‘For the life of me, I can’t figure it out’: Arum mystified by Teofimo’s decision-making
Bob Arum says he has no explanation for Teofimo Lopez turning down a career payday to fight Devin Haney.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum shares his two cents on a handful of recent topics in the boxing world including Vasiliy Lomachenko’s retirement, his assessment of Keyshawn Davis, the potential for a Naoya Inoue vs Junto Nakatani showdown, and Teofimo Lopez ultimately turning down a fight against Devin Haney for career-high money. Here’s some excerpts from Arum.
On Lomachenko’s retirement
“Lomachenko’s a real athlete, a really no nonsense athlete and his back went out on him and they tried to fix it and they can’t, so he decided to retire because unless he could operate at the best of Lomachenko he wasn’t interested in continuing his career. So I respect that, I respect him, I respect his father. I wish all fighters were like Vasiliy.”
On him comparing Keyshawn Davis to Sugar Ray Leonard
“I was around Sugar Ray when he was coming up and almost all of his career and I know what my eyes see, and I know how Keyshawn fights and unlike a lot of fighters who are great defensive fighters like Ray was, the know how to get in there and bang, and so does Keyshawn.”
On whether Abdullah Mason could soon be fighting Keyshawn Davis
“Maybe down the line it is but right now, no, I wouldn’t want to make that fight.”
On how close we are to a Nakatani vs Inoue fight
“We’re going to have to see. Nakatani is fighting this coming week in Japan, and Inoue has a date in September in Japan, in December in Saudi Arabia and if he gets through those two then I think that next year, early next year we’ll try to get the Tokyo Dome to try to make that fight.”
On whether he can explain Teofimo Lopez walking away from a Devin Haney fight
“Absolutely not because I can’t figure it out. I mean, for the life of me I can’t figure it out. He was getting money that he never saw before from Turki and instead of being grateful he shot off his mouth — like, I don’t understand, I really don’t understand where he’s coming from and I don’t know if he does.”