Arum Says Donaire-Valdez Showdown is Possible

By Ryan Burton

A recent article by BoxingScene.com's Steve Kim quoted Top Rank CEO Bob Arum as saying he would have no problem matching up WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire against the winner of the January 28th rematch between Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz provided he gets past mandatory challenger Jessie Magdaleno on Saturday.

Arum reiterated those feelings on Monday and said that his goal is to get Donaire the biggest fight possible if he wins on Saturday on the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas undercard. 

He made it clear that the Frampton-Santa Cruz winner may not be the biggest fight available for the multi-division champion known as the Filipino Flash.

"Well only to the extent that they mean something," Arum told BoxingScene.com when asked about making fights with former adversary Al Haymon.

"For example, let's say Nonito were to win and Oscar Valdez was to win. Valdez and Donaire I think is bigger than Donaire against the Frampton-Santa Cruz winner.  Again, we will see. Maybe the Frampton fight turns out to be the biggest fight out there. We don't know."

The Hall of Fame promoter feels that people might be playing up the Arum versus Haymon angle a little too much and said that if the fights are big enough and they make sense, then they should be made regardless of who promotes each fighter.

"Don't get caught up with what promoter has which fighter. Now that no bars exist to prevent fights between fighters with different promoters and managers doesn't mean that those are necessarily the best fights," said Arum, pointing out that sometimes the best fights are intra-promotional company fights.

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