Fighting Capsules: Book smart and street smart, Arum at top of boxing

NEW YORK — The most powerful man in boxing is a Harvard-educated tax lawyer and a street-savvy businessman, a Talmudic scholar with a penchant for four-letter expletives.

He’s been called generous and charming, ruthless and conniving, yet he’s universally respected for spending the better part of five decades atop a pitiless sport.

"Bob Arum is one of the 10 smartest people I’ve ever met, not one of the 10 smartest boxing people I’ve met," says longtime HBO executive Seth Abraham, who has known Arum as both a businessman and friend. "He combines, which is extra formidable, traditional book smarts with street smarts, common sense and experience.

"You put those things together and he is truly brilliant."

The former Justice Department attorney had seen only a few fights before he promoted one, and never envisioned a lifetime spent just outside the ring. But as he approaches his 78th birthday, having guided the careers of everyone from Muhammad Ali to Oscar De La Hoya, Arum closes in on one more masterful achievement in a professional life full of them.

His Las Vegas-based promotional company, Top Rank, will stage the biggest and most lucrative fight of the year when Manny Pacquiao meets Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.

Both of the charismatic fighters are promoted by Top Rank, part of a stable that includes nearly a dozen world champions. Indeed, while rival promoters like Don King have fallen by the wayside, and upstarts like De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions try to claim their piece of the business, Arum is proving once more that he’s the best in the game.

"When you get to be my age, you appreciate more the things that mattered to you when you were coming up," he says, folding his hands in the cozy dining room of the Friar’s Club in Midtown Manhattan, where he spoke to The Associated Press at length about his life and career.

"Right now, this is something that keeps me going, keeps me young."

The son of an accountant, Arum excelled in school before landing a job at a prestigious Manhattan law firm. He soon went to work in the U.S. attorney’s office, where he was ordered to seize the assets of a heavyweight fight between Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson.

The experience made Arum enamored of boxing — or, more specifically, the money in it.

Arum’s break came when he was introduced to Muhammad Ali. The idea was that Arum would help promote a fight and then continue on as his lawyer, but they wound up spending more than 20 years together. Ali became a legend and Arum a legend-maker.

"I could tell who was a good person, who was not, who was a selfish person, and who was an OK person, and who was a great person," Arum says. "And Ali was a great person. I’m talking about what was in his heart of hearts — what was he deep down, what was he made of."

His opinion of Ali never wavered, even when Don King came on the scene and stole him away to promote the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" fight against George Foreman.

In the 1980s, not long after Ali retired, Arum had the foresight to see he could make more money with less risk by turning his attention to lighter weights. He signed dozens of the best fighters and began pitting them against each other, often under the twinkling lights of Caesar’s Palace.

Arum’s business acumen showed in his mastery of closed-circuit television, the precursor to pay-per-view, and his knowledge of cable. From 1980-95, Top Rank oversaw the longest-running weekly boxing series in TV history on ESPN, and agreements with Spanish language channels have helped grow the Hispanic market.

"Bob is unmatched in the business of boxing," says Rich Rose, who was in charge of sports at Caesar’s Palace during the 1980s. "He may not be the most flamboyant guy, but he gets it, and he’s not afraid to do something that’s a little off the chart."

That includes using modern-day "bobbysoxers" and other creative ploys to help build a charismatic lightweight gold medalist into the Golden Boy.

With the wily promoter pulling the strings, Oscar De La Hoya became a crossover star in just a few years. He went from the undercard of main events to headlining his own, on his way toward 10 titles in six weight divisions during a Hall of Fame-worthy career.

He also became a prime example of how virtually everyone who runs across Arum has a run-in with him. Their relationship soured over the years, strained even more when De La Hoya began building a rival promotional company. The rift runs so deep that De La Hoya declined multiple interview requests for this story, and Arum had few positive things to say about him.

"Oscar was an uneducated kid who was very good looking, who was a lot better fighter than he turned out to be," the promoter says, shrugging. "I don’t want to demean him, but when you talk about substance as a person, he was just ordinary."

