By Steve Kim
Promoter Bob Arum, who this past weekend staged a major pay-per-view fight featuring Manny Pacquiao without the help of HBO or Showtime, says that he has good relationships with both networks.
Given that he's done the bulk of his business with HBO throughout the years, that's no surprise. But it's been a long time since he's done anything with Showtime.
You could say that for the past five years or so that the relationship between Arum and Showtime was non-existent, if not downright hostile. Top Rank has been persona non grata on the network since 2012. But Arum says that efforts have been made to mend fences.
The CEO of Top Rank is confident that any animosity that may have existed is a thing of the past.
"I've had nice conversations with Stephen Espinoza (Showtime's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports and Event Programming) and Les Moonves (CEO of CBS Corporation). Actually I ran into [Moonves] at a party, it's very, very cordial," explained the veteran promoter.
"It does not mean we're going to do dates with Showtime, I don't know. They didn't mention that, but the animosity that existed no longer exists. And I feel Espinoza feels the same way."
Recently, there is a new-found detente between Arum and manager/adviser Al Haymon that could lead to more fights pitting boxers who are represented by both men. They recently finalized a match for December 10th on HBO, where Terence Crawford [of Top Rank] will defend his WBO/WBC junior welterweight titles against John Molina [represented by Haymon].
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
