Arum on Floyd outburst: It was a disgrace

MANILA, Philippines - Bob Arum, who’s been in boxing more than half of his life, called Floyd Mayweather’s actions in the ring last Sunday “a disgrace” to the sport.

“Whether it was legal or not legal it was unsportsmanlike behavior and it was a cheap shot,” the 79-year-old promoter told www.boxingscene.com.

“I’m disgusted by what I saw,” he said.

Mayweather, who claims to be the best fighter ever, scored a controversial knockout over Victor Ortiz with just a second left in the fourth round.

He landed the winning blows, a 1-2 combination, when the erstwhile WBC welterweight champion and the referee weren’t looking.

But many felt there was nothing illegal with what Mayweather did because as the age-old adage says, “You must protect yourself at all times.”

“We touched gloves,” said Mayweather, meaning after Ortiz apologized for the intentional headbutt on the American, it was fair game.

“Time was in,” said the referee afterwards.

But what really left a bad taste in the mouth was when Mayweather took on HBO resident analyst Larry Merchant during the post-match interview.

Mayweather, 34, accused Merchant, who’s 80, of never giving him “a fair shake.”

Mayweather just couldn’t take Merchant’s questioning, particularly when the legendary boxing analyst said he took “unfair” advantage of the situation.

“You don’t know (expletive) about boxing,” Mayweather told Merchant right in the face.

Arum must have felt that was unforgivable.

“For the kid (Mayweather) to take off on Larry Merchant the way he did and use the language that he did – it was a disgrace,” Arum told Rick Reeno.

Arum did not talk about the possibility of Mayweather fighting Pacquiao next year, saying there’s a job on and it’s not an easy one, the fight against Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

Pacquiao took a 250-km drive to Baguio City yesterday afternoon to begin his three-week, high-altitude training before he moves to the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles for the tougher grind.

His chief trainer, Freddie Roach, flies in from Los Angeles this morning, and will head straight to the country’s summer capital.

Source Philstar