That’s only scratching the surface of how controversial Arum can be.

Asked about mixed martial arts leeching away his sport’s fan base, Arum replied: "Our audience in boxing is ethnic: Hispanic, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Mexican. ... UFC are a bunch of skinhead white guys watching people in the ring who also look like skinhead white guys."

It was vintage Arum.

Several years ago, he was fined by the Nevada Athletic Commission for allegedly bribing the IBF to rank Axel Schulz so that Foreman could defend his title against him — which Arum admitted to being "a stupid, wrong thing to do." In January 2004, the FBI raided the Top Rank office over match-fixing allegations, a case that was closed with no evidence of wrongdoing.

"You have to be a bad guy sometimes," says former champion Ray Leonard. "You have to have that thick skin, and Bob has that. Nothing hurts Bob. He dealt with Don King, with casinos and venues and things of that nature, and he’s still kicking."

Boxing

Haye beats Valuev for WBA heavyweight title

NUREMBERG, Germany — David Haye certainly backed up his brash prediction.

Haye used his superior quickness to surprise Nikolai Valuev, winning a majority decision on Saturday night and winning the WBA heavyweight title.

The British challenger came close to knocking down Valuev for the first time in his 16-year pro career during the final round, but had to settle for the decision. The scores were 116-112 on two of the judges’ cards, and a 114-114 draw on the other.

"The key was my speed," Haye said. "People don’t realize I am very fast. And I have a powerful punch. I’m athletic, and if I wasn’t a boxer I would be playing football or rugby."

The former cruiserweight titleholder won his third fight at heavyweight, despite giving up nearly a foot and 100 pounds to the tallest and heaviest champion in history.

"Everybody thought I was crazy," Haye said, "but I knew I could make him miss."

Haye had spent months taunting fellow heavyweight champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, and even embarked on a press tour to promote a fight against Wladimir Klitschko before it was called off. Now, he’ll probably escape facing the two men considered the best in the division because his first defense of the WBA title is supposed to be against John Ruiz.

The former titleholder earned the shot by stopping Adnan Serin in the seventh round earlier in the night — and already Haye is offering another prediction.

"He’s a good fighter who is very underrated," Haye said of the American. "He is not the most spectacular, but I don’t feel like I will struggle with him. He’s about the same size as me and I think I will knock him out."

Valuev dropped to 50-2, and admitted that Haye was too quick for him.

"Tonight only one thing happened that I didn’t expect," Valuev said. "It was like a marathon for me. It was like a track event. I wasn’t ready to run that much.

"The judges made their scoring and I think the last round made the difference, especially the end of it."

Haye tried to keep Valuev on the move, opening with a left to the Russian’s chin followed by a powerful combo. Valuev struggled to catch Haye, finding him only with left jabs.

Haye said he injured his right hand hitting Valuev in the head, likely in the second round.

"It was like punching a brick wall," Haye said.

Nicknamed "The Hayemaker," the Brit connected with big rights and lefts to Valuev’s head to build up his points lead. Valuev finally came alive beginning in the fourth round, but in the sixth Haye landed a right-left combo and two solid lefts.

Haye continued to make Valuev work while finding holes, including a strong right followed by a left to Valuev’s face in the ninth. After another big right in the 10th, Haye wrapped up the fight by landing two left hooks that left Valuev wobbly in the 12th.

-- David Hein

Dawson beats Johnson again to remain undefeated

HARTFORD, Conn. — Chad Dawson, fighting in his home state, won an unanimous decision Saturday over an older and slower Glen Johnson to remain undefeated and win the interim WBC light heavyweight title.

The 27-year-old Dawson, who vacated his IBF title to fight Johnson for a second time, outboxed his 40-year-old opponent, who was never able to get close enough to land the hard punches that made their first fight in April 2008 so tight.

Dawson, a southpaw, used his right jab to score, while keeping Johnson away. He won the early rounds with the strategy, following the jab occasionally with a hard left or a speedy combination.

Midway through the sixth round, Dawson caught Johnson with a left hand that snapped his head back, but that was perhaps the hardest punch he landed.

