TOP Rank chief Bob Arum brushed off John Riel Casimero’s taunt saying he just couldn’t afford to hold a unification fight between the reigning Filipino World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion and Japanese unified titleholder Naoya Inoue during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“So who is going to pay for it without the [live] gates? I cannot afford that fight—Casimero and Inoue—inside the bubble, I just can’t [pay for it],” Arum, who turns 89 on December 8, told BusinessMirror in a phone interview on Tuesday from his Las Vegas home.
Arum said he couldn’t waste money for a big unification bout in a bubble.
“They really need spectators who would watch [live] and pay for the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to get good revenues,” he said.
“I can’t keep doing these fights during the pandemic where I can’t get spectators although MGM wants to do the next Inoue fight,” Arum added. “They want to do it to bring in tourists and wealthy gamblers from Japan, but can’t do that while pandemic is on.”
Arum said the 31-year-old Casimero (30-4 win-loss record with 21 knockouts) should be patient because he was already asked by Inoue’s camp to get the Japanese an opponent next year. Inoue holds both the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight belts.
Casimero, who beat challenger Duke Micah last September 26 via third round technical knockout in Connecticut, has been taunting Inoue (20-0 with 17 knockouts) and Arum, and even dragged fellow Filipino IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas in a social-media post last Monday.
But Arum, an international promoter for six decades, doesn’t get affected any form of criticism.
“It happens all the time, I don’t pay attention, and nobody else pay attention,” said Arum, adding it was the pandemic that cancelled that fight last April 25 in Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and not them.
Arum said he couldn’t waste money for a big unification bout in a bubble.
“They really need spectators who would watch [live] and pay for the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to get good revenues,” he said.
“I can’t keep doing these fights during the pandemic where I can’t get spectators although MGM wants to do the next Inoue fight,” Arum added. “They want to do it to bring in tourists and wealthy gamblers from Japan, but can’t do that while pandemic is on.”
Arum said the 31-year-old Casimero (30-4 win-loss record with 21 knockouts) should be patient because he was already asked by Inoue’s camp to get the Japanese an opponent next year. Inoue holds both the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight belts.
Casimero, who beat challenger Duke Micah last September 26 via third round technical knockout in Connecticut, has been taunting Inoue (20-0 with 17 knockouts) and Arum, and even dragged fellow Filipino IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas in a social-media post last Monday.
But Arum, an international promoter for six decades, doesn’t get affected any form of criticism.
“It happens all the time, I don’t pay attention, and nobody else pay attention,” said Arum, adding it was the pandemic that cancelled that fight last April 25 in Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and not them.
