Boxing promoter Bob Arum assured that most of Top Rank’s fighters, including its biggest superstar Manny Pacquiao, will remain with HBO.
Arum has guaranteed HBO a steady supply of action-packed fights following the cable giant’s split with Top Rank’s rival company Golden Boy Promotions.
“As far as we’re concerned we’re a big supplier of product to HBO,” the promoter said in Boxing Scene.
Among their “products” are Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Filipino boxing attractions Nonito Donaire Jr. and Pacquiao.
Arum believes HBO decided to ditch Golden Boy for giving them “appearance bouts.”
“You can’t do appearance fights anymore,” Arum said. “You can’t do [Andre] Berto fights, like they did for years, anymore. You can’t do that. It’s a waste of money and it doesn’t give the people an opportunity to see exciting action.”
On the other hand, Arum pointed out that Top Rank has been giving out "thrilling matches" just like the recent scrap between Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov.
“You’ve got to give them fights which, at least on paper, look like they’re going to be the kind of battles like we saw on Saturday night (Bradley-Prvodnikov),” he said.
Arum added that more engaging battles are still on HBO’s way this March and April.
“If you look at the next fights we have on HBO, the [Brandon] Rios-[Mike] Alvarado fight, well, we know that’s a war. And then [Nonito] Donaire and [Guillermo] Rigondeaux ought to be a classic,” he said.
Pacquiao and Donaire are among Top Rank’s biggest stars.
Save for the Shane Mosley fight, which was aired on Showtime, most of Pacquiao’s high-profile bouts were aired by HBO. His fourth clash with Marquez garnered over 1.15 million pay-per-view buys.
Donaire has also been gaining attraction for his recent exploits in the ring. In 2012, he scored a string of victories over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce.
source: abs-cbnnews.com
