Bob Arum reacts to Tyson Fury’s win over Otto Wallin

By Boxing News - 09/15/2019 - Comments

By Dean Berman:  Tyson Fury’s co-promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank worked himself into a rage last night in talking about how Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn had been dismissive about Otto Wallin (20-1, 13 KOs) before the fight. Arum says Hearn doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and that Wallin is now “considered one of the top heavyweights in the world” based on his efforts of going 12 rounds with Fury. It didn’t look like a case of Wallin putting in a sensational effort.

Tyson Fury looked weak and spent the entire fight

Fury simply looked flat, and over-trained. His trainer Ben Davison may have overdid it in taking Fury through his paces during training camp. If this trend continues, it might be a good idea for Fury to send Davison on his way, and look in another directions towards a trainer that doesn’t go overboard in working him ragged. Unfortunately for Fury, he’s facing WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder next. This won’t be another showcase fight for Fury like we’ve been seeing from him in his last two matches against Wallin and Tom Schwarz. This time, Fury is fighting a good opponent, and if he’s listless like he was against Wallin, he won’t last.

Wallin lost the fight to Fury by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, most boxing fans agree that the contest was a heck of a lot closer than the judges’ scores. They gave Fury the victory by a wide set of scores in scoring it 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112.

Arum says Wallin got Fury ready for Wilder rematch

“Wallin is a good fighter,” said Arum afterwards. “He’s a good fighter, and he realized this was a career defining moment for him. Now he’s going to be considered one of the top heavyweights in the world. We knew that. When he was selected as the opponent, I kept calling them, and saying, ‘Are you sure you want to fight this guy? And they said, ‘Yeah.’ So it was a great test. He got a lot of work, and it gets him ready for the Wilder fight next year. It just goes to show that you can’t listen to the naysayers without really examining what they’re talking about.

Fans would disagree with Arum on his view that Wallin helped Fury prepare for the rematch with Deontay Wilder. If anything, Wallin may have hurt Fury’s chances of success in the Wilder rematch. With the scar tissue that will be around Fury’s right eye, he’ll be at risk of being cut by Wilder. If Fury is bleeding badly from his right eye, he’ll be a wounded duck against Wilder, and will have little chance of beating him.

It’s doubtful that Wallin will suddenly be viewed as one of the top heavyweights in the world just because of his performance against Fury. If Wilder had been in the ring last Saturday, Wallin likely wouldn’t have lasted long against him. The same goes for Anthony Joshua. The reason Wallin looked good is because Fury was so flat, and drained looking. That’s the fault of Fury’s trainer Davison.

Arum rages on Hearn

“Eddie Hearn said this is a ‘disgrace’ and Wallin didn’t belong.’ He’d never seen Wallin fight,” said Arum. “It’s just bull. We’d have seen him fight, and we knew the kind of fighter he was, and the kind of performance that he would do. You can’t listen to guys like Eddie Hearn, and knows s— about boxing, and just opens and flaps his mouth. He comes over to the United States, and doesn’t have a clue about our culture, and how to promote.

What I’m really enraged about is he said in an interview in New York that Bob Arum is an old guy, and talks about how Mexicans are treated, and young people don’t care about that. Who the f— is he talking about? He’s talking about people in Liverpool; maybe where he comes from, who don’t know what the situation is. But you better believe how young people from all ethnic groups care about how badly Mexicans are treated in this country,” said Arum.

Arum says didn’t see Fury getting hurt in the 12th round by the 28-year-old Swedish heavyweight Wallin. Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs), bleeding badly from a wide gash over his right eye, was badly wobbled by the unheralded Wallin from a left to the head in round 12.

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Arum: Fury would have lost if the fight was stopped due to his cut

“Because of the cut,” said Arum when asked how nervous he was early in the fight when Fury was having problems with Wallin. “I know the referee told the scorer it [the cut] was from a legal blow. I didn’t hear it. [Top Rank president] Carl [Moretti] was there, and he heard it, and he told Todd [Du Boef] and myself it was from a legal blow, which meant that if they had stopped the fight at any given point, Tyson Fury would have lost. It’s not like it was a head-butt, and he’s bleeding and they stop the fight, because then they go to the scorecards. There’s no danger there,” said Arum.

It’s academic that Fury would have lost the fight if the referee stopped the contest due to his badly cut right eye. The real question is why didn’t the ringside doctor have the fight halted Fury was struggling in the fight before he was cut. In rounds one and two, Wallin got the better of Fury, and that was BEFORE he was cut. Arum can’t blame that on Fury being cut. Wallin wasn’t falling for Fury’s showboating moves, as he was throwing straight shots down the pipe that were connecting. In Fury’s past fights, he’d done a good job of dodging the wide punches from the likes of Wilder. He couldn’t do that with Wallin’s straight shots.

Arum says he didn’t see Fury get hurt by Wallin in round 12

“I hope that Al Haymon was watching the fight tonight, and I assume he was,” said Arum. “And, why the hell he’s doing a fight with Wilder and [Luis] Ortiz in November, God only knows. I mean, is it a danger? You’d better believe it. These are big sons of b—-, these guys, and anything can happen. Why don’t you give Otto Wallin a little credit. It wasn’t vulnerability. Otto Wallin is a tough out for anybody. He’s a courageous guy. He knows how to fight, and he takes a good punch. I didn’t see him get hurt,” said Arum when asked about Fury being hurt in the 12th round. “Don’t make up s—.”