Bob Arum sounds off on boxing’s future, Muhammad Ali and NHL in Las Vegas

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, June 18, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Bob Arum turns 85 years old later this year, but the inflection in his voice earlier this week made him sound several decades younger.

The storied boxing promoter gushed about Vasyl Lomachenko, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who knocked out Roman Martinez last Saturday at Madison Square Garden to rise up pound-for-pound rankings, in between gnawing on potato chips. He had no time for lunch, not with the promotional duties of a July 23 pay-per-view fight between undefeated light welterweight champions Terrence Crawford and Viktor Postol at MGM Grand Garden Arena picking up.

“I was sure if Crawford gets by Postol, he will be the next big thing in boxing,” said Arum, CEO of Top Rank Boxing. “But after seeing Lomachenko on Saturday, maybe I have No. 1 and No. 1A.”

The 28-year-old Crawford, who fights out of Omaha, Neb., was considered the top fighter in Arum’s Top Rank stable after Manny Pacquiao’s retirement. But the Ukrainian Lomachenko, also 28, is making quite a charge with three straight knockout victories in title fights.

Arum called Lomachenko’s victory on Saturday, “the best performance I’ve seen since Ali.” That may sound like hyperbole, but it’s more likely insight into what’s been on Arum’s mind recently.

He’s spent a lot of time thinking about his greatest-ever fighter in the three weeks since his passing.

Arum sat down with the Sun to talk about everything from Muhammad Ali and Crawford to the NHL coming to Las Vegas. Find part of the conversation below.

What makes you so excited about Crawford vs. Postol?

When you look at the boxing landscape, this is probably the best fight out there. It’s so evenly matched and each guy has a world title. Each guy is undefeated. It’s a fascinating match.

What’s behind the decision to put it on pay-per-view?

I knew I was going to have to put Crawford as a pay-per-view main event sometime. To hit big pay-per-view numbers, you have to have a build-up. It’s the way we built Mayweather, Pacquiao and De La Hoya. I wasn’t going to start with Crawford this early, but HBO said they could only accommodate him twice a year, and he should be fighting three times a year. So the alternative was to take his biggest fight, which is Postol, and make it a pay-per-view and dress it up. We’ve dressed it up with two other title fights and a hellacious Hispanic war, and ticket sales, this far out, have gone extraordinarily well. I think we made the right move.

With Crawford and Lomachenko only separated by less than 10 pounds, and your certainty that they’ll wind up considered the best pound-for-pound, is a superfight between them something we’ll be talking about in a few years?

We don’t know, but I’d imagine someday if the money were right. Crawford is getting a lot of confidence from his victories, and I’ve never seen anybody with the confidence of Lomachenko. He goes in the ring absolutely sure he will knock out his opponent.

Despite their retirements, Mayweather and Pacquiao are still dominating the boxing conversation with speculation on if they will come back. Are these the fighters to make everyone move past that?

It’s never dying down, but the past sell date for both of them is gradually approaching. Another year, no one will give a damn. It’s the passage of time.

What have you remembered most about Muhammad Ali over the last few weeks?

It’s been emotional but I remember him for when he was Muhammad Ali after the last few years had been very hard on him. The fact that I spent so much time with him and shared so many experiences is something I’m forever grateful for. I’m remembering conversations, particularly in the '60s when he was convicted, from when he was one of the most reviled people in the United States to the change after those three and a half years, in the 1970s, when he became one of the most admired people in the United States and the world. That’s a lesson I’ve taught to my grandkids: If you sincerely believe in a position, even if it’s not a popular position, you stick to it. Because you see what happened with Ali. He became far greater. That’s something for kids to really focus on and learn from.

What do you remember from those conversations?

One thing I remember is Nevada should have gotten the first Ali-Frazier fight. But a former mobster saw myself and my PR guy in town, and asked what we were doing. I told him we were going to get approved by the commission and Gov. (Paul) Laxalt to have Ali fight because he wasn’t able to fight at the time. They wouldn’t give him a license.

This guy promised he wouldn’t but he called (lawyer) Robert Maheu, who got in touch with his boss, Howard Hughes, who didn’t want Ali in town. It went from the commission being ready to approve to me having to withdraw the application. That was certainly a connection Las Vegas should have had to Ali. Just as other states were turning their backs on Ali, Nevada was ready to accept him, but intolerant Howard Hughes, who ran the town, had the governor backtrack. That’s a real Nevada story, and I will never forget it.

It’s a historic week for Las Vegas, with the NHL expected to award our first professional sports team. How do you think hockey will do here?

I think it’s great for the town, and it will pave the way to have an NFL team like the Raiders here. We have more hotel rooms than anywhere in the world, and we will draw in so many fans coming to watch the games. Being selfish, it will help boxing.

Why will it help boxing?

We need to be realistic: The amount of gaming revenue is not going up. Gaming is just not as unique. You have it everywhere. I remember in the '70s and '80s doing fights here, as soon as everyone got to town, they couldn’t wait to hit the tables. It just isn’t that way anymore. Las Vegas is still a unique experience with the world’s best resorts, restaurants and nightclubs and the whole atmosphere, so we need to use it all to attract people. And I think once we get both teams, Vegas will boom like it’s never boomed before. Then when we have a fight, it will give everyone a great excuse to come back and visit Vegas.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.