"I tried to use all the tools to my advantage, and that was the difference in the fight," Dawson said. "I felt like I landed the big punches when I had to."

Dawson won a disputed decision over Johnson (49-13-2, 33 KOs) in their first fight. He said he took the rematch to see how much he had grown since then.

He dominated this one, even though Johnson was the one moving forward most of the time, especially in the middle and late rounds.

Johnson stalked Dawson across the ring to connect with his right hand, trying to pin Dawson to the ropes, but he never really caught him.

"He was able to escape some of my bigger punches," Johnson said. "He didn’t try to fight like he fought the first time. He basically just stayed away from me."

The two stood toe-to-toe for the first time in the 10th round, exchanging combinations. But neither seemed to be able to hurt the other.

"I wasn’t really thinking about knocking Glen Johnson out," Dawson said. "I wanted to go in there and put on a good boxing match."

Dawson (29-0, 17 KOs) now awaits the winner of the Dec. 11 bout between WBC champion Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconu.

Dawson vacated his IBF title this year after the sanctioning body refused to grant an exception to an immediate defense against Tavoris Cloud, a bout that would have generated far less money and TV interest than one against Johnson.

Johnson, a former "Fighter of the Year" in 2004, had won seven of his last nine fights, but will celebrate his 41st birthday in January.

"I don’t know what else is out there for me," Johnson said. "I’ll wait and see if anybody wants to put me back to work."

About 5,200 people showed up for the bout at the 16,500-seat XL Center, which is about 40 miles north of where Dawson grew up in New Haven.

Many booed when it appeared Dawson had chances to mix it up with Johnson, but instead backed off and boxed.

"I don’t let that bother me," Dawson said. "They’re not the ones in the ring. They’ve never been hit before."

Dawson entered the ring wearing a number 6 on his robe to honor slain Connecticut football player Jasper Howard. There was also a traditional 10-bell salute for Howard, who was stabbed to death Oct. 18.

On the undercard, Alfredo Angulo knocked out Harry Joe Yorgey just over a minute into the third round to take the interim WBO junior middleweight title.

Angulo knocked Yorgey down in the second round. He landed 63 percent of his power punches, including 30 of 35 in the final round, catching Yorgey with a hard left hook to end the fight.

Yorgey’s camp complained he was hit twice in the back of the head in the second round and twice while he was on the ground.

-- Pat Eaton-Robb

MMA

Emelianenko scores TKO over Rogers in second round

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Fedor Emelianenko stopped Brett Rogers in the second round in a Strikeforce M-1 Global heavyweight bout Saturday night.

Emelianenko (31-1) landed a right hook that sent Rogers (10-1) down to the mat and Emelianenko followed with exchange of punches to the face of Rogers. Referee John McCarthy ended the fight at 1:48 in the second round.

"If Brett would like to have a rematch, why not?" Emelianenko said through a translator after the fight.

The win didn’t come easy for Emelianenko. He landed a left hook that knocked Rogers off balance in the first round, but Rogers landed a combination of punches that left blood smeared across Emelianenko’s face.

"The main thing is not to get nervous and take time in the first round to learn a little bit," Emelianenko said.

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Rogers had the size advantage over Emelianenko and wanted to keep the fight on his feet, but Emelianenko at 6-feet 235 beat Rogers at his own game by landing a series of uppercuts in the fight and not relying on his ground game.

Rogers had finished all of his previous fights by knockout, including one over Andrei Arlovski in June.

"I doubted myself a little bit. I shhould have thrown my hand a lot more. That’s the reason I failed today," Rogers said.

Emelianenko had won his last five fights in the first round until Saturday.

In an earlier heavyweight fight, Fabricio Werdum (13-4-1) defeated Antonio Silva in a 29-28 unanimous decision. The win may put Werdum in line to fight Emelianenko next.

Jake Shields won a five round unanimous decision over Jason "Mayhem" Miller for the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight title. Shields was saved by the bell in the third round when Miller had Shields in a rear-naked chokehold when the bell rang.