Going over my sports files from way back, I recently came across a biofile on Top Rank CEO Bob Arum by Scoop Malinowski in a newsletter called Professional Boxing Update, published out of Capitola, California. The newsletter was a handy 12-page compilation of results, views and schedules painstakingly assembled by publisher Virgil Thrasher, a ring enthusiast who as a world-class harmonica player, had performed at the Monterey and New Orleans Jazz Festivals.
For over 15 years, Thrasher put out the trade paper once every 10 days. Before the internet flourished, Professional Boxing Update was the primary source of the most recent world-wide fight results. I wrote a column called Philippine Ring for Thrasher and was honored to be in his staff box as a ?feature writer? with Bruce Bebb, Graham Houston, Joe Koizumi, Mario Rivera Martino and Per-Ake Persson. I don?t recall ever getting paid for my writing but Thrasher never failed to send me a copy of the publication by snail mail, free of charge. It was an honor to be associated with the paper which was supported by big-name boxing figures in ads.
In 2005, Thrasher closed down the publication which had become obsolete with the emergence of real-time fight reports and boxing websites like fightnews and boxrec. Not too many publications dedicated to boxing remain today. The Ring Magazine is still around as strong as ever but gone are Boxing Digest, Boxing Today, Fight Game, Boxing Scene, KO Magazine, World Boxing, Inside Boxing, Boxing and Wrestling, Fight Beat and Boxing Illustrated. Another survivor is a tabloid called Boxing News USA which comes out quarterly and appears to be more like a labor of love than a money-making venture. In the UK, the weekly magazine Boxing News is easily the best in the business and there?s another magazine called Boxing Monthly which is also well produced.
Anyway, I found the biofile on Arum quite revealing. Of course, we all know that Arum has played a major role in Manny Pacquiao?s rise to fistic fame and fortune. Before Arum came into the picture, Pacquiao was managed in the US by Murad Muhammad then Shelly Finkel. Pacquiao?s first manager was the late Polding Correa of Malabon. It was Correa who brought in the late Rod Nazario as Pacquiao?s business manager. And it was Nazario who took Pacquiao to the US in 2001 and hooked up with Muhammad to open a new chapter in his storybook career. Pacquiao is now his own manager but retains Arum as his promoter.
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Arum, 84, was born in New York City. An accountant?s son, he attended New York University and earned a law degree at Harvard University where he was a cum laude graduate and the top tax student in class. In 1961, he joined the staff of Attorney General Robert Kennedy at the US Justice Department. It was during his stint with Kennedy that Arum was introduced to boxing as he was assigned to track down funds illegally deposited in a Swiss bank from the profits of the Sonny Liston-Floyd Patterson world heavyweight title fight. Arum was able to locate $5.5 Million, opening his eyes to the lucrative business side of the sport. Dean’s Corner ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Arum left the law practice to concentrate on promoting fights, particularly as he was designated by Nation of Islam religious leader Elijah Muhammad to represent Muhammad Ali as lawyer and promoter. Arum went on to promote 25 fights for Ali over 12 years and in 1975, was at the Araneta Coliseum ringside to witness the Thrilla In Manila. The fight fight he attended was the first fight he promoted in Toronto in 1966 between Ali and George Chuvalo.
Arum has now been involved in boxing for 50 years. If he didn?t do a good job of making multi-millionaires out of Ali, George Foreman, Oscar de la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao, among others, Arum wouldn?t have lasted so long in the fight game. Sure, Arum made money, too, but he earned every cent of it looking at every fighter he promoted in the eye without blinking. De la Hoya and Mayweather eventually left Arum to go on their own but they learned the ropes from Uncle Bob and would never have been successful without his guidance.
Arum has five children, including two stepchildren with wife Lovee Duboef. One of his sons John died in a skiing accident at the age of 49 in 2010. His stepson Todd is now Top Rank president and stepdaughter Dena is vice president.
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Here are some interesting tidbits from Malinowski on Arum. First job: ?As a busboy at the Catskill Mountains, Kiamesha Lake Lodge at the age of 16.? Musical tastes: ?I?m a crazy Beatles fan. I love the Beatles, I love Rod Stewart. I can?t stand hip-hop. Or heavy metal. I still love the songs of Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme, I like Frank Sinatra, Carol King, Carly Simon. That era ? I love that music. I don?t particularly care for what passes as music today.?
Favorite movies: ?I love to go to the movies. My favorite is ?Casablanca.? I have a big collection of movies at home. I love Mel Brooks, Woody Allen. I could watch ?Blazing Saddles? for the rest of my life and always collapse in laughter. I?m just a movie buff. I go to the movies in addition to watching at home on DVDs. I love movies and I like movie people, including Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Samuel Jackson. I like guys who are in the movies, they?re interesting people.? Qualities most admired: ?I like guys who are loyal, dedicated, no-nonsense guys that are not all ego.?
Funny boxing memory: ?There was a fight on ESPN that we were doing about 25 years ago. One guy was taking a pounding against the ropes so the referee breaks it up and stops the fight. The guy who?s getting pounded hits the other guy and knocks him out. So the referee stopped it, right? The guy who won the fight was knocked out.?
In 1999, Arum was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York. There?ll never be another Uncle Bob.
