Bob Arum: Out of Country Fighters on Their Own
Boxing’s return is a mere days away. Fight fans are eager to see how the sport will look being televised under the new COVID-19 inspired protocols. Along with being curious about how the sport will look, fight enthusiasts will be curious to see what manner of match-ups will be put together. Will these bouts actually be competitive and meaningful fights or simply filler?
One thing that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has made certain is there are not going to be a great deal of international fights taking place up front. Directly due to travel bans put in place in response to the global pandemic, there is little that boxing promoters can do to get around this.
THE GREAT MIGRATION
That does not mean that there are no exceptions, but generally speaking most fighters are preparing to be situated where they are currently at for the next few months. There was a glimmer of hope that perhaps the flood gate of fighters traveling from nation to nation were open. This first happened when it was stated that WBC ‘Franchise champion’, WBO and WBA super world lightweight champion Vasiliy “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KO’s) was going to make the trek from his native Ukraine to the US.
Then it was revealed that the Top Rank-promoted Australian Moloney brothers had found passage into America. However, despite bantamweight Jason Moloney (20-1, 17 KO’s) and super flyweight Andrew “The Monster” Moloney (21-0, 14 KO’s) finding a way, Bob Arum insists they will probably be an exception to the rule.
“The Moloney’s, we take no credit for getting them into the United States. We told them there was a problem and they internally solved the problem with the Australian government. So kudos to them.”
“…as far as fighters outside of the United States, there’s a limit to what we can do. In other words, we don’t fly the planes. I have no influence with this White House, thank God, as to lifting travel bans. But where there is a will, there is a way. I know that Vasiliy Lomachenko, for example, will be coming to the United States sometime in June.”
“…I don’t know when the Brits can come, I don’t know when the Canadians can come. This is really out of our hands now. So every fighter that wants to come over and participate in these shows and continue with their career has got to find a way to do that on their own with their advisors. We will facilitate anything that we can but our power is greatly limited.”
By: Bakari Simpson
