Bob Arum has never reluctant to spread doom and gloom about the future of boxing. I’ve dubbed him Bob Sc’Arum in the past because there have been times when he’s been boxing’s version of Debbie Downer. But with what has been a banner 2007 for Top Rank, Arum is downright giddy (at least by his standards, anyway) when it comes to the state of affairs in the sport.
“Two of our young fighters have really emerged at the top of the sport, Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Cotto, so we had a very, very good year, and Manny Pacquiao with his win over Barrera and Solis, he’s on track,? said Arum on Monday afternoon in Los Angeles before a press conference to promote his small pay-per-view show featuring Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ?We have a lot of young kids coming up that we’re developing, including this kid (Mike) Alvarado who’s fighting on the Chavez-Sanchez card, December 1st, the kid from Denver. He’s fighting a real tough fight now against Michael Clark.
“So we’re excited for what’s happened this past year and what’s happening next year.”
There’s been a bit of a boxing renaissance in 2007, from the record breaking numbers posted by the De La Hoya-Mayweather promotion, in addition to a string of exciting matchups that have done well at the box-office. The resurgence has been noticeable enough that the Los Angeles Times recently ran a front-page article on boxing’s strong run.
Arum happens to agree with this assessment, and he explains it thusly: “One, that HBO has given up these long-term promotional contracts. That was the cancer in the sport. Because as Roy Jones said in that article, ‘I have a long-term contract, why the hell should I jeopardize the contract by fighting anybody dangerous?’ So those are gone for now. So now HBO says, ‘We will only buy fights that are significantly competitive fights.’ Now, they’ll be times where we will differ with their determination as to what’s competitive and what’s not competitive. But at least they’re on the right track, at least the dialogue now is positive. So that’s one (reason).
“Two, I think promoters are now more willing to make deals with other promoters so big matches can happen. I think that Top Rank and Golden Boy showed the way this year and I think other people are now coming around to do the same.”
As for perhaps MMA being the impetus for boxing’s sense of urgency, the veteran promoter agrees, to a point.
“I think to some extent people reacted to the MMA and to the popularity that it’s had,” he would say. “People now realize that as a spectacle that the MMA bouts don’t compare to boxing and I think the MMA has peaked in a sense that they’re audience has peaked and their demographic has peaked. I think what it really told boxing is that we had lost so much of our audience that we in boxing were becoming a niche sport.
“We had the Hispanics and the Filipinos and we had very few fighters who crossed over into the mainstream, other than Oscar.”
One that could perhaps become transcendent is Pavlik, who stopped Jermain Taylor in late September to capture the middleweight crown. With his crowd-pleasing style – and to a certain measure, the fact he’s white – gives him a chance to revitalize the Midwestern region that has been dormant for such a long time.
“I recently visited with Kelly in Youngstown, Ohio, there was a benefit dinner, and the coach of Ohio State, Jim Tressel, was there. And the passion of these people for Kelly and the fact that all of them are coming to Las Vegas for his fight with Taylor, bodes very, very well,” said Arum, alluding to the February 16th rematch at the MGM Grand. “The fact that Ohio papers, not only in Youngstown, but in Cleveland, and the Pittsburgh papers are beginning to cover boxing again, bodes well for the sport.
“I think Kelly Pavlik can have a very, very big influence, just the way Miguel Cotto has for Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico and those living in the United States.”
So can boxing carry on it’s momentum into 2008 and beyond?
“I think the momentum has been established and that boxing in 2008 will be even bigger, much bigger than it was this year. I really believe that,” said an optimistic Arum. “Because I think now you have guys who have emerged from these battles, who have learned you take on the biggest challenges out there and that’s going to make for big, big fights.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Top Rank’s show on Saturday from the Tingley Coliseum, which is part of their ‘Latin Fury’ series, is really about the continued development of Chavez Jr. and keeping their vast stable of fighters active. If Chavez Jr. and Jorge Arce both win, they move on to some significant fights for the early part of 2008.
?Chavez will fight Alfonso Gomez and Arce will fight (Martin) Castillo,” confirmed Arum. “I’m having some difficultly slotting these fights because the geniuses in New York are not really convinced with how good those fights are,” said Arum, who is still as combative and outspoken as ever when it comes to HBO’s brass. “I was offered for the Arce-Castillo fight a pittance because as the esteemed head of HBO (that would be Ross Greenburg) said, ‘They’re two little guys, who cares about ’em?’ But all right, again, that’s their judgment. But we’re thinking of taking the Arce-Castillo fight and putting it on the Pavlik-Taylor card, and that would make a great combination because that’s a pay-per view card and I don’t have to listen to the geniuses to select who should be in.”
WHO’S NEXT?
So who will face Manny Pacquiao on March 15th?
“We have made up our mind,” Arum said on Monday. “I’m finalizing the loose ends. We’ll definitely have an announcement by the end of the week and I’m not going to tell you now what the announcement is going to be. You’ve read the speculation, I’m not going to affirm it or dispute it. We’ll see. They’ll be an announcement by the end of this week.”
So stay tuned. But several sources have told Maxboxing that later on that day, while in LA, that Arum did meet up with Golden Boy’s CEO, Richard Schaefer, whose company handles Juan Manuel Marquez.
As for Cotto, Arum is convinced that Floyd Mayweather wants nothing to do with him – or is trying to goad him into a fight by continually assailing him – so if not ‘The Pretty Boy’, then who?
“I think it’s more likely that Cotto could fight De La Hoya than fight Mayweather,” says the promoter. “I don’t think Mayweather wants to be anywhere near the same ring as Cotto. Just won?t do it, I think. I don’t know, we’ll see. But if Mayweather’s not available or De La Hoya’s not available, then Antonio Margarito and Cotto would make a great fight.”
Arum says that if a Cotto-De La Hoya fight were to occur, it would be in early May.
As for Pavlik, if he should beat Taylor once again, he would still like for him to fight in the early summer in Ohio at Cleveland Browns Stadium and then, “probably in the fall, I can envision him fighting Calzaghe.”
WILLIAMS-CINTRON
So, is the February 2nd welterweight unification bout between Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron officially a go? That depends on the status of Cintron, who had a tougher than expected time against Jesse Feliciano last week in Los Angeles, and the injury he suffered to his right hand has put the bout in jeopardy.
“I won?t know that until tomorrow (Thursday),” said Williams’ promoter, Dan Goossen, who will be staging that HBO televised show from St. Lucia. “We’re waiting for the results of his MRI.”
Goossen says the worst-case scenario is for Williams to face another fighter on that card should Cintron not be cleared to perform.
Heavyweight prospect Chris Arreola is also slated to be on that card and he could be facing his first real ‘name’ opponent.
“Right now we’re talking to Cedric Kushner about David Tua,” said Goossen.
MIDWEEK FLURRIES
Young junior lightweight contender Urbano Antillon returns to the ring on December 21st against Adrian Valdez on Telefutura….Top Rank matchmakers are seriously considering a bout between two young undefeated lightweights in Juan Garcia (13-0) and Brandon Rios (15-0)…..It looks like heavyweight Tye Fields will face Chris Koval on December 20th as the opening bout on Versus from the Hard Rock in Las Vegas….It’s pretty clear by watching the Mayweather-Hatton 24/7 on HBO that the Floyds have perhaps the most dysfunctional father-son relationship since Marvin Gaye and his pops….RIP to Sean Taylor, who quite simply was one of the best natural athletes I’ve ever seen play football. His three interception performance against FSU in 2003 in rain-soaked Tallahassee for the Canes is the single best defensive performance I have ever witnessed live……
