by David P. Greisman
The controversial decision in last weekend’s fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Brian Vera had barely set in before all the parties involved got to talking about a rematch so as to settle the score.
And while Bob Arum of Top Rank (which promotes Chavez) and Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions (which promotes Vera) both say that they’ve been talking to HBO about a date in December, each also says that the rematch could still be made even if HBO doesn’t buy it.
“We are talking to Bob, we are talking to HBO about a December date, and should they not be financially in a position to pay for this event, Bob and I are discussing a pay-per-view for December,” Pelullo said on an Oct. 2 conference call.
Arum said something similar when speaking to reporters in a video posted on FightHubTV.com.
“We’re talking now to HBO about the rematch, and if HBO is unable to do it because of financing and so forth, I’ll just put it on pay-per-view, because the fight, the Chavez fight [was] the highest-rated boxing event of the entire year by far,” Arum said.
That wouldn’t be the only pay-per-view in December, as Adrien Broner is expected to headline one such show against Marcos Maidana that month.
The end of 2013 already has other pay-per-view shows confirmed: Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez took place last month, Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Timothy Bradley is set for this month, and Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios is scheduled for next month.
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