Bob Arum said he is willing to negotiate with Gervonta Davis' team for fights involving three of Top Rank’s most prominent fighters — Vasyl Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, and Teofimo Lopez.
If Arum can persuade Davis to cross the promotional divide, those fights could head to the Middle East, joining that financial gravy train.
Leo Santa Cruz, Mario Barrios, Isaac Cruz, Rolando Romero and Hector Luis Garcia have recently tried and failed to defeat Davis.
Then, in April of 2023, Davis broke out as a pay-per-view star with his seventh-round victory over Ryan Garcia. He entered the top five highest earning list in gate receipts for fights held on the famous Las Vegas strip with an estimated PPV sales of 1.2 million buys in US households.
Speaking to Boxing Scene, Arum said Davis (29-0, 27KOs) is a big attraction and a great fighter but believes anyone out of Lomachenko (17-3, 11KOs), Stevenson (21-0, 10KOs) and Lopez (19-1, 13KOs) has the beating of him.
“Tank Davis is an excellent fighter and a big attraction. So sure we’d like to match [Stevenson, Lomachenko, and Lopez] against Tank Davis and see how well they would do. I would like our guys to win the fight. All three would beat Davis. I really believe that, but that’s why they do the fights, right? Again, we’re open to any of that,” said Arum.
“I think [Davis] is the real deal. That’s why we’re talking about him. He’s a helluva performer. A terrific athlete and a terrific boxer, but so are the other three [Stevenson, Lomachenko, and Lopez.]”
Arum explained his reasoning behind his ambitions to propose Davis vs Lomachenko, Stevenson and Lopez to Turki Alalshikh regarding hosting these fights in Saudi Arabia is a financial one.
Arum hopes to avoid a clash of egos and demands financially, citing that the A-Side and B-Side disputes he fears could be prevented by vast amounts of Saudi money, making all parties happy with the cash on offer and stopping any possible ‘A-side and B-side nonsense.’
“The way it will probably happen, where everything is happening, is the Saudis ... [they] might decide to do the fight, after Ramadan this summer and cut the checks to the fighters. And that ends any kind of discussion of who gets what percentages,” Arum continued to add.
“The stuff about A-side and dictating terms, that’s total and complete nonsense. Once you settle on the money and work out the percentages, then everything else is easy. Everything else is nonsense. But again, if we start talking about the A-side and B-side, then nothing happens; they just trade insults with each other, and that’s childish. That’s why a lot of fights haven’t happened because people involved in the sport, sometimes even us, have been very childish arguing about stuff that doesn’t even matter.”
Any immediate proposals involving Lopez and Lomachenko vs Davis will have to wait currently. Teofimo Lopez will return on February 8th against Jamaine Ortiz at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Lomachenko is reportedly slated to face George Kambossos Jr in Australia, with no date officially confirmed, but is likely to contest the vacant IBF world lightweight title previously held by Devin Haney.
