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Bob Arum: Our next great hope… Dubai
By Zach Arnold | December 2, 2008
Bill Dwyre in the LA Times today has a fun column talking about the heat-up for Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao and how Ricky Hatton stands to profit handsomely by facing the winner.
The most interesting part of the article involves quotes from Bob Arum, who claims that if Pacquiao beats De La Hoya that a mega-fight between Pacquiao and Hatton will take place… in Dubai.
“I just got back from Dubai. It’s like Fantasyland. Huge, new, spectacular buildings everywhere.
“Think of Pacquiao-Hatton. There is a large Filipino population in Dubai, and the biggest tourism comes from England. Because I’m Pacquiao’s promoter, I got recognized as much there as Michael Jordan would in the States.”
Given Arum’s recent statements over the past year about needing to run bigger boxing shows outside of Las Vegas, combined with the success of UFC 91 in the town, and it’s clearer than ever that Zuffa’s managed to make Las Vegas their town in a big way.
Maybe a trip to Ontario, Canada is necessary? I hear Anderson Silva & Royce Gracie will be in Hamilton this weekend.
Topics: Boxing, MMA, Media, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
If he’s serious when talking about Dubai, he’s doing so for the same reason Bernie Eccelstone talks about running Bahrain and Abu Dhabi with F1, not because Vegas isn’t welcoming to boxing. Good lord, there’s a boxing event this weekend with a live gate 4 times that of UFC 91.
To better display what I’m saying, two of the biggest boxing matches in history weren’t even held in developed nations. Why, Zach, do you think that was?
Zuffa has also talked about running shows in Dubai. It will be interesting to see if it actually happens.
“Because I’m Pacquiao’s promoter, I got recognized as much there as Michael Jordan would in the States.”
Really? Really? my god Arum is such a ass.