promoter able to make any valid offer since Pacquiao's promotional status is up in the air?

Bob Arum: "His promotional status isn't up in the air, Pacquiao is being promoted by Top Rank as he said. Schaefer is disputing that in court, but our lawyers have told us that we should go ahead...

GL: (cutting in) And move forward regardless.

BA: "Exactly."

GL: If you're willing to move forward with a Pacquiao fight I imagine that you and your legal team are supremely confident of your position?

BA: "That is absolutely correct, we are supremely confident."

GL: Do you have any thoughts on Schaefer's offer for Barrera-Pacquiao II?

BA: "We're not intersted in a purse-bid and Pacquiao doesn't care about fighting for that title, so we're not going to take part in that purse-bid. There's one attraction and that's Manny Pacquiao. Barrera is not an attraction and if he doesn't fight Pacquiao who is he going to fight? Is he going to fight (Juan Manuel) Marquez? If he does, that's not an attraction. And if he wants to keep his title, he'll have to fight Humberto Soto who would knock him out and that's not a big attraction either so where is Barrera going to go?"

GL: Can you give us any details on the offer you will make to Barrera on January 2?

BA: "We're offering Barrera $2.5M plus an upside on the PPV. Plus if the fight happens, it's without prejudice to any legal claims that Golden Boy may have against Top Rank or Top Rank may have against Golden Boy. In other words this fight would take place in a vacuum."

GL: So the fight between the boxers can happen in the ring without having any effect on the legal fight between you and Golden Boy?

BA: "Exactly right."

GL: What percentage is $2.5M of the estimated pot?

BA: "I have no idea, because the question becomes what is the upside of the PPV, that will dictate what they upside percentages are."

GL: Will Pacquiao make more if he fights someone other than Barrera in his next fight?

BA: "More."

GL: I'm all ears Bobfather, please elaborate.'

BA: "With the domestic television in the United States, with the television in Manila and with the fact that you could get the opponent for something reasonable, there's well over $5M for Pacquiao."

GL: I'm a little confused about the legal battle still. I didn't think Pacquiao would be able to move forward with any promoter until the court's decided. Can you put it to me in layman terms?

BA: "In layman terms if Top Rank goes ahead with Pacquiao and the worst happens, which is we are wrong and the courts decide Golden Boy is right then we're liable to them for money damages."

GL: There have been rumors that Freddie Roach could be training Oscar for the Mayweather fight. Do you believe that has anything to do with Roach wanting Pacquiao to be with Golden Boy?

BA: "Of course it does, he's got one million reasons to support Golden Boy's position."

GL: How does Manny Pacquiao feel about that situation?

BA: "He's not very happy."

GL: Can we expect Freddie Roach to work Pacquiao's corner for his next fight if Manny moves forward with Top Rank?

BA: "I do, but what people have to realize is that the fight would take place in April and Freddie has to determine if he can train both Manny and Oscar. The idea of not going in March and going in April is not Top Rank's idea it's Manny's. He doesn't want to fight in March and he's got a lot of things on his agenda."

GL: Shelly Finkel went to see Pacquiao in the Philippines a week before you did. I imagine his name came up during your meetings with Pacquiao. Do you expect his contract with Pacquiao to get extended at the end of this month?

BA: "Finkel's contract was terminated August 12. He signed a document terminating his contract on that date providing he got paid for the November fight. This is crazy, I don't know what he's talking about with extending the contract, it's been terminated since November. He went there to try to get a new contract, but Finkel is a non-player."

GL: So you would be shocked if Finkel remained a part of Team Pacquiao?

BA: "Manny Pacquiao said he doesn't need a manager. And he certainly doesn't need Shelly Finkel. Finkel's contract ran until January something, but in order to secure his money because he was fighting then with Pacquiao, he signed a document terminating the contract as of that date. I have the contract and it was a three party contract that I had to sign, because I had to check off 20% of Pacquiao's money to give it to Shelly."

GL: 20%?

BA: "Yes 20% and I paid Shelly $600,000 based on the guarantee of the fight and there's more money coming. Shelly paid $60,000 to get in as Manny's manager and he's pulled out about $1.5M out of it, so it was a pretty good investment."

GL: If Manny returns in April will it be at Steve Wynn's place in Macau and who will he be fighting?

BA: "We've given Pacquiao a list of nine world class fighters, and we're giving Barrera and Golden Boy until January 12 to make a deal. If they don't we'll move on to the other nine opponents."

GL: Would a fight with Barrera take place in Macau?

BA: "No, if it's Barrera the fight will happen in Las Vegas."

GL: So if Pacquiao fights a top-ten guy in Macau in April he makes more than he would against Barrera under a 50-50 split?

BA: "That's correct, a lot more."

M

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