By Edward Chaykovsky
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum says a fight between WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley and mandatory challenger Sadam Ali is not sellable to HBO.
“I can’t sell that to HBO,” Arum told the Los Angeles Times.
Arum has his full focus on making Bradley against Top Rank stablemate Brandon Rios. HBO spent a bulk of their budget in the first six months of 2015 and now they are very selective about the fights they are willing to purchase for the next few months. The next HBO televised event is not scheduled until October 3rd.
Arum is going to offer a step aside fee to Ali and Golden Boy Promotions. If they refuse, Arum is still willing to make Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) vs. Rios (33-2-1, 24 KOs) as a non-title contest.
“Titles are meaningless,” Arum said. “We’ll work that out. We’ll work out a deal for Ali to step aside and make the Rios fight.”
One scenario is make a doubleheader where Bradley faces Rios and Ali takes on Jessie Vargas in the co-feature - with the winners squaring off in 2016.
If Arum can get a deal together, one date he's mentioning for Bradley-Rios is December 12th at The Forum in Los Angeles.