THERE is no such thing as a quick chat with Bob Arum. Aside from the fact Arum?s vast experience and shrewd mind encourages any interviewer to keep him on a telephone line for as long as possible, the 78-year-old Top Rank President speaks slowly. Very slowly. But the patience shown by the interrogator is perpetually rewarded with strong, intelligent opinion.
In today?s print Boxing News we dedicate over 800 words to Arum?s views on Manny Pacquiao, Antonio Margarito, Andre Berto, Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto. But that?s simply not enough. Arum also waxed lyrical on Nonito Donaire, Fernando Montiel, Kelly Pavlik and Top Rank?s future stars and there?s no way we could let that go to waste.
Arum has recently drawn criticism for refusing to allow his two bantamweights, Donaire and Montiel, to participate in Showtime?s mooted Super Six-style tournament at the weight. But Arum is not against the idea of a tournament per se, but has issues with the format of Showtime?s proposal.
?I don?t believe in this World Cup-type preliminary round formula,? Arum explained. ?I don?t think it makes good television, it draws everything out too much. We told [Showtime VP Ken] Hershman, ?Gary Shaw has two fighters [Joseph Agbeko and Vic Darchinyan], we have two fighters and you?d have four other fighters. We?d have two brackets and in bracket A, we would put say Montiel in and Gary would put one of his fighters and two others. The B bracket, the Donaire bracket so you have eight men and do a proper tournament with a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final, so you know if your guy loses you don?t have to keep him around to fight guys he probably shouldn?t be fighting at that point. He probably needs to fight a lesser guy to get his confidence back and you?d be able to do the thing in one year.
?We believe Montiel and Donaire are the best of the bantamweights and in that type of tournament we would be content to demonstrate it and end up with a Montiel-Donaire final. I would love a tournament but it should be leave and go home. But Hershman is so wrapped up in this concept that it?s all he wants to know.?
Arum says he would be interested if Showtime were willing to adopt his suggested format but if that does not happen, he is keen to match his two little superstars:
?I?m going to put it on the same card as either Pacquiao-Margarito or Cotto-[Julio Cesar] Chavez Jnr, either November 13 or December 4.?
We moved on to working class hero Kelly Pavlik and while Arum conceded the ?Ghost? was not the force of old, he confirmed his man wanted to stay at middleweight and challenge new WBO king Dmitry Pirog.
?Kelly is having little internal problems about his training but this Russian who just knocked out Danny Jacobs said he wanted to fight Kelly Pavlik,? Arum said. ?Kelly has accepted the fight in principal and now we?re going to HBO and trying to make the fight.?
So Pavlik, rumoured to be stepping up in weight, can still make middle?
?Apparantly yes, with a nutritionist, no problem,? Bob responded. ?But he?s not the fighter he was a couple of years ago. Whether it?s lack of concentration, not having a nutritionist, I don?t know, but the Kelly Pavlik who beat Jermain Taylor is not the Kelly Pavlik who fought [Bernard] Hopkins or Sergio Martinez.?
Having mapped out a road forward for Donaire and Montiel and a route back for Pavlik, Arum also detailed why Chavez Jnr was a far likelier candidate than Andre Berto to face Cotto in December.
?Chavez has a great following and looked good coming off his last fight with [John] Duddy,? Arum stated. ?If I?m dealing with somebody else?s money [if the fight is on HBO], I respect their choices. But the problem in preliminary talks with Berto?s people is that Berto wants so much money, he wanted more than 50 per cent of the HBO television money, which seems to be a little ludicrous. It?s crazy. So that was out.
?I think it would be easier to make a fight against [Alfredo] Angulo because Gary Shaw is anxious to do that fight, it wouldn?t cost us anywhere near as much money so that is a possibility if it went the HBO route.?
You could forgive Arum for being wholly consumed with the short-term future of his star-studded company but he has one keen eye on the next generation of Top Rank stars.
?Jose Benavidez is a future star,? Arum predicted. ?Robert Marroquin is a super kid and a super fighter, we?re very high on him. We?re very high on the two Cubans, [Guillermo] Rigondeaux and [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, we think they?re going to be stars in the featherweight division. We think Juan Manuel Lopez is going to be a superstar. Matt Korobov is another good prospect, Mikey Garcia, there?s so many but I know I?ve left a lot off and I feel bad. We?re about developing real talented young guys to carry the torch in the future.?
