Andrew L. John

The Desert Sun

Though the possibility of a debate between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is apparently dead in the water, at least one man of power was prepared to use his influence to make it happen.

Bob Arum, the 84-year-old legendary boxing figure who has promoted the likes of Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, has offered to donate at least $20 million from a pay-per-view debate to charity. The donation would satisfy Trump's initial prerequisite to a debate with Sanders, who agreed to square off with Trump after the idea was floated on Trump's Wednesday night appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Trump's response to Kimmel was, "We would have such high ratings and I think I should take that money and give it to some worthy charity."

Arum, who has said publicly that Trump once swindled him out of $2.5 million, has been quite vocal about his disdain for the billionaire businessman, most recently with his No-Trump undercard at the April 9 pay-per-view main event between Cathedral City's Timothy Bradley and former eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao.

Sanders was in the Coachella Valley this week, where he held a rally at Big League Dreams in Cathedral City, and quickly accepted Trump's half-serious invitation.

"We are prepared to accept one of those offers and look forward to working with the Trump campaign to develop a time, place and format that is mutually agreeable," read a statement from the Sanders campaign. "Given that the California primary is on June 7, it is imperative that this all comes together as soon as possible. We look forward to a substantive debate that will contrast the very different visions that Sen. Sanders and Mr. Trump have for the future of our country."

Trump then backpedaled saying on the campaigning trial in North Dakota, "I’d love to debate Bernie, but they’d have to pay a lot of money for it.” He said the debate would have to be in a “big arena” and raise $10 to $15 million for charity.

Arum, never one to miss an opportunity, quickly jumped in.

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"It's the debate of the century between two of the top pound for pound politicians in the country – Mr. Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, and Senator Sanders, the Democratic candidate," said Arum, chief executive and founder of Top Rank. "We have two contenders ready, willing and able to go mano a mano over the most important issues facing the United States. And I am ready to promote it."

Top Rank's proposal was as follows:

Top Rank will negotiate a site fee from a major U.S. venue for the debate and will produce and distribute the debate live on pay-per-view throughout the U.S. Top Rank will also distribute the debate via closed-circuit to establishments in the U.S., including but not exclusive to, bars, restaurants, and movie theater chains. Eighty percent of the net proceeds will go to the charity or charities of the candidates' choice, agreed upon in advance.

For the moderators? Arum has recommended Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and Mitt Romney -- none of whom are the least bit friendly with Trump. Funny how that works.

Joke all you want. Arum isn't.

Regardless, Trump was never going to accept. He had little to gain, and has spent his his entire campaign playing by his own rules. A little after 4 p.m. Trump issued a statement, saying that he had passed the 1,237-delegate mark on Thursday and excused himself from participating.

"Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and Crooked Hillary Clinton and Deborah Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher," Trump said.

He added, "As much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders — and it would be an easy payday — I will wait to debate the first place finisher in the Democratic Party."

Thus, the debate of debates this political season will apparently never see the light of day. It could have been entertaining. Two high-energy New York accents with opposite agendas screaming and pointing at one another. Fantastic!

Man, why couldn't this have happened?

As Arum told USA Today, "It would be the biggest pay-per-view of all time."

Andrew L. John covers boxing for The Desert Sun. Contact him via email at andrew.john@desertsun.com and on Twitter @Andrew_L_John.