Pacquiao vs Bradley: Why Bob Arum Should Be Banned from Boxing

Bob Arum is terrible for boxing and needs to go. After Saturday night’s travesty of a decision for Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao, the controversial promoter has lost all credibility and is far too dangerous to keep around a sport that is quickly losing what little fans it still has left.

Both of the fighters involved in Saturday’s fight are part of Arum’s Top Rank Boxing promotional company and negotiated a contractual right to a rematch if Pac-Man were to lose before they stepped in the ring for the bout.

Arum himself even acknowledged the conspiracy theories, telling Bob Velin of USA Today (h/t The Toronto Star):

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The conspiracy theory is that somehow I arranged this to create a rematch, which would give me another big fight until Floyd (Mayweather, who is serving an 87-day jail sentence) is ready to fight.

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Just because Arum is loudly claiming his innocence, asking for investigations and just making all-around ridiculous statements does not mean his hands are clean.

Even if it can never be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the promoter had a hand in the outcome of the fight, or at least the judges’ decision, he’s still going to bring a cloud of skepticism and doubt in whatever fights he has a fighter under contract involved with.

Boxing has a long road to recovery from the outcome of the Pacquiao vs. Bradley decision, and getting the stain of Arum off of their sport should be one of the first things that the high-ranking officials should attempt to do.

The longer he remains, the longer the game will be mired in mediocrity and corruption.