He was once ?The Boy who Cried Stadium,? but you can?t label Bob Arum that anymore, in the wake of his recent promotions that took place in Dallas Cowboys Stadium and Yankee Stadium. And it looks like this might only be the beginning for Top Rank.
“I?ve learned that these big stadiums want very, very much to do big boxing events because it puts them on the map, “Arum told Maxboxing last Friday, while still in New York. ?It?s great for the fans in the area. There?s a great, great demand. It requires oodles of more work than doing it in a casino, or even in an indoor arena. A tremendous amount of work but it?s well worth it from the standpoint of satisfaction, once the event is over.”
The announced crowd for the Miguel Cotto-Yuri Foreman bout, that took place on June 5th in the Bronx, was just a little over 20,000 (a far cry from the 35,000-seat configuration that was set up in the stadium) and sources say that really about 16,000 tickets were actually sold. Unlike the Cowboys, it?s believed that the Yankees did not clear a profit on this event.
But Arum says, “They want events; see, the Yankees, unlike Jerry Jones, who?s indoors and so forth, the Yankees are limited in what they can do because it?s an outdoor stadium and you only can do it in the months that coincide with the season. So you have to get a quirk in the schedule like we had the last time, where they played an afternoon game on Thursday and then we put everything up, quick, quick and they didn?t come back to Yankee Stadium until tonight (June 11th).
“So there?s plenty of time- and there?s, of course, a lot of overtime- to get ready for Saturday, going in after the last out on Thursday afternoon. But it all got done and then they had plenty of time to put everything back into shape for the next game at home.”
But there?s no doubt that this isn?t just a passing fancy. Arum has stated that Dodger Stadium has reached out to them in hopes of putting on a show, and the veteran promoter stated that a card could take place at Chavez Ravine in February or March of 2011. Word is that Fenway Park, the historic home of the Boston Red Sox, has also inquired about the possibility of hosting a major fight in the near future.
RATINGS GAME
While the attendance figures for Cotto-Foreman were disappointing, HBO announced that the broadcast did a 3.9 rating, its highest in over a year.
Of those numbers, Arum stated, “We were hoping we could do an incredible rating because everybody really worked hard on it. First of all, the Yankees were absolutely great; the Yankee organization, HBO promoted it the way you should promote a big fight. They really went all-out promoting, and we worked very, very hard with the public relations and everything and it all came together.”
COTTO?S FUTURE
As it related to his Puerto Rican star?s future itinerary, Arum said much of that will be predicated on how the negotiations between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather play out. The promoter said that for Cotto, it will be nothing but pay-per-view-level fights. He mentioned the possibility of a rematch with Pacquiao at 154, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and even a return bout with Antonio Margarito. That last option is surprising, given Cotto?s past reluctance to give Margarito another crack at him, due to suspicions that Cotto has of Margarito and his hand-wraps when they first met in July of 2008. But it seems as though Cotto has reversed course on his prior statements.
“I generally don?t talk to fighters about fights but I talk to the people who advise them and that would not be a problem,” said Arum about Cotto?s willingness to face Margarito, once again.
SUPER SIX FLURRIES
I thought the fight between IBF middleweight titlist Sebastian Sylvester and Roman Karmazin (which was ruled a draw) really paled in comparison to the melee that took place ringside as the scorecards were being read. For the record, I think Karmazin may have won that fight…I thought Steve Cunningham was real fortunate to win the vacant IBF cruiserweight title against Troy Ross, who was troubling ?USS? and floored him in the fourth. But I give referee Bill Clancy a lot of credit; when he saw that Ross? eye was bleeding as the result of an accidental thumbing, he didn?t hesitate to stop the fight on the advice of the ringside physician. That?s the way it should be done…Just my opinion, but the next step in staging stadium fights should be putting on a better quality of fight card in those venues. Sooner or later, the novelty will wear off and it will be about the actual bouts…Just wondering, if there is a work stoppage in the NFL next year (which is a strong possibility), you would think that some NFL teams/venues will look for alternative sources of revenue, i.e. boxing…Seriously, Vince Young, what were you thinking?…Speaking of not thinking, that would be Ron Artest…Will Kobe Bryant get ANY help at the Staples Center? Paging Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom…Did the Big 12 rise from the dead or what?…I can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. You can also become a Facebook fan of Maxboxing at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
