Top Rank Goes It Alone

By Thomas Hauser

Don’t get carried away by the title of this article. It would be a stretch to liken Bob Arum to Gary Cooper in High Noon. But in recent weeks, there has been talk of a new economic model in boxing. And Arum, in tandem with Todd DuBoef (his stepson and the president of Top Rank) might be charting a path out of the wilderness that the sweet science has wandered through in recent years.

Arum is an old-time promoter who is adapting to today’s economic and technological realities. “I don’t look back,” he says. “I’m seventy-eight years old. If I look back, I’d stumble and fall, so I just look forward.” Then he adds, “Boxing needs to move into a new era. We have to face realistically what’s going on in the world and present our product in different ways.” read more