Beef with Top Rank and Arum

[megadeth]

I notice in your report that the claim that Mayweather had bruised his hand came from Ellerbe, and in the many normal, friendly, non pejorative statements Arum made there was no mention of it, only that Mayweather wanted more money and then turned around and bought his contract out and they parted good friends. Both very coincidental to each other... NO?? It seems that the friendly relations were very one-sided. It took Arum a while to find out.

It was reported at the time and I remember it clearly, that when taxed by reporters about the $8 mill, Mayweather gleefully announced (I have never believed it to be truth) that his contract to fight Baldomir was for $8 mill and ONE CENT........ So it was MORE than $8 mill, showing that he was right in refusing the $8 mill. Of course Margarito who was a killer at that time had nothing to do with it as we ALL know........Eh? His PR factory must have worked overtime on this thin reason....

How does any of what you've said change the fact that Floyd was willing to fight Margarito, and Cotto in their primes? He had no problem w/ the 8 mil for Margarito, but wanted more for Cotto and Hatton(which he got and a lot more, as a free agent)...ARUM said this AFTER Floyd had already bought his contract out. It so sad to see someone so stuck to their hate that they will lie, distort and even ignore reaity, just to continue holding onto it.

[edgarg]

So why were u so willing to believe it had something to do w/ Manny, Cotto or Margarito if you don' even know the story?

Why also do you spew that nonsense about Cotto and Margarito when Arum declined a deal for both to fight Floyd?

You may be right about Cotto but you are wrong about Margarito. Arum offered Mayweather $8 mill to fight Margarito. Mayweather didn't want to and said that he was worth a lot more. After they split Mayweather made the fight with Baldomir who had recently beaten Judah, and when reporters, who knew that Baldomir was not nearly as good an opponent as Judah asked himwas he sorry he turned down thew $8 mill he retorted that he was getting more than $8 mill. A month or two later (I think there was a bit of a time delay) when asked again, he very triumphantly (I recall it clearly) that he WAS getting more than $8 mill, that he was getting $8 mill and ONE cent, which was more.

As he was paying his own guarantees long before anyone found out that he was, this really meant nothing.

[megadeth]

You may be right about Cotto but you are wrong about Margarito. Arum offered Mayweather $8 mill to fight Margarito. Mayweather didn't want to and said that he was worth a lot more. After they split Mayweather made the fight with Baldomir who had recently beaten Judah, and when reporters, who knew that Baldomir was not nearly as good an opponent as Judah asked himwas he sorry he turned down thew $8 mill he retorted that he was getting more than $8 mill. A month or two later (I think there was a bit of a time delay) when asked again, he very triumphantly (I recall it clearly) that he WAS getting more than $8 mill, that he was getting $8 mill and ONE cent, which was more.

As he was paying his own guarantees long before anyone found out that he was, this really meant nothing.

Then it's not me that's wrong it Arum, because the words came from his mouth, not mine.

And I quote AGAIN:

"Arum said while Mayweather would have taken the $8 million to fight Margarito, he asked for a $10 million guarantee to fight opponents such as Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton, when Arum was only willing to guarantee $7 million."

Arum said Floyd was willing to take all three fight for the right money.

[edgarg]

Mayweather bought his contract out to get away. De La Hoya's departure was a legal battle. Victor Ortiz breaking away was a legal battle. Donaire tried to break his contract. There are plenty of other examples.

I know that Donaire didn't try to get out of his contract just like is assumed. It was reported on here that Donaire's wife had made very rude comments about Pacquiao's wife concerning her appearance and Arum "defended" (as per quote) her by making a rude comment about Mrs. Donaire's mode of dressing. Arum also announced that Donaire was still contracted to Top Rank for the next 1.5 years (I think) because by contract, a year was added on because of 2 serious 6 month injury delays. And I think that there was also a 1 year option that Arum said he was going to call on. It was very quickly cleared up and Donaire signed a 4 (?) year new contract.

[edgarg]

And just so we can clear your mind of all those nasty rumors and insert facts, I'll post this oldie but goodie one more time.


Mayweather turns down $8 million to fight Margarito


Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. rejected promoter Bob Arum's $8 million offer to fight welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito, and he instead exercised a provision in his contract to buy Arum out and become a promotional free agent, Arum told ESPN.com on Monday.

According to Arum, Mayweather turned down the career-best purse to meet Margarito on Aug. 12 on HBO Pay-Per-View, instead opting for free agency by buying Arum out of their deal for $750,000.

