From 2004 to 2007, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, the two biggest promotional companies in boxing, were entangled in a bitter feud. Competing cards, lawsuits about revenue and countersuits over accounting issues deprived fans of some of the biggest fights that could be made in the sport. Fortunately, after numerous legal disputes, the main one centering around the promotional rights to Manny Pacquiao, the two sides reached a settlement that would pave the way for some of the most anticipated fights in recent years, including Pacquiao-Hatton, Mosley-Margarito, Pacquiao-De La Hoya, Pacquiao-Marquez, Cotto-Mosley and Pacquiao-Barrera II. It seemed as though peace had finally been achieved and fans were rewarded handsomely.
Unfortunately, everything changed on June 13th when Manny Pacquiao gave promoter Bob Arum the green light to make a fight with fellow Top Rank-promoted champion Miguel Cotto. In the weeks that followed, Golden Boy Promotions went on a crusade to plead their case that their fighter and business partner, Shane Mosley, should rightfully be next in line to face Pacquiao. Perhaps irritated by the persistent pleas to the media, it appears Bob Arum has decided to call an end to his company's truce with Golden Boy. A few days ago, Arum went on the offensive, attacking Golden Boy Promotions and their cozy relationship with HBO. Both Schaefer and De La Hoya quickly responded, launching a counter strike while defending themselves in the process. Over the course of two days, in two separate interviews, one with Mark Vester and the other with Robert Morales of Boxingscene.com, both Arum and Schaefer, as well as De La Hoya himself, have reignited sparks that may result in another Cold War between the two promotional powers.
Let the battle begin: Top Rank vs. Golden Boy
ROUND 1
Arum comes out fast and strong, "They [HBO] gave their dates to one promoter, who's stable has now been wiped out," landing a hard right that snaps the head back of Golden Boy. He triples up with his jab, "And all the good fighters are fighting, fortunately at this point in time, for us at Top Rank. And they would love to give us dates but they can't this year and that's wrong. They made a bad mistake. They are not evil people, and I can't blame Golden Boy for grabbing those dates, but it shows that it wasn't the wisest thing for them [HBO] to do."
Schaefer fires back with a few jabs of his own, "I feel sorry for Bob. I felt that he was finally a changed man, that he has lost some of that hate he has, but I guess a leopard never changes its spots. So I guess it is what it is." He follows that up with a quick left to the body and a right upstairs, "I read every line and I could just read the jealousy coming from his lips. The fact is we are very happy with our stable of fighters. And we are happy on how as soon as a fighter is a free agent, they want to come to Golden Boy. I'm happy for that."
Arum continues to stalk and apply pressure, "To give dates to one company, without being fight specific, with the hope that [Golden Boy] will get the top fighters to give them programming, instead of holding back and awarding the fight programs to the promoter who has the best fighters and the best fights. They can't do that for this year because they've committed dates to Golden Boy, who now has no fighters except retreads to put in." He backs Golden Boy up to the ropes and WOOOOOOOO lands a vicious combination, "Look at the fighters we have. We have [Edwin] Valero. We have [Yuriorkis] Gamboa. We have [Juan Manuel] Lopez. We have Vanes. Just named one after another who could be in great fights. Instead, they are doing a retread like Juan Diaz fighting Paul Malignaggi, two guys who lost their last fights fighting each other. If they want to do losers, which is what I call that fight, the losers, let them do it, but that's sort of silly."
Schaefer looks wobbly as he covers up along the ropes, "We do what we do to put big fights together, dangerous fights. Some guys win, some guys lose." Now De La Hoya steps in and using the shoulder-roll technique taught to him by Floyd Mayweather Sr., he slips a couple of punches and lands some effective counter shots of his own, "It goes to show you that us at Golden Boy Promotions, we are not going to baby our fighters. We could make him 100-0 if we wanted to and put him on small PPV shows and keep on fighting him and fool the crowd and fool Victor. We're not building records and looking to keep guys undefeated, we're making fights. We believe in Victor and HBO believes in Victor." De La Hoya spins out of the corner and lands a quick 1-2 followed by a nice left hook upstairs, "They want tough, competitive fights and that's fine with us. We believe in our fighters and we believe in their abilities. Obviously other promoters don't. They'll do their small PPV shows to build their fighters up against no competition, but we're not going to do that. We're obviously going to make even matchups and that's what HBO is all about."
