Arum Still Enraged Over Treatment By MGM, Haymon

By Rick Reeno

MGM Grand, Las Vegas - Top Rank's CEO, Bob Arum, is still very upset with the way his company has been treated by the MGM Grand.

Last year, Arum's company was at odds with the MGM Grand during the fight week for Manny Pacquiao's April HBO Pay-Per-View rematch with Timothy Bradley. Top Rank felt there was too much signage in the venue to promote Floyd Mayweather's fight with Marcos Maidana, which took place a few weeks later as a pay-per-view event for rival network Showtime.

Those bad feelings have intensified further during the promotion for Saturday's mega-fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao at the MGM.

Arum claims that an order has handed down, and allegedly orchestrated by Mayweather's adviser Al Haymon, to prevent Top Rank from having any type of communication with the venue.

I've lived in this town since 1986, and in the 70s I did fights. My wife Lovee has lived here since 1964. Todd [duBoef], who is the president of my company, and Dena duBoef - the children of Lovee - were born here and lived their whole life here. We are respected people in this community. And when the order goes from someone at the MGM, that nobody at the MGM can talk to us - how do you think that makes us feel? How do you think it would make anybody feel? They ought to be ashamed of themselves and they have one guy taking an executive and wrapping him around his finger - and that's Haymon. And I'm never going to forget that," Arum stated.

Mayweather Promotions CEO, Leonard Ellerbe, has denied that his company (and Haymon) were preventing the MGM from speaking with Top Rank - claiming Arum was angry because his company was not charge of the event as the lead promoter.