While the ages of contemporaries and rival promoters Bob Arum and Don King are fully documented, colorful “vagabond” Don Elbaum’s precise age is top secret. In 1990, Elbaum told a journalist that he was 49 “but I admit to 45.” Doing the math, lo these 22 years later, you might think the wheeler-dealer with the Runyoneseque flair is around 71 or 72. But, hey, that’s just an estimate, “The Bum” is not a Redwood tree and you can’t count the rings on his stump or anything like that. Elbaum may be older than Arum, who is 81 in December while King turns that age come August. This Donald was promoting before King got out of prison and into the fight game and before Arum left the U.S. Attorney’s Office to promote bouts. In fact, Elbaum was a promotional mentor to King in the other Don’s hometown of Cleveland. (Not to mention that in Pittsburgh in 1965, Elbaum staged legend Sugar Ray Robinson’s final pro fight, a decision loss to Irish Joey Archer.) “That’s my eternal curse,” Elbaum likes to say, “that I got King involved in boxing. They may put it on my gravestone.” Not that Elbaum is checking out anytime soon, he’s hale and hearty and making detailed plans to run regular shows in both Atlantic City and Valley Forge, Pa. (Eschew the jokes about Elbaum being with George Washington and his troops in the latter location.) I checked in with this Uncle Don Friday to get his take on Tim Bradley-Manny Pacquiao and on whether the never-ending torture that is “will Floyd Mayweather and Manny ever fight?” “Bradley will try, try real hard, but Pacquiao’s just too much for the kid,” Elbaum said. “It’s a good fight, who else can Manny fight except Mayweather or Marquez again anyway? “You won’t see Mayweather ever fight Manny and it’s not because of afraid. Not because of Floyd being afraid, not like that. Floyd’s fear is risking his precious undefeated status, it means so much to him and I think Pacquiao beats him. Maybe Floyd thinks the same thing. “Very simply, Floyd is not afraid but being unbeaten is his big thing. He wants to finish up in boxing without a single loss so he won’t risk that against Pacquiao.” Some continually blame Pacman promoter Arum but Elbaum calls that nonsense. “Saying Arum is blocking it is baloney. I thought they would fight when Pacquiao pretty much agreed to everything, the money being split 50-50 and then Mayweather wants drug tests 24 hours and 48 hours before the fight. What’s wrong with right after the fight? “Now, when Mayweather says it’s not 50-50, that puts a stop sign there Pacquiao. Let me ask you, if he and Floyd fought similar opponents on the same night in Vegas at different casinos, who would draw more people? Manny would, of course.” According to the sagacious Elbaum, fairness dictates an even-steven split on the do-re-mi. “They are of equal stature and I think Mayweather is a great one, not Top 10 or Top 20 of all time, but a great fighter. He is more than a boxer, he can put together some hard shots in nice combinations also. But it is a 50-50 fight.” Elbaum said that eventually Mayweather will regret not taking the Pacman risk. “Not now he won’t and not right after he retires,” Elbaum said. “But, 10 years down the line, Floyd will be saying ‘if I’d have taken that fight’ and it will bother him.” Ten years into Mayweather’s retirement, Elbaum is planning on still being above ground, running shows here, there and everywhere. The “vagabond” promoter rolls on.
