Promoter Bob Arum was in Los Angeles on Tuesday. But since yours truly is suffering from a nasty case of the flu, it was best that a conversation with him took place via telephone.
We contacted Arum at the Beverly Hills Hotel about 5 p.m. He was in a good mood.
After being informed that the subjects of conversation would be his reconciliation with fellow promoter Oscar De La Hoya, the Erik Morales-David Diaz fight and Tuesday’s announcement that Jermain Taylor-Kelly Pavlik had been made, Arum said, “Sure, sure.”
Originally, a news conference had been scheduled Tuesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel to officially announce Marco Antonio Barrera-Manny Pacquiao II. Pacquiao could not make it from the Philippines, however, and the news conference was postponed. This fight, of course, has been made because Arum and De La Hoya last month came to an out-of-court settlement in their battle for promotional rights to Pacquiao. The accord means they now share Pacquiao, who will try to make it two in a row over Barrera on Oct. 6 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. HBO pay-per-view will televise.
If De La Hoya and Arum had not agreed – with the help of an arbitrator – to bury the hatchet, this rematch may have gone unmade. They had not co-promoted an event since the third Morales-Barrera fight in November 2004, thanks to an estrangement that took place when De La Hoya the fighter left Arum for the second time in September 2004, or right after De La Hoya was stopped by Bernard Hopkins with a body shot in the ninth round.
Once De La Hoya made it clear he was going to promote himself from then on – his Golden Boy Promotions company was already established – he and Arum began a verbal feud that had Arum saying De La Hoya could have gotten up against Hopkins. Both proud men talked quite a bit of trash about the other and his respective company. With that said, Arum was asked Tuesday if he thought he and De La Hoya could ever become the fast friends they were before this most recent split, which lasted almost three years.
“Well, I met with Oscar last Thursday night; (Golden Boy CEO Richard) Schaefer, Oscar and myself,” Arum said of a dinner that took place in a private room inside a restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. “It’s like when a couple has been married and then they’re divorced and then they start a new relationship. It’s never the same as it was the first time. But that doesn’t mean it’s still not a good friendship. You know what I mean?”
Well, we have no doubt that De La Hoya and Arum will try to keep the peace if for no other reason than it makes for good business. But it’s doubtful they will ever come close to holding each other in the personal regard they did prior to this debacle.
Arum, chairman of the board of Top Rank Inc., said that De La Hoya was slated to be on hand Tuesday had there been a news conference. But when it was announced Monday it had been postponed, De La Hoya and Barrera left Los Angeles.
One of the terms of the out-of-court settlement was that Arum would return an Olympic gold medal to De La Hoya, who had given the 1992 hardware he won in Barcelona to Arum years ago during their first stint together as promoter and fighter. Arum said that will be taken care of as Barrera-Pacquiao II nears.
“We wanted to do it closer to the fight and make it into a big ceremony so we’ll get a little boost for the fight,” Arum said.
That fight won’t need a boost. Neither will Taylor-Pavlik. They will square off a week earlier, on Sept. 29, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. At stake will be Taylor’s World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization middleweight belts.
After congratulating Arum on this fight being made, he was asked how excited he was about his man Pavlik finally get a chance to show what he is made of on the grand stage. Arum, never the shy one, gave a stunning response.
“Well, I’m excited, but not nearly as excited as I’m going to be when the referee finishes counting 10 over Jermain Taylor,” Arum said.
Wow! This fight was just announced, and Arum was already at it. But, hey, he could very well be right on the money with that assessment. Taylor is 27-0-1, but he has never fought anyone who can crack the way Pavlik can. Pavlik (31-0, 28 KOs), ranked No. 1 by the WBC, is a true knockout puncher who throws virtually everything straight from the shoulders, the way all fighters should. He is very calm in the ring. Kind of a quiet assassin, if you will.
Taylor, meanwhile, has many experts doubting him. He does not seem to be improving, and he is coming off two somewhat lackluster 12-round victories over blown-up junior middleweights Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks. Whereas Pavlik has knocked out his past eight opponents – including fellow top contender Edison Miranda – Taylor has gone the distance in his past five fights. To be fair, two of those fights were against Hopkins and one was against Winky Wright – with whom Taylor received a gift draw – and you just don’t stop them. But Taylor’s belts are ripe for the picking, and Pavlik is the tough-as-nails fighter who is going to pick them right off Taylor’s waist.
“I think it’s a terrific fight, a great fight for boxing,” Arum said. “And I think it’s the kind of fight people want to see and I think it’s going to get the highest ratings in years on HBO.”
That is regular HBO, not pay-per-view. Hooray!
We tried to contact Taylor’s promoter, Lou DiBella, for his response to Arum’s prediction, to no avail. DiBella did have one interesting comment in a news release sent out regarding this fight.
“Taylor/Pavlik is a classic middleweight showdown, a true throwback fight,” he said.
No question about that.
As for Morales-Diaz on Aug. 4 in Rosemont, Ill., Arum was informed that there are several experts out there who believe that Morales has no chance against Diaz. They say that Diaz is simply too big for Morales, who is trying to become the first Mexican to win titles in four weight classes by challenging Diaz for his WBC lightweight belt.
Well, how’s this for proof? Diaz has fought at over 140 pounds, which is the super lightweight class, 10 times in his career with a high of 146. As recently as June 2005, Diaz fought at 140. Heck, Diaz began his career in 1996 fighting at 142. Morales, on the other hand, began as a 122-pound super bantamweight. Morales has had one other fight at lightweight, and it was a loss to Zahir Raheem in September 2005.
Arum’s response to those who believe Morales is biting off more than he can chew was not exactly a ringing endorsement for Morales, who is coming off back-to-back knockout losses to Pacquiao at junior lightweight.
“Well, I hope they’re wrong,” Arum said. “I don’t know for sure that they’re wrong, but I hope they’re wrong. Because I believe that what impeded Erik is the fact that he struggled to make the weight. And as he got older, it was tougher to make that weight. And therefore he didn’t have the strength that he would ordinarily have in the ring. And I think being able to come in and make a weight that’s five pounds higher, which is considerable, is going to mean that he is coming in strong and refreshed and I give him a hell of a shot to win the fight.”
Then again, Morales had those extra five pounds against Raheem, and he certainly did not look strong in that one.
Arum said what happens in this fight will determine whether Morales, 30, will retire afterward.
“I think if he wins, no. Knowing Erik, probably no,” Arum said. “And if he loses, I think yes, particularly if he doesn’t look good.”
Being that Morales has lost three in a row, and that Diaz is not what one would call a highly recognizable champion, this fight seems a natural for regular HBO. Alas, it is on pay-per-view. Bummer!