LAS VEGAS-BASED Bob Arum is the most successful boxing promoter of all time, staging world title fights for more than 50 years. His Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight made nearly $1 billion. He will be in Brisbane on Tuesday as preparations step up for the Pacquiao-Jeff Horn fight at Suncorp Stadium. He spoke to GRANTLEE KIEZA for our Sunday Session.
GRANTLEE KIEZA: After you promoted Muhammad Ali?s epic win over Joe Frazier in Manila in 1975 you said that you went on a two-day orgy to celebrate. Any plans for a repeat performance in Brisbane?
BOB ARUM: (heavy sigh) That was more than 40 years ago. I was a much younger man then. I?m 85 years old now and I don?t have a lot of orgy left in me.
GK: You?ve certainly had some wild times in half a century of promoting fights. Was that Ali-Frazier ?Thrilla in Manila?? the most exciting bout you?ve staged.
BA: It?s one of two. I promoted Marvin Hagler against Tommy Hearns in 1985 for the world middleweight title. It had to be the best fight ever. It only went three rounds because they both gave their all. We organised a huge promotional tour before it. I had one plane for Hagler and one for Hearns. We did 26 cities in 14 days. It was gruelling. By the time they got into the ring in Las Vegas they didn?t want to box, they just wanted to knock the crap out of each other ? which they did. But I had never seen anything like the third Ali-Frazier-fight until that time in ?75. Ali and Frazier went through death in that bout.
GK: What was Ali like to do deal with?
BA: I first promoted him in 1966 against George Chuvalo in Toronto, Canada. Ali was the greatest promoter of all time. For me it was like learning at the feet of a master. He was one of my dear friends until the day he died.
GK: You promoted 25 of his fights. Of all the guys you promoted was Ali the best boxer?
BA: Oh yes. Like he said, Ali was the greatest of all time. The Olympic champion I?m promoting now, Vasyl Lomachenko, is the best boxer I?ve seen since Ali. Lomachenko is just a genius, technically perfect.
GK: You?ve promoted more than 2000 fight cards, many of them during that magical time in the 80s when you had Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns fighting each other.
BA: They were my four horsemen. They fought each other in combinations nine times and I promoted seven of those fights. They were blockbusters. After all these years and despite their wars they all get along well. Ray and Marvin are very well off but Duran – if you gave him $100 million it would be gone in a couple of months. Still, he?s happy.
GK: You?ve been Manny Pacquiao?s long-time promoter. How does he compare with those great champs -Leonard, Hearns and Duran?
BA: Manny is one of the great fighters of history. Sometimes the nostalgia plays tricks and you always want to think that the older guys were better. But clearly the new era like Pacquiao and Jeff Horn have the benefit of advanced training that was unknown to Ray and Duran. It?s hard to compare fighters from different eras. Look at track and field. We had Jesse Owens and we thought no one could be as fast and then you get this Bolt kid who makes Owens look like he was standing still.
GK: Jeff Horn will be a heavy underdog for this fight. Does he have any chance?
BA: I can?t root against Manny. If this fight was in Vegas or Madison Square Garden in New York I wouldn?t give Horn much of a chance because I think nerves would take over. But Horn is going to be fighting in front of 55,000 of his countrymen and I think he will give a great account of himself. In 1978 I promoted a fight between Leon Spinks and Muhammad Ali and nobody gave Spinks a chance. But Spinks won. In boxing anything can happen.
GK: Boxing is a very brutal sport. You?re a Harvard-trained lawyer and obviously a highly intelligent man. Do you sometimes watch fights and think this is just too dangerous?
BA: It?s a combat sport but what has been done in the years since I started promoting boxing in terms of safety has been incredible as far as concussion protocols, the medical testing, the drug testing. I think they have all made it a much safer sport but that being said it is still a contact sport and people want to see tough guys competing.
GK: What does Jeff Horn bring to the table?
BA: I love the kid. He?s a real throwback fighter who will have appeal to boxing fans around the world. The story of the bullied kid who became a boxing champion is just amazing. The Fighting Schoolteacher is going to be in the news for a long time. Even if he loses against Manny on July 2 there will be many opportunities for Jeff Horn to become a world champion.
