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Bob Arum: Nevada’s athletic commission members are racist conservatives who want Mexicans deported

By Zach Arnold | March 26, 2013

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No enjoys watching Keith Kizer squirm under pressure more than yours truly and the man rightfully deserves the political heat he is attracting. The $900,000 fine by the Nevada State Athletic Commission is going to turn out to be a pyrrhic victory.

MARCOS: “Junior’s been in the news recently. For our viiewers, I wanted to get your reaction to what happened with him and his fine due to the marijuana result he had with the Martinez fight.”

BOB ARUM: “Well, in the almost 50 years I’ve been in boxing, this was the stupidest decision that I’ve ever seen an athletic commission come down with. I mean, to fine somebody $900,000 USD or anything like $900,000 USD for smoking a joint 10 days before a fight is, to my mind, ludicrous.”

MARCOS: “Do you feel the commission was trying to make an example out of Junior to tell other people that might think of doing it, hey, don’t do it?”

BOB ARUM: “The commission didn’t know what it was doing, doesn’t know what it was doing, and… why should they be imposing any kind of fine on somebody that smoked 10 days before, pot, which is legal in so many states? I mean, let’s go into this century. Have you smoked it? You Goddamn right you smoke it. Do I smoke it? You damn right, I smoke it. I mean, let’s be honest, let’s be real. What they should be looking at is performance ehnahcning drugs — steroids, testosterone. There, throw the book at somebody who violates. For smoking pot? Are you out of your mind? It’s a traffic ticket in most places.”

MARCOS: “Given, you know, with that… what do you feel a commission should do when that situaiton comes up, you as a promoter, what have you tried to do to kind of stem this? It seemed that a lot of people reacted the same way as you have, saying that the fine is way too much.”

BOB ARUM: “They shouldn’t fine anything. They shouldn’t test for marijuana. If it comes up, as long as the guy didn’t smoke a joint before he went into the fight, what the hell difference does it make? What effect does it have? I mean, are they cops, are they policemen? What about… what happens if they said that if you had a drink 10 days before we could fine you, I mean, this is nonsense. This is now the 21st Century. I mean these people, look… the problem in Nevada is you have a commission that’s a bunch of conservative Republicans that would like to deport any Mexican that lives in Nevada and isn’t a citizen. It’s that mentality that’s not accepted by the American public. I mean, it’s a hard thing to say but it’s really true. You can’t believe in your heart that if that was a commission made up of Democrats, particularly liberal Democrats, that they wouldn’t have just laughed at that and maybe fine the guy $1,000 USD.”

MARCOS: “You really feel that given Junior’s status and his race that had an effect (on the) decision, say if Chavez was a white fighter, a Mike Lee or something like, you feel would have been not as much the fine as was given to him?”

BOB ARUM: “I really think that Julio (Cesar) Chavez Jr. being a Mexican national allowed them to come down with what is an outrageous type of fine which violates the Nevada Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. There is in both constitutions a prohibition against excessive fines and they violated it. $900,000 USD for smoking a joint which, at most, is a traffic ticket in most places is ludicrous and absurd and it’s excessive and it will be overturned by the courts.”

MARCOS: “I feel the majority of boxing fans would agree with you on that point given Junior…”

BOB ARUM: “It’s got nothing to do with boxing fans! It’s got to do with citizens, with the public. It has nothing to do with boxing. This is an outrageous decision and it’s an outrageous penalty.”

Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

9 Responses to “Bob Arum: Nevada’s athletic commission members are racist conservatives who want Mexicans deported”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    1) Some of them might be incompetent. But they are not racist. People lose instant credibility when they pull the race card when things don’t go there way.

    2) The legal issue of weed has nothing to do with it. Many drugs are perfectly legal in all 50 states and are still illegal to take before a fight.

    3) Arum fails to mention that it was the SECOND OFFENSE for this particular boxer, which is why the fine was greater. And that they just fined the fighter on a percentage bases, just like they do the rest of the fighters. The size of the fine is in direct correlation to the size of his payout. Not racism…

  2. Mark says:

    If you hate Hispanics, then being around boxers is the wrong profession for you. It would be like a Klansman taking a job as an NBA referee. They should look into an NHL job if this is the case.

    And saying a regular person “just gets a traffic ticket” is oversimplifying it. They get fines that, adjusting for the vast income difference of a regular person versus a millionaire, could be equivalent to what Chavez Jr paid. Most people make around 30 grand, but he makes 3 mil per fight. So walking away with 2 million dollars makes it hard to feel sorry for him. You’d think such a man of the people like Bob Arum would realize that.

  3. Chuck says:

    Bob Arum smokes weed? Certainly explains a lot. Weed being legal in “so many states”? Is two really “so many”? Was Arum high during that interview?

  4. David M says:

    That was hilarious.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    Christian Morecraft is retiring. Not sure how long it will last. But we certainly see more of a trend in MMA of fighters not willing to just stick it out until they are brain dead like in boxing. I think that is great. Get in…. See what you are capable of doing… And don’t stick around too long that you become a Gary Goodridge….

    • Mark says:

      Well, out of the ring job opportunities probably make the difference. There’s 10 trillion boxing gyms and 10 trillion trainers, but MMA is still new enough that a guy with a little bit of a name from fighting with the UFC can open up a camp and get somewhere with it. You would have to be a pretty big deal in boxing to get something off of the ground, whereas some guy with 2 UFC fights that he lost can be fairly successful. But older MMA fighters don’t really have the respect of aspiring fighters to do so. I don’t think any 20 year old is going to say “I’ll bet Gary Goodridge could lead me to MMA glory!”

      • Chuck says:

        I also heard that, on average or per capita (whichever one), there are more MMA fighters with college degrees than boxers. Especially the former college wrestlers.

    • Alan Conceicao says:

      There’s a billion guys like this in boxing. The difference is that people put irrelevant fighters like Morecraft on a pedestal in MMA. Compare him to a boxer like Patrick Nwamu or Eliseo Castillo who basically got as far in that sport as Morecraft did in his; no one cared enough to tweet/post links to their “retirement”, if they ever even bothered to issue a statement to a public that didn’t care.

      Now, guys who were relevant once? They generally keep on fighting and fighting and fighting. Ricco, Arlovski, Sylvia, Rizzo, Buentello…they’re all still out there and many more. There’s no trend of early retirements. Besides, watch this guy be back in the ring in 2-3 years and get slapped around at some Indian casino by a bum.

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