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Super fights open up for Pacquiao as Golden Boy and Top Rank aim to end boxing’s cold war

For the longest time, the biggest hurdle in making boxing’s biggest fights is the rift between the competing Golden Boy Promotions of Oscar De La Hoya and Top Rank Promotions of Bob Arum.

As Manny Pacquiao is Top Rank’s top draw, he was a big victim of this rift as he failed to get matches with the best fighters of Golden Boy. This is also one of the reasons why Pacquiao versus Floyd Mayweather has not happened yet because the undefeated American works closely with De La Hoya’s group.

However, the heads of both promotions seem like they are ready to end the cold war. In interviews with Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, De La Hoya and Arum both had nothing but good words to say to each other. Both also said that they want to make the best fights happen to help the sport of boxing.

“Anything’s possible,” De La Hoya said. “That’s one of the reasons I was extending the olive branch. The fans want to see these kinds of fights,” he continued explaining why he has been extra kind to Arum and Top Rank in the past few months.

“I’d be happy to talk to Oscar about any subject in boxing he wishes to talk to me about,” Arum said. “All this baloney about a cold war has never really applied to Oscar and myself. We can talk bout any subject in boxing rationally. We might disagree on a particular point, but we can talk. I hope we’ll get together and have some significant meetings in the near future.”

Arum was pointing to the popular opinion that the rift between Golden Boy and Top Rank has always been between him and Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy’s Chief Executive, not De La Hoya.

“Golden Boy is my baby. Boxing is my passion, boxing is my life. This is what I’ll be focusing on, growing the brand, making the fights people want to see,” De La Hoya continued. “If anyone with Golden Boy has any differences with Bob, it’s on them. I have nothing against Bob and I feel making fights with Bob is beneficial to the fans and the market.”

With boxing’s cold war ending, the possibility of getting good fights is now much higher for boxing fans. A light welterweight match between Ruslan Provodnikov and Danny Garcia could be in store. According to De La Hoya, he also wants to pit Pacquiao against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in the near future.

“Bob, what he did for my career was amazing and I appreciate it, am so grateful. I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t extend an olive branch, end the cold war and make fights together. I will be making calls in the near future and we’ll make an event together very soon.”

Asked whether this meant that a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather is closer to fruition, De La Hoya refused to give a definitive answer.

“I don’t speak for Mayweather,” he simply replied.