Pacquiao beating Floyd is Arum's birthday wish

Top Rank big boss Bob Arum has only one wish when he celebrates his 78th birthday on Dec. 8 and that is for Manny Pacquiao to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. when the two collide in next year’s mega-buck showdown.

"I hope this fight will be a great fight and I hope that it ends with the referee counting 10 over Mr. Mayweather," he said.

Both fighters have yet to sign the deal as Arum is set to prepare the contract that Pacquiao and Mayweather will be signing before the first scheduled press conference on Jan. 11 next year.

Arum said the Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown, set on March 13, is the biggest fight that he would promote in his four decades in the business. It can even be compared to some of the greatest fights that took place in the past, he said.

"For our time it’s the biggest fight people have been talking about, Manny vs Mayweather. It has great deal of anticipation and it reminds me of when (Sugar Ray) Leonard first fought (Thomas) Hearns for the first time or when (Muhammad) Ali fought (Joe) Frazier. It has that type of feeling."

Though both fighters can expect a hefty paycheck once they seal the deal, Arum said the seven-division champ Pacquiao has a higher goal when he decided to fight Mayweather.

"Is this fight all about money for Pacquiao? Naturally for professional boxing its just that were boxers want to be compensated," said Arum, who felt finally relieved after finally convincing Pacquiao to accept what boxing observers call the “Fight of the Millennium."

"But for Manny this fight is even more. This fight will eliminate any doubt on who the best pound-for-pound fighter is," added Arum, who said that Pacquiao has long wanted to face the still undefeated and former P4P title holder Mayweather.

Arum said he did not have a hard time convincing both fighters to accept the deal.

“I knew last time I took him to see the Cotto-Clottey fight, he (Pacquiao) said he wanted to fight Cotto. But I knew before, that he wanted to fight Mayweather." "It was my job to get everything cleared out of the way. So it was done in the best possible terms." Arum said that Pacquiao is expected to collect $40 million or close to P2 billion. – GMANews.TV