Arum calls HBO deceitful
With all the talk about a potential fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares falling apart Bob Arum wants to clear the air. Whether you as a fan/follower of the sport want to take his word for it is of course up to you.
Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya took to social media to say the fight could still happen on HBO. Those familiar with the “politics” of the sport know that this is highly improbable. Once again the fans may be the one’s that suffer due to egos and d**k measuring contests.
Below is what Arum had to say about the negotiations during a recent Q&A:
“We made a deal with the main promoter of Linares, Teiken, to fight on May 12th which is a special date for us. And we’re looking to do that fight on May 12th. It’s the weekend of the BWAA dinner in New York. It’s a major major date, the Madison Square Garden is available and we booked it. We have tremendous lead-ins with the NBA playoffs. As far as HBO and Oscar is concerned, remember last year we did a fight on November 11th and they put a fight on HBO against our fight. We did Loma and Rigo on December 9th, and HBO put a fight against us. Now suddenly they’re taking the position that they can’t put a fight against ESPN on May 12th? It just shows the deceitful nature of HBO and the people who run HBO Sports.”
While Arum does have a point this should’ve been expected ahead of time honestly. The turmoil left behind surrounding Top Rank’s departure of HBO couldn’t possibly have left a sweet taste in Peter Nelson’s mouth.
What will happen now is hard to predict with Arum previously stating Ray Beltran would be the replacement for Linares, it’s likely that’s what we’ll get.
By: Chris Henderson
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