Bob Arum… Who Has Done More for Boxing?

Posted by Igor Frank on 11.04.2008

Bob Arum is scheduled to receive an Everett L. Sanders award (the highest honor in memory of the founder of WBHF) at the World Boxing Hall of Fame Banquet on November 15th, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

At the end of 19th century a young man by the name of John Sullivan has toured the United States of America to introduce the art of boxing to the masses. He did not discover boxing, but he was responsible for turning the sweet science into a professional sport.

At the end of 20th century Bob Arum met Muhammad Ali and became a promoter and turned boxing into a global sport. Even though it is debatable who has done more for the sport of boxing, Bob Arum is an icon, who will not be forgotten long after his days are over.

Bob Arum is the founder and Chairman of Las Vegas based Top Rank, Inc., one of the most successful and prolific promotion companies in the history of the sport of boxing. Since promoting his first fight in 1966 for Muhammad Ali, Arum has promoted over 9,000 fights on more than 1,500 cards in 22 countries and six continents earning him an induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999.

In addition to promoting over 25 fights for Muhammad Ali, Arum promoted significant fights for nearly every Hall of Fame champion of the past four decades. Some of the most notable champions he promoted include George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Larry Holmes, Marvin Hagler, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, Carlos Monzon, Iran Barkley, Thomas Hearns, Ray Mancini, James Toney and Erik Morales.

Top Rank's current roster includes 75 fighters, including world champions Manny Pacquiao, Kelly Pavlik, Antonio Margarito and superstars including Miguel Cotto.

Beginning in the early 1970's, Arum was one of the first promoters to understand the potential and complexities of closed-circuit television as a platform and marketing vehicle to present championship matches. In the 1980's, he solidified his position as one of the sport's premiere promoters by leveraging the powerful pay-per-view model of selling fights. More recently, Arum has used club shows and cable and network television as potent vehicles for his bouts, including deals with HBO, Showtime, ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN and Telefutura.

Arum has participated in many of the top-grossing fights in boxing history and attributes his great success in the sport to his philosophy of approaching the promotion of a fight as a strong administrator with a dispassionate manner. The super fights he has promoted include: Ali-Frazier, Ali-Spinks I and II, Hagler-Leonard, Foreman-Holyfield, Foreman-Moorer, Leonard-Hearns, Hagler-Hearns, De La Hoya-Chavez, De La Hoya-Trinidad, De La Hoya-Hopkins, Cotto-Mosley, Pavlik-Taylor, Morales-Barrera, Morales-Pacquiao, Pacquiao-Marquez and Cotto-Margarito.

Arum's path into boxing promotion was somewhat serendipitous. He was born in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn on December 8, 1931. He graduated from New York University in 1953, where he was student body president, and he went on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1956, graduating cum laude.

Armed with his law degree, Arum was hired by Robert F. Kennedy's Justice Department, which at the time was aggressively pursuing tax cases against corporate giants like Standard Oil, Citibank and Con Edison. In 1962, as head of the tax division of the U.S. Attorney's office in New York, Arum was assigned to seize the assets of the Floyd Patterson-Sonny Liston heavyweight title fight, which were rumored to be diverted to a Swiss bank account. During the litigation, the future promoter became fascinated by the fistic world and he met many of the biggest names in boxing.

Arum left the Justice Department in 1965 to become a partner in the law firm of Louis Nizer. Shortly thereafter, he was introduced to Muhammad Ali by football great Jim Brown, and the following year Arum promoted his first fight for Ali in Toronto-despite never having attended a boxing match previously.

In 1978, Arum firmly established himself as one of the sport's top promoters when he staged a record-tying four title fights at the New Orleans Superdome: Ali-Spinks II, Victor Galindez-Mike Rossman, Danny Lopez-Juan Malvares and Jorge Lujan-Albert Davila. On that card, Ali defeated Spinks to regain the Heavyweight Championship.

Among Arum's record of accomplishments, one of the most significant is his efforts to bring boxing to Las Vegas, helping it to become The Fight Capital of the World. He presented his first bout in the state in June 1972 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the famous rematch between Muhammad Ali and Jerry Quarry, in which Ali again won. In the double header, Quarry's brother, Jerry, took on light heavyweight champion Bob Foster, and also lost. The card, known as "The Soul Brothers versus the Quarry Brothers," was televised around the world via closed-circuit television.

In February 1978, Arum was the first promoter to stage a major bout in a casino venue, the Las Vegas Hilton, in which Leon Spinks upset Muhammad Ali.

Arum moved Top Rank to Las Vegas in 1986, and to date he has promoted 432 bouts throughout Nevada, including 183 World Championship bouts with an economic impact to the state in the hundreds of millions. The state has been home to many legendary Top Rank fights, including those with Oscar De La Hoya (23 Nevada appearances), Floyd Mayweather Jr. (12), George Foreman (11), Thomas Hearns (8), Marvin Hagler (7), Sugar Ray Leonard (4) and Muhammad Ali (4).

Recognizing the synergy of marrying boxing and gaming venues, Arum has also promoted 384 events in Atlantic City casinos including the historic "Battle of the Ages" Holyfield vs. Foreman at Boardwalk Hall and has promoted 24 boxing events in casinos located in Biloxi, Bay St. Louis, Tunica and Choctaw.

Bob Arum is scheduled to receive an Everett L. Sanders award at the World Boxing Hall Of Fame Banquet of Champions on November 15th, 2008 at LAX Marriott, located at 5855 West Century Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90045. Social hour will begin at 6:00 pm, followed by dinner and induction ceremony at 8:00 pm.
Dinner tickets are priced at $100.00, $150.00 and $200.00. For ticket information and all the details call: 626- 964-2414 or visit official Website at www.wbhf.org.

A nonprofit organization based in California, World Boxing Hall Of Fame is dedicated to preserving and honoring boxing and its history.

For ticket or sponsorship information call: 626 964-2414