Arum Jabs Shaw Over Tim Bradley's Lack of Promotion

Oct 15, 2011 • 11:31 AM ET

By Edward Chaykovsky

Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum has promised to properly promote the newest addition to his stable, WBO 140-pound champion Timothy Bradley. A lawsuit is still pending between Bradley and his former promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson. Arum feels there were numerous mistakes with the way Bradley was promoted, including the boxer's inability to fight in some of the more popular boxing markets. And, Arum explained that it was a huge mistake to stage Bradley's January fight with Devon Alexander in Michigan, where neither boxer was known and the event did poorly.

“I don't want to cast dispersions, but look at his old promoter,”Arum told the Dester Sun. “Can you believe you have such a quality fighter like Bradley, a nice young man who's articulate, and he never fought in Los Angeles, Las Vegas or New York? You got to be crazy. What kind of job of promoting a fighter do you do? Or when you get him into a fight that everyone thinks is the major fight in the light welterweight division, you put it in a decrepit barn in Detroit. That's not being a promoter.”