By Rick Reeno
The date was September 28, 1976, and Muhammad Ali retained the WBA/WBC heavyweight titles with a twelve round decision over Ken Norton. That was the last time a major boxing event was staged in New York's Yankee Stadium. Over 33-years later, Top Rank, who promoted the last boxing event at the stadium, is on the verge of resurrecting big time boxing in the Bronx.
On Tuesday, a meeting is scheduled between Top Rank and members of the Yankees organization to finalize a deal to stage Miguel Cotto vs. Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium on June 5.
Speaking with BoxingScene.com on Sunday morning, Arum was very confident about a deal being finalized with the Yankees.
"I think it's 90% [chance of happening], maybe more. The Yankees would not have gone through all of this trouble if they weren't serious," Arum told BoxingScene.com.
And there certainly was trouble, but not the average kind of trouble a promotional company expects when it comes to scheduling a boxing event. Jon Ballan, a lead bond lawyer who orchestrated the financing for the new $1.2 billion dollar stadium, had a bar mitzvah scheduled for his son Scott on the same date.
The major issue with the bar mitzvah had to do with video board in center field. The Yankees had already promised use of the video board to the Ballan family. The Yankees began negotiating with the Ballans, and reached an agreement on Friday. The agreement allows Top Rank to use the video board for Cotto-Foreman.
Most insiders expect a deal to be reached. The annual awards dinner for the Boxing Writers Association of America, which usually takes place a night or two before a major boxing event, has already been rescheduled to June 4. Originally it had been scheduled for June 11. The Yankees organization is very interested in hosting the BWAA awards dinner and discussions are ongoing to possibly make that happen.
