There are few things in the dark underbelly of boxing that 87-year-old Bob Arum has not witnessed or experienced as a promoter in the fight business during 50 years, from overseeing Muhammad Ali’s career, through 15 years with modern great Manny Pacquiao, and now overseeing the top two fighters in the world: American Terence Crawford and Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko, both three-weight world champions.
Las Vegas-based Arum, who is in London this week to promote Amir Khan’s welterweight world title fight in New York on April 20 with Crawford, says the key to longevity is “to enjoy what you’re doing” but that is to oversimplify the genius of the octogenarian promoter. His instinct is impeccable and he is imperturbable.
In an exclusive interview in which Arum calls US President Donald Trump “reprehensible”, and offers his view that “Anthony Joshua does not resonate in the United States”, he reveals he will forever celebrate Muhammad Ali as “a gift in my life”, and from his standpoint, the elder statesman of pugilism believes boxing has never been more buoyant, led by the United Kingdom.
In his gravelly voice, Arum offers the opinion that “the UK [boxing market] is as robust as I’ve ever seen it.” The second fight Arum promoted was in England, Ali’s second meeting with Henry Cooper, fought at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium. He followed it up with Ali’s meeting with Brian London. “There was big interest in boxing then in the UK, but nothing approaching what’s happening now. In the United States boxing was at its most popular and robust with Ali, and then Sugar Ray Leonard and then Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and we’re beginning to approach that [again].”
Arum got a sneak peak into the boxing world as a newly-minted Harvard law graduate in Washington in the Sixties, working for the John F Kennedy administration. His role was to weed out malpractice in boxing, yet he joined the ranks. All because of Ali.
“As soon as I met him I knew he was a special human being and I was outraged by the way he was being treated by the government. At that point in time they had a blind allegiance that if America was involved in a war then certainly we were on the good side and everybody should participate. That just wasn’t correct. Our involvement in Vietnam was ridiculous and it proved to be after the loss of thousands of our young people. Ali became the first fighter I promoted, and it has been my life’s work promoting boxing. And if it hadn’t happened I may have ended up being a judge, long since retired at 87.”
Arum proclaims Ali was like “a gift” to him. “My teacher was the fighter I was promoting. He was the greatest promoter that I’ve ever seen. I learned from him. It was a tough battle we had with the [Vietnam War] draft [refusal by Ali] and the whole legal situation, but we got through it.”
It leads us onto Trump. Arum, who has promoted many Hispanic fighters, is angered by the President’s treatment of Hispanic people. “Forget about boxing, without Hispanics and Mexican immigrants our crops wouldn’t be picked. The Central Valley in California feeds America. By and large, the 90 or 95 per cent of the workers in the fields who do that work are Hispanics and Mexican Americans.
“For a country to treat people the way the President wants to treat these people, who are contributing to society and the United States, is reprehensible. But a lot of reprehensible things go on. How he was elected President we’ll soon find out with the Mueller Report. Because there’s no question Russian hands were involved. [By] the way, I don’t want to get involved in your politics, but the Russian influence was involved in the Brexit vote.”
There is no science, he admits, to scouting great boxers. “People ask about Marvelous Marvin Hagler and say, ‘You must have spotted something in Hagler?’ and the answer is I didn’t. The answer is the Speaker of the House of Representatives who came from Massachusetts, where Hagler came from, Teddy Kennedy, sent me letters threatening to haul my a– before Congress for a committee hearing if I didn’t give Hagler a shot at the middleweight title,” he chuckles.
“You can’t take credit for a lot of these fortuitous signings and then building their careers. Oscar De La Hoya came out of the Olympics and was a star, we helped make him a bigger professional star. Floyd Mayweather came out of the Olympics and we signed him. We didn’t realise how great he was as a fighter until his father got out of prison and took over the training. Every guy is different.”
Arum’s greatest modern triumph has been with Filipino senator and eight-division world champion Pacquiao, but he offers his view on the heavyweight scene.
Arum insists that Tyson Fury is a bigger draw in the US now than Joshua, in spite of the fact that “AJ” holds three world title belts. “All I know is Anthony Joshua does not resonate in the United States. He’s been successful in the UK, but his fights being in the afternoon in the US gets a small audience. If people in America are asked for the No 1, some would say Wilder, some would say Fury – and fewer would say Joshua,” he says.
“If you asked them who is the best heavyweight in the UK, overwhelmingly they would say Fury, because Joshua has not been exposed in the United States. You’ve got to bring him over and show him. Even if he makes less, and maybe you don’t put him on pay-per-view right away, his promoter Eddie Hearn has to find a way to get him on network TV, or on ESPN, and get eyeballs on him. Unless you shoot for that, Joshua is going to be [unappreciated]. That’s the truth.”
Staying with the times has been vital. And that means digital and social media. “One of the reasons Amir Khan is so important and will help make this event a big success is that he has so many followers on his social media platforms. But we also chose Amir because it’s a real test for Crawford. Because if Amir can box and use his hand speed, it’s a close competitive fight. The way Amir will blow the fight is if he loses focus and goes after Crawford. Then he’ll get himself knocked out.”
Talking of knockouts, what about Bob’s retirement? “Come on,” he barks. “You think I’m going to sit at home and watch fights? It’s a great privilege for me still to be involved. If I didn’t like what I was doing at this age, I wouldn’t do it.”