Despite a public challenge from linear middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum is focusing on an early October matchup between newly crowned WBC titlist Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and Miguel Cotto.
Chavez, Jr. won his WBC title this past Saturday (June 4) with a tough majority decision win over Sebastian Zbik. Martinez, who was in attendance, was stripped of the WBC belt earlier this year for refusing to face Zbik over HBO’s preference of Sergiy Dzinziruk. In his post-fight interview and press conference, Chavez, Jr. verified that he’d be willing to face Martinez if Arum signed off on the unification.
Arum, who’s preferred in recent years to make in-house bouts over inter-promotional matchups, argued that Martinez’s promoter Lou DiBella has not built up Martinez’s name enough to make a bout with Chavez, Jr. viable.
“I still say that DiBella has to get off his ass and stop waiting for HBO to build Martinez up,” Arum told the Examiner’s Michael Marley. “The guy is 35 years old, you can’t wait around… Eventually it can happen but not now. But they have to build Martinez up where some people, other than the boxing writers, know who he is.”
The comments enraged DiBella, who claimed Arum knows none of his name fighters (Pacquiao, Cotto, Chavez) can defeat Martinez.
“Sergio would destroy his whole roster,” DiBella declared. “I’m sick of sitting there and being criticized by a man whose legacy will be the destruction he did to an industry. Everyone keeps eating the shit he’s putting out there. Every fighter that is promoted by another promoter or provides any level of competition is not a pay-per-view fighter to him.”
“Why is it that Sergio Martinez is not a pay-per-view fighter? Because he would school Chavez and destroy him like the fraud he is. Boxing fans aren’t so stupid. The first real fighter he’s thrown in with, he’s gonna get his ass kicked.”
At press time, Bob Arum is targeting either October 1 or 8 for the proposed Cotto-Chavez, Jr. matchup.
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DiBella sums up my feelings on this matter. I’d have much more respect for Arum if he just admitted that Chavez is not ready for Martinez and he sees the Cotto fight as much more even. These excuses of Martinez not being a “name” is disgraceful and always a convenient ploy used by Top Rank to denigrate fighters outside their stable.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 