Another MUST READ Interview With The Bobfather

Greg Leon: I've been hearing that WBC 140-pound champion Jose Ramirez [promoted by Arum's Top Rank] is going to be in a unification bout against WBO champ Maurice Hooker [promoted by Eddie Hearn's Matchroom] on July 27th, on [Matchroom's network] DAZN. Is this true? Bob Arum: "Yes. Right now we're just waiting for Matchroom to make the announcement [which has now been released]." GL: Why would you feature an ESPN staple like Jose Ramirez on the DAZN? Is the money just ridiculous? "Because it's a good fight. Their fighters fight on ESPN. Everybody who knows what the f**k they're doing is starting to make fights with each other to get good fights. The fact is I am confident that my guy wins the fight, they're confident that their guy wins the fight. We decided that it was OK for Ramirez to fight Hooker on DAZN. I look at it as a plus-plus, because now I [will if Ramirez wins] have a unified title that I didn't have to pay for and my guy is bigger than he was before. That's what boxing should be."

GL: You're absolutely right. Is this same approach being taken with this light heavyweight tournament I've been hearing about that would feature three of your champions with WBA champion Dmitry Bivol being the lone DAZN fighter?

Bob Arum: "Bivol isn't a DAZN fighter."

GL: Isn't he a World of Boxing Fighter with DAZN?

BA: "No." [Boxingtalk later learned that Bivol only had a one fight deal with DAZN which stemmed from DAZN's obligation to get Joe Smith Jr. a title fight].

GL: Forget Bivol, is this potential rumored light heavyweight tournament World Boxing Super Series going to be streamed on DAZN when three of the champions have been fighting on ESPN?

BA: "It's ESPN. We don't need a tournament. We have enough good light heavyweights to have great fights without a tournament. We're not giving our fighters away to anybody to fight on a differnet platform in a f**king tournament. We're happy to make a deal for a fighter to fight on another network, that's ok. We're now putting matches together for our light heavyweights in the fall. We're making the matches now, we haven't bothered [IBF champion Artur] Beterbiev because he's tied up with Ramadan, but he'll be back in the picture. [WBC champion Oleksandr] Gvozdyk will be fighting. [WBO champion Sergey] Kovalev is tied up with this mandatory with (Anthony) Yarde, which I guess has run into some problems in Russia."

GL: What did you think of Andy Ruiz's major upset of Anthony Joshua the other night? How shocked were you?

BA: "I was completely shocked. Every one of his fights except for the last two were promoted by Top Rank and he's a lot better than he looks, but that being said, he's got fast hands and takes a good shot, but he's got no power. How he's hurting this guy with everything he's hitting him with, I can't figure it out. I've seen Joshua fight before and I'm absolutely stunned how he reacted to Ruiz's punches. After all, we had Ruiz in the ring with ordinary guys that he went ten rounds with and couldn't get them out of there. For him to be able to clobber an elite heavyweight like this is something that I couldn't have foreseen. Something was wrong with Joshua, I don't care what anybody says."

GL: Should this be a wake up call for boxing to make the fights that need to happen before they get ruined. Not only did a wolrd championship unification fight between Joshua and Deontay Wilder get killed, but a potential Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fight-- which also would have been massive-- will never be the same now...

BA: (cutting in) "Of course it'll never be the same now, but that's what happens. With Fury our problem was, the boxing people knew who he was, but not the general public. Now that he's a member of the LA Rams and we're doing all this stuff with him, and he's got a great personality, people are beginning to wake up to him. When he fights Wilder, it's going to be a massive fight. Last time the two top heavyweights on a pay per view did 300,000 buys, which is f**king pathetic."

GL: Is Fury fighting Wilder early next year?

BA: "Yes."

GL: How far along are you guys with that? I asked Wilder the other day and he was evasive.

BA: "I'm not going to talk about that, but I'm telling you it's going to happen."

GL: How do we prevent welterweight unification between Terence Crawford and ErrolSpence from becoming the next mega-fight to get destroyed?

BA: "It's not on us man, we want to do that fight next. They apparently don't want to do that fight next. If he [Spence] fights [WBC champion] Shawn Porter anything can happen."

GL: Is Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Luke Campbell done for August 31st overseas?

BA: "We're working on it on that and it should be done pretty soon."

GL: Tyson Fury's making his ESPN debut on June 15th, this is right around the corner. How excited are you about this fight?

BA: "It's terrific. After training yesterday he visited with the Rams [football team], he's on CNN tonight. It's been unbelievable the kind of publicity he's getting. And Schwarz is not a bad fighter...we've seen his fights and he's a big sonofabitch. He's a nice guy, but he's about 6'4" or 6'5"...

GL: (cutting in) After last weekend, nobody is overlooking anybody for the forseeable future.

BA: "I agree with you 100%. Anybody in boxing who tells you that they weren't shocked with that result is lying."

GL: Where is Crawford going next?

BA: "You'll see."

GL: I want to hear about it now, that's what we're on the phone for Bob.

BA: "I can't tell you certain things that we're working on before it comes to fruition because then it gets out and it f**ks everything up. I'll tell you when it's done."

GL: What do you think about Keith Thurman fighting Manny [a WBA welterweight title fight]?

BA: "It's a funny thing. If Thurman needed that last fight to get rust off then he's going to win easy, but if Thurman is the same guy he was in his last fight then Pacquiao has a chance."

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