Arum Should Know Who's Ruining Boxing
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 06 Feb 2020
L-R: Loma, Arum and Crawford.
Like an aging knockout artist whose last asset to go is his punching power, Bob Arum still has his gift of gab--- that skill which enabled him in the not too distant past to sign up premier fighters and sell their fights while dissing the competition.
He still makes a good copy and excellent sound bites as in his most recent monologue of an interview where he praised his current prized fighters and downplayed the opposition while pontificating on what's ruining boxing.
Arum claimed that fight fans have no clue and only the professionals, especially himself, know about competitive matchmaking as he ran a diatribe on the unfitness of Devin Haney as possible opponent for one of his prized ward, Vasily Lomachenko.
The aging Hall of Famer promoter claimed that Gervonta Davis was a better option if only his nemesis ridiculi Floyd Mayweather Jr believes his ward is ready for Loma and allows Arum to make the fight.
But Arum conveniently glossed over the facts that Davis has just recently moved up to 135 and just a few months ago, he hàs made some sort of commitment that he would pit Loma against Teofimo Lopez should Lopez beat Richard Commey for the IBF title, the last remaining piece of the world lightweight championship that Loma has yet to claim.
Everyone and his uncle knew Teofimo Lopez won that title fight sensationally, pinning the usually tough and durable Commey his first knockout loss in a lengthy creditable career. Thus fans, especially in the States are looking up and forward to a Lopez-Lomachenko immediate confrontation this 2020.
So what was Arum blabbering about the unfitness of Haney and the merits of Davis as Loma's chief opposite in his next return to ring action? Where was Teo Lopez in the picture?
Arum also said that fight fans no longer buy tickets to the fights because of uncompetitive matchmaking which does not encourage them to bet on any of the fighters, hence the absence of his so called rooting or betting interest in fights.
Arum said:
"What is the real problem in boxing? The real problem in boxing is that people are not buying tickets to the fights. And one of the reasons they're not buying tickets to the fight is unless there's rooting interest in one or the other fighters, people don't care, they might as well stay home and watch it on television.
"Now how do you create a rooting interest? You create a rooting interest by stimulating the betting. And the only way people will bet on fight is if they perceive them to be competitive. So no matter how you promote a 10:1 or a 12:1 fight, you are not gonna sell a lot of tickets because it's not a betting fight.
"When you make a fight that's competitive, and it's competitive not because some writer says it's competitive---it's competitive because the gamblers say it's competitive---then you bring people in because people wanna be there not only to root for one fight or the other but to root for their bet."
Arum sounded so logical but he should be reminded that this is already old model given the advanced development in telecommunication and digital information technologies that allow even the most rabid of fight fans to watch fights in the comfort of their homes through paid internet subscriptions like DAZN or even basic cable or free television that has affected his fetish and insistence on pay per view fights.
Arum himself has been guilty of uncompetitive matchmaking especially with his strictly in-house fights particularly at the height of his rivalry and animosity with Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr./Al Haymon.
Arum squandered away years of Manny Pacquiao's prime by keeping him away from a most lucrative fight against Floyd and pitting him against an assortment of home fighters who he figured could best replace Pacman, including Tim Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, even Chris Algieri.
That biggest fight in boxing history only got made in 2015 when Floyd and Manny with the cooperation of the big covering networks managed to keep Arum in the sidelines.
It was more than coincidence that the HBO quit boxing with the decline of Arum and his Top Rank Promotion.
And yet Arum by that time, already has the generally acknowledged top two best fighters pound for pound in the planet in Lomachenko and Terrence Crawford. He had done more with just one, Oscar, Floyd and Manny respectively in succession the past three decades!
Now if only Bob Arum follows the advice of the late great Michael Jackson to talk to the man in the mirror and ask him to change his ways.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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