Arum Slams HBO's Nelson, Claims He Blocked Lomachenko-Linares
As BoxingScene.com previously reported, there is a serious scheduling conflict with respect to a potential lightweight collision between WBA champion Jorge Linares and two-time Olympic gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko.
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who promotes Lomachenko, has been trying to get the deal done with Golden Boy Promotions, who handle Linares.
Everything was pretty much agreed up on for the contest - except the date.
Arum is very motivated to make the fight on May 12, as the headline bout of an ESPN televised card.
But that date, as Golden Boy President Eric Gomez told BoxingScene, does not work due to a conflict with HBO.
On May 12, HBO will be televising the pay-per-view replay of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch, which takes place on May 5. There will also be a live HBO card being paired with the replay.
If Golden Boy went forward with the May 12th date on ESPN, they would in turn be competing with themselves.
Arum, however, believes HBO President Peter Nelson did everything possible to prevent that contest from going to ESPN.
Arum's company parted ways with HBO in early 2017 and signed a multi-year exclusive content deal with ESPN.
“We argued for a week about the money, but we finally got it done and all sides were OK,” Arum said to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports “But Peter Nelson leaned on Golden Boy and forbade them from going ahead on May 12 because it would interfere with the delay between Golovkin and Canelo. They [Golden Boy] do a lot of fights with HBO and so they pulled out.
“What the hell kind of conduct is that from people from a company whose request for a merger [with AT&T] is being reviewed by the Justice Department?”
HBO issued a statement with respect to Arum and denied his claims.
“Golden Boy and HBO have long been in talks for a live event on May 12, though Jorge Linares had not been mentioned,” the HBO statement read, according to Iole.
“We have never stood in the way of Jorge fighting on that date or any other. In fact, we look forward to Golden Boy offering a fight to us in accordance with our rights to Linares’ next fight. So far, no offer has been made to us.”
