'It's totally about the fighters," said Top Rank's Bob Arum, downplaying his presence and that of Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer on Monday's Yuriorkis Gamboa-Daniel Ponce de Leon conference call.
Michael Koncz on Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao: "If the fans still want to see this fight, we're willing to do it."
Gamboa-de Leon brings Arum and Schaefer together again
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Top Rank Inc. CEO Bob Arum and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer will be on a conference call on Monday promoting the featherweight clash between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Daniel Ponce de Leon that is slated for Sept. 10 in Atlantic City, N.J. Their move comes on the heels of last week's announcement that the duo is in the midst of ongoing conversations concerning several big fights. Arum and Schaefer see the progression as a favorable sign that their once contentious relationship has smoothed over since their twice-failed negotiations to make a bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather has been handled by Golden Boy Promotions, and Pacquiao, by Top Rank. Pacquiao had once jointly signed with both companies, creating a conflict. But the fighter has since amicably settled a lawsuit with Golden Boy Promotions, and now is being promoted fulltime by Top Rank. "I think that it has been a while, that's true. I don't really read to much into it. But the fact is that it's a good thing that the two biggest promoters in the sport are working together and that we're on friendly terms," said Schaefer. "I think that this fight betweenGamboa and Ponce de Leon will be the platform to do other fights like we've done in the past." In the past, Schaefer and Arum have successfully pulled off such match ups as Pacqauiao's fights opposite Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Marco Antonio Barrera. They also worked together matching Miguel Cotto against Shane Mosley, Barrera-Erik Morales, De La Hoya-Fernando Vargas, Mosley-Antonio Margarito, and Bernard Hopkins-Kelly Pavlik. Arum, nevertheless, downplayed their presence on the conference call, preferring to highlight the clash of ex-beltholders between former Cuban Olympic gold medalist Gamboa (20-0, 16 knockouts) and de Leon (41-3, 34 KOs).
"It's a call totally for the two fighters," said Arum, who promotes Gamboa while Schaefer has de Leon. In addition to Gamboa-de Leon, the two companies have collaborated on a bout featuring WBC junior middleweight beltholder Saul Alvarez and Alfonso Gomez to be contested on Sept. 17 Gomez has been handled by Top Rank, and Alvarez, by Golden Boy. Long-range plans could include matching Alvarez and WBC middleweight beltholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in an all-Mexican match up of unbeatens. In addition, Golden Boy junior middleweight Alfredo Angulo and Top Rank's Vanes Martirosyan have been mandated to face each other in a WBC eliminator.
Lem Satterfield can be reached at lem.satterfield@gmail.com |