By Chris Williams: Bob Arum says he has no interest in putting a fight together between Josh Taylor and Mikey Garcia. Arum says Mikey isn’t a big draw, and he’s not worth the money he would be asking for to make a fight.
Mikey (40-1, 30 KOs) is rumored to have gotten $7 million for his fight last Saturday night against Jessie Vargas. The crowd size looked good for their fight at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
The former 4 division world champion Garcia defeated Vargas by a 12 found unanimous. Garcia is trying to get a fight against Manny Pacquiao next for July. On the other side, Arum wants to match his fighter Terence Crawford against Pacquiao next.
If Mikey and his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing USA are able to put together a fight with Pacquiao, that obviously would leave Crawford and Arum on the sidelines.
Hearn said last week that he thinks the networks might have lost money for the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 2 rematch due to the huge cost of marketing the fight, and the large purses for the two fighters. If they did lose money, you could understand why Arum would be wary of trying to get up a fight between Mikey and Taylor.
Arum: Mikey can’t draw and he’s not worth it
“As far as I’m concerned, Mikey Garcia should forget about it because the money Mikey Garcia wants is obscene, and he’s not worth it,” said Arum to Fighthub when old that Mikey would be willing to drop down to 140 to fight Josh Taylor. “He can’t draw anything and let him say with Eddie Hearn, who will squander a to of money on him.
“I’m not interested in promoting a fight with Mikey Garcia. It’s not that he isn’t a good fighter, and it’s not that he isn’t a nice fellow. He is a nice fellow, but his financial demands are ludicrous. Because money is money.
“I know what a fight can bring in,” said Arum. “I’m not in the position nor do I want to be in the position as Eddie Hearn was with DAZN squandering other people’s money, accomplishing nothing. That’s not my business,” said Arum.
You can’t doubt that Arum knows what he’s talking about. With Mikey’s high purse requirements, the money might not be there for a fight between him and Josh Taylor.
How would sell that fight? IBF/WBA light-welterweight champion Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs) isn’t a big enough name for Arum and his promotional company Top Rank to make money for that fight. They couldn’t put Garcia vs. Taylor on ESPN pay-per-view, because fans wouldn’t buy it in the U.S.
There wasn’t a lot of buzz last week for Mikey’s fight against Vargas, even though the undercard was excellent. Mikey won a close decision by the scores 116-111, 116-111, 114-113.
Lomachenko vs. Lopez to be announced this month
“Later this month,” said Arum when asked when the Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez fight will get announced. “Later this month,” said Arum when asked when the announcement for Terence Crawford’s next fight will be.
Arum said he’ll be announcing WBA/WBC [F]/WBO lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko’s unification fight against IBF champion Teofimo Lopez this month. Those two are said to be fighting on May 30 in New York. There’s a great deal of fan interest in that fight, and could see Teofimo become a star overnight if he wins.
Arum also plans on announcing WBO welterweight champion Crawford’s next fight. His opponent is likely to be Kell Brook. He’s one of the two guys that Arum is interested in matching against Crawford. The other is Pacquiao, and he’ll likely face Mikey next.