Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promoters, shook his head at the recent statements from Bob Arum, the head of Top Rank.
On Saturday night, Arum lashed out at Al Haymon - the founder of Premier Boxing Champions.
Arum has long claimed that Haymon has done everything possible to prevent a unification showdown between welterweights Terence Crawford and Errol Spence.
Arum, who promotes Crawford, advised fans to boycott all PBC events until Spence's adviser, Haymon, agrees to a unification deal.
Arum would later tell reporters that Haymon will likely use the race card, to persuade Spence to fight someone else.
But Ellerbe, who works closely with Haymon, believes Arum is doing a lot of damage by verbally attacking Haymon on a regular basis.
“By making those comments that he made, I guarantee you that’s not going to help him in any kind of a way,” Ellerbe told Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole.
“I guarantee you that. You can’t sit around, and I want you to quote me on this, but you can’t sit around and talk sh*t about somebody and then right away go try to make a deal with him. He’s completely lost his mind. I think he’s lost his mind.”
Ellerbe explained that Arum is grasping at straws, because nearly all of the big welterweight names are aligned with PBC - while Crawford's options are extremely thin.
Arum wants to do a co-promotion, as Spence and Top Rank are contractually tied to ESPN, and Spence - through his deal with PBC - is featured on Fox Sports and Showtime.
But for two major networks to come together, the opportunity has to be very lucrative - and Ellerbe strongly believes that a Crawford vs. Spence unification is not even close to being a major pay-per-view event, because neither fighter has crossed over to superstar status.
“Right now, nobody really knows either Spence or Crawford outside of 300,000 or 400,000 boxing fans,” Ellerbe said. “ … If we’re looking to elevate the sport, everyone has to make a concerted effort to do that and think of the big picture. They don’t happen just because Bob Arum jumps up and screams and yells because he wakes up one day and realizes, ‘I can’t deliver my kid a big fight.’
“You would agree the Wilder-Fury fight was very successful and people liked it and wanted to see it again, right? Well, the rematch was a week away from being made, and guess what? Bob Arum and Top Rank came in and signed Fury and ended the rematch. I think Bob has done everything he can possibly do to f*** this up.”
ADD COMMENT VIEW COMMENTS (101)