"I did hear from him," Arum said of Mayweather. "He decided not to fight this summer. I made him a tremendous offer. I think Margarito is the riskiest fight for him of anyone out there."

Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com that Mayweather passed on the fight not because he is ducking Margarito, but because he couldn't be ready to fight by Aug. 12. Mayweather injured his right hand during a dominating April 8 victory against Zab Judah.

"Floyd is not 100 percent healthy," Ellerbe said. "He has a bruised right hand. His hand is not broken. It's bruised, but it's a bad bruise. He wants to go into any fight 100 percent healthy. If Antonio Margarito happens to be the best available option when he is healthy, so be it.

"We are not turning down Margarito. I want to make that crystal clear. When and if he is the best available option for Floyd's next fight, that's the direction he will move in."

With Aug. 12 no longer set aside for a Mayweather fight, Arum said he will use the date to feature one of his other stars, heavyweight titlist Hasim Rahman, in a mandatory title defense against Oleg Maskaev on HBO PPV.

That bout, a rematch of Maskaev's 1999 knockout victory, took on greater significance last weekend in the wake of Wladimir Klitschko's title-winning knockout of Chris Byrd in Germany.

The reason: Among the four recognized heavyweight title holders, Klitschko became the third from a former Soviet republic to beat an American to win a belt, leaving Rahman as the lone American heavyweight champion and Maskaev poised to give Eastern Europe a sweep of the titles in boxing's marquee division.

Arum said Mayweather preferred to await the outcome of the May 6 Oscar De La Hoya-Ricardo Mayorga fight instead of committing to Margarito because he would prefer to fight De La Hoya.

"We're not sitting waiting on De La Hoya," Ellerbe said. "He's in a tough, tough fight with Mayorga."

Many in the sport believe a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight is the biggest fight on the horizon and the only one capable of generating 1 million-plus buys on pay-per-view.

The reason Mayweather opted for the buyout rather than waiting for the May 6 result was because the contract had a limited window for the buyout, one that expired before the De La Hoya fight. However, Arum said he would have extended the window if Mayweather had asked. What Arum wouldn't do, he said, was raise the guarantees for other fights outlined in the contract.

Arum said while Mayweather would have taken the $8 million to fight Margarito, he asked for a $10 million guarantee to fight opponents such as Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton, when Arum was only willing to guarantee $7 million.

Arum said Mayweather also asked for $20 million to fight De La Hoya, a fight Arum said he wasn't interested in participating in.

"That's not in the cards," Arum said. "He wants $20 million for the De La Hoya fight? It's not there. Sometimes, my man, you gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. We'll talk about things down the road."

Ellerbe said Mayweather opted for the buyout so he could be "more in control of when and who he fights next. It's as simple as that. There is nothing bad between Floyd and Bob."

Arum agreed that the split with Mayweather was not on bad terms like their brief breakup last year. In fact, Arum said, "We intend to be back together. Everything with this was honorable and good. I had offered him numbers [for a multi-fight contract extension] that were livable. His expectations are in the stratosphere. He was entitled to buy me out, and he did. We decided this was the best way to handle it. He is a free agent. We have agreed to work with each other [in the future]."

The split frees Mayweather to make a potential deal with De La Hoya without Arum as part of the promotion. His involvement would have made making a deal almost impossible: The head of Top Rank has openly feuded with De La Hoya, his former superstar, and their companies rarely do business together as a result.

Arum said he was simply not interested in participating in a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, but not because of his distaste for De La Hoya.

"I don't want to, because if I did that fight, I would be working for such a small percentage, it's not worth it," he said.

Instead, Arum is turning his attention to the Rahman-Maskaev fight.

Arum said that he and Maskaev representative Dennis Rappaport are about $300,000 apart on making a deal. If they don't finalize terms, the WBC will hold a purse bid May 1 in Mexico City.

But Arum is confident they will make the deal.

"We're very close," he said. "It will take another day to work it out."

Arum said he is already making arrangements to announce the fight at a news conference in New York on May 10. He added that the fight would take place at either Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., or at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Arum said Margarito could wind up on the Rahman-Maskaev card in the co-feature.

"But it's tentative," Arum said. "If Mayweather decides to fight in September or October, and Margarito could still be a candidate, I want him to be flexible."

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.

*Also, Mayweather only would've got $7 million to fight Hatton and Cotto. After Mayweather became his own boss, he was paid $25 million for the Hatton fight and 32 million+ for the Cotto fight.

