Arum rules out Pacman tiff in Vegas

MANILA, Philippines -  Sin City is out as venue of the proposed fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13. Well, at least for now.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Top Rank chief Bob Arum, who has a hold on both fighters, has withdrawn his request with the Nevada Athletic State Commission for it to take another look at Margarito’s case on Aug. 9.

Margarito, once the most feared welterweight, had his license revoked in the United States following the case of illegal hand wraps in his fight with Shane Mosley early last year. Now he wants his license back, but isn’t sure if he’s going to get it.

The NASC had Margarito in its agenda just recently but instead instructed him to go to the California State Athletic Commission first (a hearing has been set on Aug. 18) before Nevada could take another look at him.

Arum was still hoping to land the fight in Las Vegas, where the big fights normally happen in the middle of all the casinos, until the legendary promoter told Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review Journal he had withdrawn his Nevada bid.

“Because time is running out, we can’t wait for Nevada to make a decision so we have to think about moving the fight elsewhere,” said Arum, who had other places in mind, like Dallas, Abu Dhabi and tax-free Monterrey in Mexico.

“The (Nevada) commission, other than (chairman) Pat (Lundvall), have other views. We decided we can’t engage them in trying to change their views, so we’re taking it elsewhere,” said Arum.

But it can all be part of the game.

And it looks like Keith Kizer, NSAC executive director, isn’t going to lose sleep watching the Pacquiao-Margarito fight slip away and land elsewhere. He has reportedly informed his commissioners of Arum’s decision.

“He said he didn’t want to wait,” Kizer said. “That’s his call. Obviously, you have to have both fighters licensed to fight here and I don’t know that the commission would have put (Margarito) on the (Aug. 9) agenda.”

“I’m very disappointed that the state of Nevada didn’t have the opportunity to bring a fight of this magnitude and this caliber to Las Vegas. Las Vegas is where this fight should have been held,” said Lundvall.

Pacquiao said last Wednesday he prefers Mexico as venue of his next fight.

“I like Mexico. Let’s try Mexico,” he told The STAR.

Pacquiao has faced and beaten some of the great Mexican fighters like Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera, but has never gone to Mexico to fight.

Maybe he can get what he wants. He normally does.