During the bus ride from Las Vegas to Big Bear, California on Tuesday afternoon, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum was in rare form, discussing a myriad of topics related to the sport of boxing, life in Las Vegas, and the influence of money. Arum is promoting the May 7th Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley bout at the MGM Grand and was more than happy to reveal that the fight is a complete sell out and that over 3,000 additional closed circuit tickets at various MGM properties have also been sold.
Arum still has the most formidable roster of fighters in boxing, as Pacquiao is flanked by the likes of Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Lopez, Brandon Rios, Yuriorkis Gamboa come backing Kelly Pavlik as well as co-promotional deals with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Fernando Montiel, amongst others. Times are good but it is Top Rank’s relationship with WBC and WBO bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire that has caused much confusion in recent weeks.
Arum picked up right to the Fil-Am fighter after he severed his ties with Gary Shaw Promotions in June of 2008 and their run together has definitely been hot and cold. With Arum we saw Donaire capture the greatest victory of his career with his scintillating knockout over Fernando Montiel this past February but prior to that he had spent much of his time on less attractive cards while other stars near his weight class shined.
Last month Donaire made headlines when he signed a very rewarding deal with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, claiming that his contract with Top Rank was invalid for various reasons. Arum took the matter to court and judge Daniel Weinstein ruled that Top Rank’s contract was still binding, thus preventing Golden Boy from doing any business with the 28-year old star.
But while Top Rank may have won the legal battle, the situation seems to be awkward as Donaire faces the choice of either going back to Arum, who publicly chastised Donaire over his decision to leave, or to try and fight the matter in court. It’s an sticky situation and Arum believes that other voices where whispering into Donaire’s ears throughout the process.
“A lot of people talk to these guys,” Arum told me on our way to Big Bear. “There is a lot of room for dissatisfaction, or alleged dissatisfaction, but these things happen. I’ve been in this business forty-five years and I’ve seen worse.”
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What seemed to be odd about Donaire’s decision is the fact that it came right after the huge fight with Montiel, the kind of contest he had publicly been clamoring for. Donaire’s momentum from that fight appears to be all but gone and Arum couldn’t even begin to pick the fighter’s brain to get a sense of where he was coming from with his recent decisions.
“It is what it is. I’ve ceased psycho analyzing any of these guys,” Arum said bluntly.
Arum in now in Puerto Rico as Lopez will defend his WBO featherweight crown against former champion Orlando Salido this weekend. Upon returning to the states he will be pouring his time into the Pacquiao-Mosley show while later venturing to Los Angeles, where Chavez Jr. will go for his first crack at a title when he meets WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik inside of the Staples Center on June 4th.
While Arum definitely doesn’t have time to dwell on his situation with Donaire, he closed out by showing his openness towards sill promoting the young and ambitious champion.
“Absolutely. We would do a good job just as we did before.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at [email protected]
