Top Rank front man Bob Arum recently commented on the unfortunate string of incidents that have plagued Floyd Mayweather over the last two weeks. Arum, who promoted Mayweather until Al Haymon was able to negotiate a reported $750,000 buyout of his promotional deal in 2007, could have taken the opportunity to speak ill of his former client. Instead, the Hall-Of-Fame promoter simply wished the troubled boxer well and spoke of cheerful memories of a young “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather.
“He was very sweet but very naïve about a lot of things back then. Since such a young age, all he did was train to box and box,” Arum told Michael Marley of Boxingscene.com. “Really, I wish Floyd all the best. I have some fond memories of Floyd. I remember when he came to our offices one day, wearing some crazy outfit that had all the colours of the rainbow in it. [...] Floyd was really a sweet kid back then, one of two fighters who got invited to Todd's wedding,” Arum said, referring to his step-son and Top Rank President Todd DuBoef.
Arum went on to share more memories of Mayweather’s innocent naiveté, and didn’t once speak a negative word about the man with whom he has publically feuded with over the last three-plus years.
Much has been said of Mayweather’s career, life, and character over the last couple weeks. It should be noted that Mayweather did express his thoughts and condolences over the recent unfortunate death of Arum’s son, John. While I don’t attribute those statements to Arum’s kind words towards Floyd, I believe Arum’s actions speak to his inner strength of character.
I have been a harsh critic of Arum’s business practices in the past. I believe he neglects the best possible fights at the ease and earning potential of having his best fighters face the lesser challengers on his roster. Most recently and currently, he has kept Featherweights Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juanma Lopez away from each other, and away from Golden Boy and DiBella Featherweights Chris John and Celestino Caballero. Lopez and Gamboa have both recently fought mismatches with less-than-stellar Top Rank fighters, while Arum has thumbed his nose at the boxing public’s clamor for a clash between Gamboa and Lopez.
As an aside, I have always had an admiration for Arum’s contribution to the sport of boxing. He has put together some historic and monumental fights in his decades of service. Marvin Hagler versus Tommy Hearns, and one of the early fights that turned me into a boxing fan, Marvin Hagler versus Ray Leonard are just two of the historic matches Arum put together. Arum can also be credited with guiding the early career of Oscar De La Hoya, his biggest promotional rival. Most recently, Arum has lead Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao’s career into the stratosphere.
With Arum’s recent show of sympathy for a key rival, he’s shown a new facet of his character, hidden deep behind his battle-hardened exterior. Despite the bad blood that still exists between Arum and Mayweather, he still was able to tell Michael Marley, “All his life was boxing, boxing, boxing and nothing else. So I'm not going to kick him now, I feel bad for him."
Source: http://www.officialscorecard.com
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