Shots fired!
In the latest round of the never-ending boxing promotional war between archrivals Golden Boy (Oscar De La Hoya) and Top Rank (Bob Arum), “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire Jr. has abandoned Las vegas based TR in favor of the Los Angeles based company.
I asked the 79 year old Arum, who promoted many of De La Hoya’s championship bouts until the East LA idol left Top Rank and then formed his own outfit, if Donaire’s going to GBP signaled more fighting over fighters beyond bantamweight king Donaire.
“No,” Arum sniffed Wednesday afternoon, “because we don’t go after fighters who have valid, exsiting contracts.”
Question 2, then Uncle Bob, is this kind of contract competition goor or bad for boxing?
I got a typically, curt Arum reply.
“How the hell do I know? Goodbye.”
The next sound I heard was a click, not gunfire.
Arum did say what you expect to him say, including:
“We have a valid, exisiting contract and we will enforce it. It’s a pain in the ass to go court but we will do that. Our lawyers, Daniel Petrocelli and David Marroso (O’Melveny & Myers), have a terrific track record against Golden Boy.
“It’s silly for me to talk about this you or any other writers but we’ll move on to the next area (litigation).”
Before he clicked off, I also asked Arum if Top Rank might counterstrike by inking Mexican ringmaster and Manny Pacquiao nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez.
Arum denied talking to the 38 year old Marquez, who had two controverial bouts against Pacquiao.
“I have not talked to him since the night of the second Pacquiao fight. I heard his (Golden Boy) contract ends on March 20 from the newspapers in Mexico.”
Like the Bloods and the Crips, it’s on to the next episode.
Instead of bloody drive-bys, these guys have sign-bys.
