Bob Arum breaks kayfabe to thank Dana White for boxing hype
by Jesse Holland on Mar 12, 2010 12:09 PM EST
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Hell may not have frozen over, but the temperature down south is definitely dropping.
In case anyone else in the mixed martial arts community felt a slight disturbance in the force, may I direct your attention to an article from the Las Vegas Sun, where fossilized fight promoter Bob Arum is quoted as saying "Thanks" to UFC chiefs Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta.
What a difference a fight makes.
White has been talking up the upcoming Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey bout via his official Twitter account, expressing his excitement for WBO world welterweight title fight that takes place at the new Cowboys Stadium on Saturday, March 13, 2010.
Of course the UFC President has always had a soft spot for the sweet science, having started his career in the boxing industry. Anyone requiring further proof of his love for boxing need look no further than the recent (surprising) signing of geriatric pugilist James "Lights Out" Toney.
Pacquiao was originally scheduled to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. in what experts were predicting to be the richest payday in boxing's history; however, "Money" wanted additional parameters for "Pac-Man's" drug tests and the superfight quickly fell apart.
The Filipino may still be a big draw, but there's no comparison to the number of buys a marquee fighter like Mayweather can attract in comparison to Clottey.
Simply put, this change in opponents may have left boxing scrambling for every pay-per-view order they can get -- and the additional exposure from the Zuffa zealots may have been enough to sway some fight-starved fans to change teams this weekend and watch the bout.
Was that enough to convince "Bigot Bob," who in the past referred to UFC fighters as juiced-up homosexual skinheads, to drop his usual anti-MMA tirade and show some gratitude? I'm sure Cowboys owner and mega-mogul Jerry Jones, who hosts Saturday's fight, gave him the motivation he needed.
From the LV Sun:
"We want to thank Dana and Lorenzo for crossing sports to help promote this fight," Arum said, as Jones, the guy who helped make that unlikely visit happen, nodded from the dais.
Bob Arum with kind words. Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White selling boxing events. Israel and Lebanon co-existing peacefully. Well, not really, but if Arum keeps this up, I'll believe anything is possible.
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good.
thats a good thing that mother fucker better take back his stupid comments about mma then!!! otherwise he can just suck on this junk!
My Balls Your Chin
I think it's an act on Arums part. He's just using any opportunity he can get to make $. Once a duck, always a duck.
by The5thBeatle on Mar 12, 2010 12:24 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Hope people pay attention.
People always complain Dana White hates boxing becuase he openly talks about how corrupt and irrelevant boxing has become, but people don’t realize he was in that industry before he was in the UFC. He is not just a promoter trying to sell his product, he actually has insight into the industry and a sport that he loves.
by grasshopper_80 on Mar 12, 2010 12:30 PM EST reply actions
Dana White is dumb as hell
I noticed that 2. Always talking about the boxing fight and how excited he was. Dana all over Manny’s nuts.
"When are people going to realize that G.S.P is half man half amazing!!!"
Peter Merino(myself)...no im not famous but my quote was published on the ufc website
for the most part boxing sucks
But who doesn’t like watching Manny fight. The man puts on a show!
-This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
by PSYQO78 on Mar 12, 2010 1:26 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Im tired of Dana white!!!
Hate this guy. I dont even like boxing, I cant believe he is doing this to the sport of mma. F**k Dana White, and the fertidas. I know they in financial trouble, and I hope they lose their casinos!!!!
"When are people going to realize that G.S.P is half man half amazing!!!"
Peter Merino(myself)...no im not famous but my quote was published on the ufc website
you guys need to get over it
both guys talk crap about each others sport. both try to sell and promote their own sports.
i dont’ know why you guys need to have a rift between mma and boxing.
one, boxing doesn’t need help from ufc or mma, they are doing just fine.
two, boxing is not going anywhere as you ufc guys have been saying for about 5 years that ufc or mma would take over and kill boxing. hasn’t happened and wont.
three, both sports are going to co exist and both thrive at the same time.
four, i like mma and ufc, so i don’t need to bash them like you guys bash boxing.
what promoter doesn’t use an opportunity to make money?
name me one please, hahahaha
to me boxing is better, but i like mma.
why are you hating on dana white cuz he is excited to see a fight that is not in mma??
does he have to hate boxing? does he have to not watch boxing because he is in mma/ufc?
what is dana white doing to the sport? explain cuz you make no sense
get over it
You like boxing over mma?
Bandito youre onthe wrong site man
"When are people going to realize that G.S.P is half man half amazing!!!"
Peter Merino(myself)...no im not famous but my quote was published on the ufc website
Fans can like both
I’m no longer a boxing fan and never was a huge fan besides a fan of Tyson. They are two different sports and can co exist. There is nothing wrong with being a fan of both man.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
Yeah but this guy like boxing over mma!!!