Unfazed by the shots, Arum keeps up the pressure as he blasts back with some hard shots to the body on the inside, "We had a continuing profit participation with Ortiz but the truth is, and it's not after the fact, Bruce Trampler always said that Ortiz had a lot of tools but he thought, based on what he had seen, that Ortiz lacked courage. That when the going got tough, Ortiz would quit and that's what he did there. Can you imagine a fighter saying, 'well I got knocked down and I wasn't going to go out on my shield'?" Whoa, a couple of those shots landed south of border and the ref gives a stern warning to let both fighters know that the foul play won't be tolerated.
Still buzzed from the assault along the ropes, Schaefer does his best to keep Arum off of him and out of nowhere he lands a right cross that opens up a cut, "I certainly don't see Victor as a quitter. I see him as a great young man who has had a really hard life. And to have some 8,600 fans scream his name in what was a great back-and-forth fight...in the end, he came up short. There will be another day and another night. We are very proud of Victor at Golden Boy. If Bob Arum thinks so little of Victor, that he is a quitter and has no heart, maybe he should give up his financial interest if he thinks so little of him."
Arum looks bothered by the blood flowing over he eye so De La Hoya takes advantage and jumps on him with a savage body attack, "With Manny Pacquiao versus Miguel Cotto, I mean look, Top Rank obviously has their plans with Manny Pacquiao. Bruce Trampler and Bob Arum know what the outcome is going to be, I know what the outcome is going to be...Pacquiao is right now young and a guy that Top Rank is protecting and a guy they have big plans for. We all know that fight with Miguel Cotto wouldn't be as dangerous as a fight with Shane Mosley, so that's why they're doing it." Whoa, De La Hoya intentionally retaliated from the previous low blow. The referee stops the bout to give Arum time to recover and he takes a point from Golden Boy. The action resumes and De La Hoya continues his assault, landing a nice three-punch combo followed by a wicked right hand, "We could make handpicked fights all day, but I think the fight fan is tired of that. We want to build up our fighters and build towards the future, but at the same time, we don't want to turn off the fans. We don't want to do Latin Fury 30 with good fighters against opponents who are going to take dives. We want to grow the fan base to ensure that boxing is alive forever."
Although he ate a lot of shots, Arum stands his ground and continues to work the body on the inside, "Ortiz is a good fighter but you don't put Ortiz is in with an Argentine guy that nobody heard of, who is a good puncher, etc. You put him in with a Lamont Peterson. If Peterson wins, then you got somebody going. Now they got a frigging Argentine guy, who lost to [Andreas] Kotelnik, who is fighting Amir Khan and if he wins he is going to end up fighting Dmitriy Salita. So that's the level, you are not building anything."
De La Hoya blocks most of those shots and lands some nice counter shots of his own that get Arum's attention, "I want to comment on the remarks Bob Arum made. What gives him the right to comment on Victor and belittle him. If he doesn't believe in Victor, he has a piece of Victor, let him go. If you're going to belittle him and talk bad about him, just let him go. He says he should have fought Peterson, but what kind of fight would that be? Another first round knockout? We're not about that. We're about competitive fights for our fighters."
Arum retreats now as Schaefer presses forward behind a couple of stiff jab, "For Bob Arum to make these malicious comments about Victor, I don't like it, I don't appreciate it. I think Bob Arum should apologize to Victor. I really think that is crossing the line. But that's how Bob is. That's just the way he is. He's always going to be like that. And so be it...We are a young company. We have been doing it for five years. He [Arum] has been doing it for a hundred years. I like the way we are doing it. We just work our course. Instead of crying and bitching about other people's business, we worry about our business." De La Hoya jumps in and lands one more quick flurry right at the bell, "We're not here to baby our fighers, we're here to match them the right way and make sure that everybody wins. Boxing is a sport where if you have these one sided fights and try to protect your fighters and do little PPV shows against HBO on the same night, it hurts the sport and we're not about that."
Very close round...extremely close. Arum landed the harder, more telling shots, but Schaefer and De La Hoya may have stole it by outworking him down the stretch. Personally, I gotta give this one to Golden Boy. While Arum landed some big shots that rocked Golden Boy and had them on the defensive for a good portion of the round, Schaefer and De La Hoya countered effectively, turned the tide, seized the momentum and were able to close out the round strong. Although Golden Boy wins the round, they lose a point for the low blow, making the fight dead even after the first. It's still too early to tell who will win this fight, but it's starting to shape up a lot like Margarito vs. Cotto. Golden Boy is doing their best to outbox Top Rank, but as each round goes by, Top Rank gets stronger and stronger and continues to land the harder, more debilitating shots. After that action-packed round, I'm definitely looking forward to round 2.
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