Arum considers new feather tournament

Training with Virgil Hill apparently

 

He was saying it relatively. As in: featherweights don't get the giant paydays that the higher weight fighters (that is, high profile higher weight) recieve.

Look, I get that you hate Arum -- he's a dick and as greedy as everyone else in the fight game -- but it also seems like he wants to put on a fun to watch tourney of featherweights (a division that doesn't get as much exposure as it should).

At the end of this the 'winner' will probably command a higher purse and those that acquit themselves well will get more TV dates.

 

He's going into arbitration with his current/former manager Frank Espinoza.

 

He's said he wanted Lomachenko next, but given what he did to Top Rank's last favored prospect, I doubt he gets that fight.

 

I've been disappointed as well that Mares hasn't tried harder to rematch Gonzalez but I think he's going through some sort of manegerial issues which could be the reason he's been off since the Gonzalez fight.

He does come back in a couple weeks on the Alvarez-Lara undercard against Oquendo. So maybe he'll get his career and a Gonzalez rematch back on track.

 

Didn't know that, Oquendo was originally supposed to be the debut opponent for Lomachenko but he ended up ducking.

 

Loma should avoid this tourny, jump to Showtime and sign with Al Heymon. Then fight obscure opposition.

Hey: It makes financial sense and Lome needs to look out for himself.:hey


That is how savy boxers operate these days, RIGHT?

Tell me you guys would not absolutely go ape**** over Loma vs Billy Dibs main sparring partner, headlining a Showtime card. If Loma can win he would possibly get Billy Dib next.

Sign me up...

 

I remember when Oquendo was being lined up for Lomachenko's debut fight.

Oquendo isn't the greatest opponent for Mares, but he's been off about a year and was ko'ed by Gonzalez last time out so Oquendo is about the level you'd expect Mares to be in with.

I'm hoping Mares takes care of Oquendo and then gets back in the mix. He was a bit limited in options when GBP-Top Rank were refusing to do business.

Now there's a lot of nice fights out there for him if GBP and Top Rank ever do business together.

 

Ya its a good warm up fight. Missing out on the FW action wouldn't be good for him and i don't understand the 130lb talk i think 126 is pushing it for him Walters, Vetyeka, Lomachenko, Gradovich, Gonzalez, Donaire are all physically big and/or big punchers. Mares isn't quite as skilled a boxer as he thinks he is and it will be hard to implement his boxing or pressure against guys in this division.

 

This isn't about 'hating' Arum.

If I'm a fighter, and my promoter is committing me to 2-3 fights while publically touting how 'cheap' it will be for the network, that's a red flag for me. Your mileage may vary. Arum is literally using the cheapness of this as a marketing point. Asks yourself who that really benefits.

IMO, this is about a man who walks in the ring getting the money he is worth, not the scraps his promoter and network conspire to give him to have their 'tournament'.

We all want to see good fights, but I do raise an eyebrow when watching dudes get herded into a 'tournament' that is literally only possible due to the promoter's public declaration to keep the costs down: i.e. lining his own and the networks' pockets, not those of the fighters we cheer for.

Again, your mileage may vary.

 

I would love it.

Arum has a deep stable at Featherweight.

Not sure if he will get all of them to participate, though.

 

I don't think a promoter can commit a fighter to anything without the fighters approval. In fact Arum specifically mentions having to work out 'who wants to fight who, what HBO wants etc'.

I don't know if the cheapness in this case is a 'marketing point' sounds like it's more of a selling point to the network. I can't answer who it benefits without knowing the fighters purses and how it stacks up with their previous earnings. I do think that the fighter that wins it (or even has a good showing) can go on to bigger fights for more money -- look at Carl Froch for instance and the S6. He didn't win but proved his quality and raised his stock via tournament participation.

It would be nice if all fighters got mega-paid for their efforts. But the vast majority don't. FW hasn't traditionally been a glamor division and even the standouts at FW usually move up to try and get better paydays (Floyd comes to mind).

Basically, I don't think Arum was saying anything we didn't already know.

It's true, promoters try and keep costs down, managers and agents try and get the most for their clients. They come to some sort of agreement eventually or the fight falls through.

I do agree that the only way this tourney gets made is because it won't cost as much. If HBO tried to put together a Welter Tournament the money just wouldn't be there. It would cost to much and half of it would need to be on PPV.

It might be that for the cost of putting on a Pac fight -- or more recently, the Cotto/Martinez fight -- they can stage a couple of good, competitive FW tournament fights.

 

these 'tournaments' are pointless if one person is promoting the same guys.

 

Actually the new Top Rank model seems to be to just elbow out the managers altogether. Thus, "I'll just get Chavez's dad to convince him to re-sign instead of discussing terms with his actual manager!" :rofl

 

That would explain why so many of the fighters at TR seem unsatisfied with Arum's work/dealings.