Im a casual NFL fan but never would that take priority over MMA. Never. I love South park, and I remember the new season would run in the tuf time slot and I would still watch tuf.lol. I dont have a problem with co existing,its that Bandito said he thinks boxing is better, that disturbes me.
"When are people going to realize that G.S.P is half man half amazing!!!"
Peter Merino(myself)...no im not famous but my quote was published on the ufc website
I don't agree that boxing is better either
But thats our opinions, I don’t think we should hate on someone that likes boxing more, instead try to debate with him why MMA is better and at the very least he is a MMA fan. I was though replying more to your Dana White insults I think Dana has done well for MMA and the fact that he’s a boxing fan as well is no strike against him?
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson
thats fine, im not arguing that mma sucks
you can try to tell me why mma is better, but i won’t agree with you
i love boxing, i like ufc alot, but doesn’t come close to boxing in my book
nothing wrong with me being on this site, im a sports fan plain and simple
see, you have your preference………you like mma over nfl football
its the same thing as me loving boxing over mma
in fact, i love soccer, nfl football, baseball, basketball over mma
but i do like the sport of mma
there shoud be no strike against dana white
if he promoted the nfl would he be hated by mma fans as well??
to me boxing is better and will always be better
but i will always watch boxing first, then mma/ufc
You and Dana can both be all up in Mannys nuts
And stay there
"When are people going to realize that G.S.P is half man half amazing!!!"
Peter Merino(myself)...no im not famous but my quote was published on the ufc website
im not a manny fan
i hate that guy, but i love boxing
we dont’ need you as a fan anyways
we’re fine without you
nothing wrong with an nfl player liking basketball or baseball
or a rugby player liking soccer, or a swimmer liking track
different sports from each other but still are liked by others
the same goes with dana white, he can like boxing
nothing wrong with that
I love boxing
I love boxing with a passion. I love MMA. I love MMA with a passion. I’ve explained it to my friends as, Boxing is the wife and MMA is the girl on the side that you prefer to spend time with because she brings all these new tricks to the bedroom lol.
I cant believe this
I thought everyone on here was in love with mma, and were super hardcore fans. i remember reading a thread on sherdog discussing what other sports they watched, and nearly 3/4 watched strictly mma. It was all the white belts that love boxing and nfl. Whatever, I dont have a problem, its just that I thought this site was for the hardcore mma fans, not the casual ones in love with boxing and cheating on her with MMA. Growing up my dad would make me watch all the boxing ppv’s. Hes like 42 and Im 18, I guess its the whole generation thing. Whatever go ahead and enjoy boxing, it wont be around for long. I dont even know who the heavywt champion is, some Ukranian brothers.? lol. Not like tyson
"When are people going to realize that G.S.P is half man half amazing!!!"
Peter Merino(myself)...no im not famous but my quote was published on the ufc website
I liked the Rocky movies...lol
"When are people going to realize that G.S.P is half man half amazing!!!"
Peter Merino(myself)...no im not famous but my quote was published on the ufc website
Funny how Arum changed his tune
Dana actually did an interview with a British weekly boxing magazine last week, it was an interesting read though I found it funny that there was no mention of him bashing Mayweather-Marquez or referring to Marquez as “what’s his name”. Dana likes to act like he’s an expert on boxing but really he was a very small-time trainer and promoter, not to mention that weird boxerobics thing that he used to teach.
I agree with some of Dana’s ideas for boxing as they should stack cards more instead of having poor undercards and one good fight or fighter, though having said that the last major boxing card in this country was a damn good one featuring our brightest young fighters and the upcoming Pacman-Clottey and Mayweather-Moseley cards will be superb. Boxing has it’s fair share of problems, particularly the dire HW division, but it’s anything but done and there are a lot of great fights coming up this year even if Pacman-Money never happens. Good on Dana for helping to promote great fights, whether it’s MMA or boxing. I’d much rather see co-operation between MMA and boxing promoters, fighters and fans than everyone just slandering each other, that doesn’t do anyone any good and just makes both sides look petty and ignorant.
By the way it amazes me when people act as if you can only like MMA otherwise you’re not a real fan. Get out of here savvy, all I’ve seen you do on here is bash great fighters and now whine about Dana because he likes boxing. Newsflash, people are allowed to like more than one sport, not everyone who blogs on MMA just watches MMA, I for one am interested in pretty much every major sport. The fact that you and a bunch of Sherdog posters only watch MMA doesn’t make you better fans than anyone else, MMA isn’t an exclusive sport at all. People who bash others for enjoying different sports just show themselves up as smug and arrogant, that’s the sort of attitude that gives Internet communities a bad name.
"Not a lot of professional sports down here (in Australia)"
"We just had our best season (of TUF) last season and it was season 10"
"Nogueira is probabaly the best HW of all time"
Dana White, proving that he's clueless about Australian sports, has never heard of Fedor and is still trying to hype up TUF 10.
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