Don't you hate how the facts can mess perfectly good rumors up?

You neglected to mention the very pertinent fact (I wonder why) that Mayweather's "guarantees" aren't worth the few seconds time to read about them, BECAUSE he GUARANTEES HIMSELF to HIMSELF...... Ain't that sompin'

[firstborn]

After reading all the information provided here, I don't see how anyone can blame Mayweather or Arum for the spilt. Appears as though Mayweather believed in himself and took the ultimate gamble to maximize his income / talent while Arum refused to guarantee huge sums of money to back Mayweather's aspirations.

[craigus1990]

You are not exactly telling the truth here. Let me say that BoxingScene has published quotes from other Arum interviews which corroborate-sort-of- your report. But in the one printed here Arum said that they DID owe Mayweather money, and were paying it regularly by agreement, and suddenly discovered when 98% had been paid that they had actually overpaid him, so immediately stopped payments. He said that the recovery wasn't worth the legal fees so they let it go. Your report, which I also previously read at some period will show the real situation, and I can guarantee that Arum won't be the loser. He's as clever as 10 acres full of foxes, and is himself a Harvard Law Graduate Summa Cum Laude (the very best), worked as the head of Robert Kennedy's IRS Tax Department for about 6-8 years before he turned to boxing. He promoted many or most of Muhammed Ali's major bouts, about 25-30 in all. He's no fool.

As for his "bribing" of officials, he wasn't caught as you wrongly state. He, along with over 40 other promoters (just about everyone) were giving evidence at an investigation into alleged payoffs to the IBF President, who had been caught in some other way. So they set up this enquiry. Arum refused to lie under oath, and told the truth that he had paid over $125.000 (?) to this guy to rank one of his fighters (maybe Foreman on his comeback-can't remember) . Then many others confessed. I don't think any of them were badly penalised although I'm not sure, perhaps heavily fined.

This was over 20 years ago, and yet you are still trying try to hammer poor old Arum with it. I wonder why you are so antagonistic to him.

Usually, in such cases, when there is no obvious cause-like now- and the person attacked is ***ish, the reason is nearly always Anti-Semitism either acknowledged or subconscious. This has been recognised in medicine as a mental disease.

Wow, you're going to call me antisemitic for posting a NY times article and saying he bribed judges, which he has done! Wow you are insane.
A) I am from Devon, England (I am White, British and Atheist) where we have like 0 ***ish people here, therefore making me indifferent.
B) My favorite comedies are those of Larry David, Mel Brooks, Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove being my favorite comedy of all time), Woody Allen etc.
You can look at the history of my posts and if there is any hint of racism/antisemitism then I will give you all the money in my bank account.
I am as ******* as they come and could not care less about race, colour, creed, religion etc which is why, unlike most people on here, I do not use terms like "gay" as an insult... because those words are not insulting.
I think you really need to have a look in the mirror my friend because we have never spoken on here before and I post a NY times article about someone who happens to be ***ish and you play the **** card! That is seriously wrong my friend, seriously wrong.

[megadeth]

You neglected to mention the very pertinent fact (I wonder why) that Mayweather's "guarantees" aren't worth the few seconds time to read about them, BECAUSE he GUARANTEES HIMSELF to HIMSELF...... Ain't that sompin'

And that has what to do with the " he ducked Margarito" nonsense and Arum completely contradicting it?

[edgarg]

After Juanma beat Luevano and Gamboa destroyed Mattawa Arum was asked by a reporter if he was going to make Gamboa vs. Juanma next because it's what the fans wanted.

His response was.



In with the new and out with the old, I can't wait for the old man to retire and Boxing can be wide open. He wouldn't work with King and now he won't work with GB, this cold war bullshit needs to end.

What you neglect to include (and I don't blame you, it sounds much worse the way you say it) is that Lee was the guy who was caught by the Government taking bribes in some unconnected mish-mash, and they enlarged it to include boxing promoters. When all the promoters were called for the enquiry, Arum gave sworn evidence that he'd paid up as well. As did over 40 others, but it took Arum, who refused to lie under oath to open it all up.

I've always noticed, and I've posted here before, that lawyers, unless irredeemable criminals, always show a deep respect for an oath. Of course they probably know better than anyone else exactly how much serious trouble a person can get into for lying under oath. Loads of historical evidence about this.

[Ray*]

Arum and his own company Top rank are fighting? That's a bit odd...