By Jeff Aronow: Bob Arum has got a pretty good idea where and when he plans on staging Teofimo Lopez vs. Vasily Lomachenko and Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3. Arum’s main concern is whether he’ll be able to stage those fights in front of live crowds or not.
The fights will be taking place later this year, which makes it possible for them to take place in front of a broad audience.
Terence Crawford’s next opponent could be announced in the next ten days, according to Arum. He’s not saying who the opponent is, but he seems excited about the fight.
Fury-Wilder III on December 19
“Together with PBC, we checked on distributors. Their’s being Fox and ours being ESPN,” said Arum to IFL TV. “Both companies said that was the marvelous date [December 19].
“No college football games with nothing to interfere with. Smooth sailing Now we’re hoping against hope that we can do that fight in Allegiant Stadium here in Las Vegas, which is where the Las Vegas Raiders football team plays.
“It’s a new $2 billion state of the art stadium. It seats 65,000 people in the stands, and maybe another five to six thousand people on the grounds. And we hope to get permission to do it with 20 to 25,000 spectators,” said Arum.
Las Vegas is the more realistic option for the Fury vs. Wilder fight. Staging it in Macau, China, will be a problem.
October 3 the working date for Lomachenko vs. Teofimo
“Lomachenko-Lopez, I really think we’d look to stage it in a smaller facility and look to set it up for maybe 2,000 special fans, who we will give a meal to, drinks and everything and get some people in there,” Arum said.
“We picked October 3rd as the date for the fight because we hope the governor will allow these limited number of spectator events to take place.
“We’re staying in Vegas because our Bubble is here. Even if spectators are allowed, we want to keep the fighters in the Bubble so that we make sure they’re virus-free when they enter the ring,” said Arum.
This is a fight that might end up being pushed into the later part of this year because it needs a crowd. If they sell only 2,000 tickets, then you can expect the price tag to be expensive.
Arum looking at Macau for Fury vs. Wilder 3
“We are looking at Macau because they were very interested,” said Arum on the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury 3 fight. “The question is, will the necessary procedures be in effect for Macau such as border crossing before they will allow a stadium full of spectators or an arena.
“We just don’t know if we’ll be able to get an all-clear in Macau before December 19th. If we would, it would be a very good type of venue because they have six major resort companies in Macau, and all six of them have agreed to chip in and defray the cost of the fight.
“But again, so many of these things are out of my hands. They are not normal things, particularly boxing promoters have been used to, so we’ll see. If Macau steps up to the plate.
“If they get the necessary clearances from the government in Macau, then we do the fight on the 20th of December in Macau, which is the equivalent of the 19th in the United States,” said Arum.
It’s more likely that Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III will take place in Las Vegas rather than in Macau.
Pulev has a great chance of beating Joshua
“Eddie Hearn can’t stop talking,” said Arum in reacting to Hearn, saying that Anthony Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev could take place on a boat. “Maybe it could be on a boat, maybe it could be on a plane, maybe it could be on a train.
“Whatever it is, a rocket ship, who knows? Right now, like all of us, Eddie is stumped where to put that fight. It’s a very good fight and a very interesting fight, but it’s very hard to do it without spectators.
“Maybe he does it at Royal Albert Hall in front of 1,000 spectators, and they get a special meal. He’ll figure it out. We’ll help him figure it out, but I know what he’s going through. But if it pleases him to spout off like he’s Dr. Seuss.
“Do you want your green eggs and ham on a train or a plane or a boat? He doesn’t hurt anybody doing that. There’s nothing 100%, that’s ludicrous, but I think he has a real good chance of beating him and knocking him out, yeah,” said Arum in talking about his fighter Kubrat Pulev going up against Anthony Joshua.
“I like him. And I know Joshua will go off a pretty large favorite. I usually don’t bet on boxing matches, but believe me; I’ll put a big bet on that one,” said Arum.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said on Tuesday that the Joshua vs. Pulev fight could take place on a boat. The comment from Hearn got a lot of boxing fans excited because they’ve never heard of a boxing match taking place on a boat.
Arum, of course, is picking his own fighter Pulev, 39, to beat Joshua. It’s not surprising that Arum is making that pick, but that still doesn’t mean anything. The age and the lack of power of Pulev are going to make it tough for him to win.
Arum hopes to announce Crawford’s next opponent soon
“We’re looking at a major Terence Crawford fight in November, and everybody will have to be patient,” said Arum. “But hopefully, in the next ten days, we can announce what we have.
“I’m very optimistic that Terence will be fighting in November. It’s going to be a big announcement, hopefully. We’re on tenterhooks because a lot of the questions zero in on ‘can there be crowds and how many in the crowd?’
“All of those issues we’ve never dealt with before. Not Eddie Hearn, not Frank Warren, not me, not Al Haymon.
“We’re all in a different universe, so to speak, but we’ll make it out. This will all be over one day, and we’ll be back to normal dissing each other,” said Arum.
The way Arum is talking, he seems excited about the opponent for WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford. November is a ways away though, and it’s too bad Terence can’t come back sooner. He last fought in December, and by the time he does fight again, he’ll have been out of the ring for 11 months.
People want to see Crawford face Shawn Porter, Vergil Ortiz Jr, or Yordenis Ugas. It’s more likely that Crawford will face Kell Brook or Sergey Lipinets.