In a wide-ranging interview, Arum also says he regrets doing business with Daniel Kinahan
When Bob Arum made his bow, Max Schmeling was heavyweight champion of the world. A teenage Joe Louis was months away from his first amateur fight.
Draw up a list of the greatest fights of all time. Everybody would have Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier III in there. And Marvin Hagler v Thomas Hearns. Most would go for Jose Luis Castillo v Diego Corrales. This could be a very different piece. Arum's extraordinary life has brought him into contact with what amounts to a roll call of modern American history.
Write that piece and it'd go down well. There'd be praise and pats on the back and...it would be bullshit. It would be dishonest. Sportswashing applies to journalism too. "That may or may not be true, but I was in Riyadh in October - and it was after October 7 - and I was guest of honour at this dinner. I met with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and it was great. Whatever antisemitism may or may not have existed in Saudi in the past clearly doesn't now,'' said Arum.
A couple of years ago, there were whispers in the boxing world that part of Daniel Kinahan's strategy was targeting Top Rank. "He told me that he wanted to clean up his name because he wanted to be a role model for his kids and I believed him. "And, remember this, going back, we had a guy who served a prison term for killing a man by stomping on his head and he became the biggest promoter in boxing."
Once the sanctions were announced, Arum did one of the quickest u-turns on record. Was that a sign that he messed up, that he has regrets over dealing with Kinahan?