Lou DiBella had what is not a horrible idea. He wanted to place the Sept. 24 Peter Manfredo-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. title fight in Providence, where local boy Manfredo might stir thousands of ticket buyers to come out to the downtown Dunkin Donuts Center.
Bob Arum thinks he has a better idea and, since he?s got Side A in the bout, it looks like the bout will land in familiar fight venue San Antonio, a hotbed of fans who followed Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and now follow his son.
The city’s Alamodome was packed with over 60,000 fans for the controverisal bout between Pere Chavez and Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker on Sept. 10, 1993. Bout was called a draw but most neutral observers felt Whitaker got jobbed and robbed. One judge called it for Whitaker and the other two had it even after 12 rounds.
Manfredo-Chavez will be offered on pay per view TV.
Chavez, who won the WBC middleweight title by outpointing Sebastian Zbik is 25 years old and owns a 43-0-1 record with 30 knockouts. Advertisement
Manfredo, age 30, stands 37-6 with 20 KOs.
In other news, Arum said that Top Rank president Todd duBoef is continuing high level discussions with both Showtime and HBO as to who will land the Nov. 12 Juan Manuel Marquez-Manny Pacquiao fight.
As far as UFC leader Dana White?s verbal roasting of Arum, for allegedly saying the MMA powerhouse might be in violation of antitrust laws, the 79 year old promoter is bewildered.
?What?s that all about?? Arum said by telephone on Tuesday. ?I never said anything remotely like that, anything about UFC and antitrust. I don?t know and I don?t care anything about that. I could really care less.
?So why White was taking shots at me, that I can?t figure.?
