Bob Arum doesn’t view rival Oscar De La Hoya as the leader of boxing promoting’s next generation. In fact, he sees Golden Boy Promotions as an organization that does more complaining than actual promoting.
In a teleconference today for next Saturday’s (March 12) Cotto-Mayorga PPV, Arum criticized Golden Boy’s roster of fighters and business acumen after being asked about his willingness to co-promote with them.
“Contrast the attitude of Don and myself with the so-called promoters of today. Other than maybe Kathy Duva, how many promoters do we really have in this country? I say not many” Arum stated. “All they can do when they get competition is whine and complain and shriek instead of getting out and competing. These guys don’t deserve to be called promoters… Who are Golden Boy’s fighters? Don’t listen to all their whining that they have all these fighters and we don’t give them a shot.”
Arum will be co-promoting Cotto-Mayorga with Don King. He disclosed that should Cotto lose, he would seek to pit King’s slugger against Manny Pacquiao. While he’s still been able to work with King despite various disputes over their 40 year history, he doesn’t foresee extending the same courtesy to Golden Boy anytime soon. Their last two attempts to work together were the failed 2010 Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations, which increased animosity and vitriol on both sides.
“I don’t think he’s going to beat Cotto,” Arum said. “But if he does, Mayorga against Pacquiao will be the biggest event of all time…[Who is] Oscar De La Hoya? Is he a promoter?”
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 