There have been reports that Oscar De La Hoya, coming off his thrashing at the hands of Manny Pacquiao on December 6th, could be facing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. sometime in May in Mexico City.
But that?s news to Bob Arum, who says there have been no conversations with Golden Boy Promotions regarding that fight.
“Absolutely, none,” said Arum on Monday night. “Now, internally with Fernando Beltran, myself, Todd duBoef, Sean Gibbons, yeah, we talked about it, But there have been no overtures, no indications from the De La Hoya camp that they’d be even interested in the fight, absolutely nothing – and I would be the first to know. I don’t even know if he (De La Hoya) is going to fight anymore. So I’ve heard absolutely nothing and I don’t think there’s anything to hear.”
HOT CAKES
Arum is pleased to report that the January 24th bout between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles is selling briskly.
“The Mosley-Margarito fight is selling like a mother…” shut yo’ mouth Bob! Arum adds, “Probably two weeks before the event we’ll open the top deck. In the lower bowl we have less than 1,500 available for sale. So that’s pretty damn good. And everyday we sell 100, 150 tickets. It’s great.”
STILL RESOLUTE- ON MACAU
Arum, after reading my New Years Resolution article for 2009, says Top Rank promoting a fight in Macau is no pipe dream.
“Macau was very, very real,” he insisted. “We even had a document, it was about to be signed, the contract.”
So what happened?
“It’s a big world, the Chinese government put restrictions on Visas for Chinese people to come into Macau; they could only come in once every four months. And before, there were no restrictions at all. So how do you sell tickets in an arena?”
But Arum says he remains undeterred about Macau and its prospects.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful arena, it’s a tremendous market and absolutely they want me very much to do it. But the Chinese who are coming in now are allowed in once every four months and they don’t want to waste time doing anything other than gambling.”
