Promoter Bob Arum appears somewhat interested in Oscar De La Hoya’s proposal of a Top Rank vs. Golden Boy 5 vs. 5 event between their fighters.
Arum says it would depend on the fighters that participated in the event and that appealing fights were made to create interest from fans.
De La Hoya came up with the idea of a Golden Boy vs. Top Rank event after viewing the success of last Saturday’s Matchroom vs. Queensberry 5 vs. 5 event in Riyadh. That encouraged him to attempt to duplicate that with a fight between his company and Arum’s.
It remains to be seen if the Saudis will show interest in De La Hoya’s idea because, without them, it’s not realistic. Boxing fans won’t be eager to purchase a PPV card without high-level fighters, and it would involve risk on Arum and De La Hoya’s part to stack a card with five excellent fights.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn was smart in getting Deontay Wilder to headline the 5 vs. 5 card last Saturday because he was the linchpin to attract fans to purchase the event. The other four fights on the card involved largely anonymous fighters that casual boxing fans had never heard of.
“It depends on who the fighters are and who the fight are. It could be a good idea if the pairings are really interesting,” said promoter Bob Arum to Fighthype when asked about his thoughts on Oscar De La Hoya’s idea of a 5 vs. 5 Top Rank vs. Golden Boy Promotions event.
If Arum could place Teofimo Lopez in the headliner against Ryan Garcia, it would interest enough fans for a 5 vs. 5 event to work between Top Rank and Golden Boy. However, Ryan’s availability for an event is unclear because of his positive PED tests from his last fight.
“It’s the fighters that make the show and the fights that interest the people, not the fact that it’s Oscar’s fighters against our fighters. It’s sort of irrelevant,” said Arum.
“I think with all due respect, it had nothing to do with Warren against Hearn, but there were five good fights, and that made the show,” said Arum about last Saturday night’s Matchroom vs. Queensberry 5 vs. 5 event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Every fight, I thought was interesting, every fight was well-matched. The fact that five fighters who were Queensberry defeated five fighters who were designated Matchroom, I think, was sort of irrelevant, but we had five good fights, and that was important,” said Arum.
