By Keith Idec
Yuriorkis Gamboa versus Daniel Ponce De Leon is more than just an intriguing featherweight fight.
The Sept. 10 bout between the former Olympians from Cuba and Mexico also represents the first fight that’ll pit boxers represented by promotional powers Top Rank Inc. and Golden Boy Promotions since leaders of the companies opted to end their counterproductive practice of refusing to do business together.
“I think the important thing is that through this effort we were able to make a very competitive, very good fight,” Arum said on a conference call Monday regarding the Gamboa-De Leon fight in Atlantic City. “So it’s great for Gamboa and De Leon, and it’s great for the public.”
Arum and Golden Boy chief executive officer Richard Schaefer had lunch earlier in the summer and agreed that it’s better for the boxing business overall if they work together.
“I totally agree with [what Arum said] and I hope that [Gamboa-De Leon] is the first of many matchups we can make with [Top Rank],” Schaefer said. “We’ve discussed some other fights, so we’ll see what will happen. But I think between our two stables are some interesting potential matchups, and this one here obviously being the first one.”
The companies have promoted big fights together since Oscar De La Hoya founded Golden Boy Promotions in 2002, but there also have been extended periods in which the companies would not work together. Arum’s acrimonious relationship with De La Hoya, whom Top Rank helped build into boxing’s biggest non-heavyweight star of the past two decades, is at the root of the companies’ promotional problems.
Arum and Schaefer declined to divulge potential fights they’ve discussed that would pit Top Rank fighters against Golden Boy fighters.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, NJ., and BoxingScene.com.