There's no doubting their enthusiasm but you have to wonder at the methods of two of the so called investor groups wishing to stage the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao.
On Friday, I wrote about and quoted one of the key guys in Falcon Hawk Entertainment, music hustler Danny Rucker. His is the group that undisputedly set up the meeting with L'il Floyd and Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz on the day before Thanksgiving at the fighter's gleaming Las Vegas gym.
Rucker's group also includes a fellow named Michael Garibay and, more prominently, Joseph Jackson, patriarch of the famous musical family.
There's a second group headed by another music promoter named Carl Harris and, at this point, I have no idea who or where the third group of potential fight underwriters are.
The weird thing about the Rucker group and the Harris-led faction is how they are beating their drums in public without having made solid, detailed offers, let alone getting Floyd or Manny to agree to anything. Rucker even confessed to me he's been waiting patiently for a back from ultra low profile Mayweather adviser Al Haymon.
Meanwhile, with little accomplished, both groups are pumping out information to websites, including my little corner at Examiner.com and over at Cincinnati Kid Ben Thompson's Mayweathercentric Fightype site.
I asked someone very close to Pacquiao Friday why he thought the groups weren't keeping their cards close to the vest, why they spit out info for public consumption.
Here's what this fellow said: "Ask yourself, would you do it? Would any careful, cagey investor do that before getting signed contracts from the two fighters? Maybe those two groups are all hyperbole, meaning little or no substance. Maybe they want to get their names out there in order to raise money from others."
For his part, from the Pacman side of the equation, Bob Arum made it crystal clear that any and all offers determined to be facially bona fide offers will be subject to a grueling background check, including financial wherwithal and leading to demands for Irrevocable Letters Of Credit, from any investor group.
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In other words, none of the groups moves far without showing the Manny and Floyd money to Allen & Co., the Wall Street powerhouse headed up by billionaire Herb Allen.
Allen is or has been a financial adviser to such luminaries as Ruper Murdoch, Oprah Winfrey and other incredibly wealthy business moguls.
"If any group can't pass the smell test with Herb Allen's outfit, their offers will quickly go into File 13, meaning the nearest wastebasket," a Pacman insider said Saturday.
Arum refused to go into details on the financial grilling the groups will get but did say the group offers reminded him he could use career archrival Don King's savvy in this area now.
"I'm not used to these kind of deals," Arum said, chuckling. "That's something King has been the past master of, that is like King taking Ali-Foreman to Zaire and the third Ali-Frazier fight over to Manila.
"Maybe it's time for a reprise for King at this level," Arum said.
One has to wonder how long the third group, who Arum says he has met with in New York, will remain unidentified and quiet.
The beat goes on...Herb Allen's financial pitbulls want to check the meat of such offers. I do know this, nobody will be getting any quotes out of the mouth of Herb Allen or his staffers. That is not how they roll.
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
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