Top Rank Promotions boss Bob Arum had a conversation with an American blogger.
AT
interview the promoter answered questions about the company’s plans for the unified light heavyweight champion (up to 79.4 kg) Canadian Artur Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs), the absolute lightweight champion (up to 61.2 kg) American Devin Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) and the former holder of three titles in the lightweight division of Ukrainian Vasily Lomachenko (16-2, 10 KOs). The functionary also spoke about the development of a lawsuit against his company from the WBO welterweight champion (up to 66.7 kg) from the USA Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs).
– Will Artur Beterbiev have his next fight with Yard?
– Yes. The fight will take place at the O2 Arena at the end of October in London.
– Are there any negotiations with the Bivol and DAZN team?
– Not. Bivol has an obligation to fight our former Golden Boy fighter Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.
– Are you interested in organizing such a fight?
– Beterbiev owns three titles and will go up against Yard. And we will have the result of the duel Bivol – Ramirez. Of course, we want to give Artur Beterbiev the opportunity to win all four titles.
- Mandatory contender for Beterbiev: the fighters agreed to the eliminator
– You mentioned that Shakur Stevenson vs. Lomachenko will take place after the next fight. Where is Devin Haney in this triangle?
Devin Haney has an obligation to fight Kambosos. Then we will let him know if Lomachenko will be able to leave Ukraine. In this case, Lomachenko will hold an intermediate fight, and then if Haney beats Kambosos, he will get a fight with Lomachenko.
Did you contact Gervonta Davis when he was a free agent?
No, because Floyd Mayweather kept insisting that he was not a free agent and that he was under contract to Floyd’s company. There was no reason to seek him a duel. We never contacted Tank Davis because that would have been interference with another project.
What is the status of Terence Crawford’s lawsuit against you and Top Rank?
— There are technical nuances. We requested that the case be referred to the Federal Court. And the federal judge said, “No, the case should go to state court.” So they need to re-charge in state court. That was 6 weeks ago and it didn’t happen. So I don’t know if things are moving forward or not. Right now, to my knowledge, technically there is no case.
– And Top Rank did not want to reach an agreement out of court, but decided to follow the legal path?
“They filed a lawsuit against us instead of sitting down at the negotiating table and seeing if we can come to an agreement. It seems to me that this lawsuit was actually made up by Kinahan and his people, because Crawford sent us a letter saying that he and Kinahan were partners.
