Richard Schaefer: Bob Arum can only blame himself for any business woes

Richard Schaefer went on another one of his patented anti-Bob Arum tirades in a conversation with BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno, proving yet again just how little he's concerned with Arum or Arum's business, and as is also the standard, Schaefer said some things that make sense and could be called hard truths, and some things that are spin city laughers.

"The guy is getting desperate. First he was pissed when Al [Haymon] and me were with HBO, he was bitching about the stuff going on with HBO. He could have worked with Showtime. He could have picked up all of the Showtime dates that he wanted. And to make things better for him, the Showtime CEO, Les Moonves, was a personal friend of his. They used to go on vacations together. But Arum is not capable of having relationships. He fucked his own buddy."

"Arum brought Pacquiao there and Showtime did a terrific job. The single biggest pay-per-view of Pacquiao's career was on Showtime. And then he takes him back to HBO and basically fucks his own friend. He is not capable of having relationships and as a result he became persona non grata with Showtime. The only person he has to blame is himself. And I can guarantee you that it's not whether HBO is going to get fucked by Arum - that's not the question - the question is when. He is incapable of having relationships. He fucks everyone and the only person who matters is himself."

The way I always saw the Pacquiao on Showtime deal, and the way it played out lends something to this, it was a power move by Arum that ultimately resulted in two key things:

• Ross Greenburg was fired from HBO Sports.
• Julio Cesar Chavez Jr became an HBO fighter, thus a much bigger money fighter for Top Rank.

And admittedly, I never thought about it from this angle with Arum and Showtime. When he basically bailed on Showtime after one big fight (Pacquiao-Mosley), that couldn't have helped him. Now, at the same time, it was Ken Hershman in charge at SHO Sports back then, and Hershman was the guy who replaced Greenburg at HBO. Hershman is also the guy leading the HBO Sports brand that chose to cut ties with Golden Boy and Al Haymon, and go almost exclusively with Top Rank fighters, though they also do some business with K2 Promotions (Klitschko, Golovkin), Goossen Tutor (Ward), DiBella (Sergio), and now Yvon Michel (Pascal-Bute and Adonis Stevenson) and Main Events (Kovalev).

Schaefer later makes the comment that HBO has been shafting other promoters in favor of Top Rank, and that you can ask DiBella and Goossen about that, and DiBella has indeed had some issues that he has voiced publicly, but you kind of have to wonder who on the DiBella or Goossen rosters really demands airtime. Andre Ward and Sergio Martinez are HBO cornerstones right now. Chris Arreola (Goossen) has been on HBO a lot, and the last time he was on HBO, he got thrashed by Bermane Stiverne. I just don't know that any of these promoters are getting shafted so much as they don't really have many fighters to push for getting TV time, and also, they don't have opportunities at Showtime anymore unless they can make a deal with Golden Boy and/or Haymon to use their fighters as opponents.

But of course, Schaefer doesn't say that. He points at what HBO is doing, and what Arum is doing, but doesn't mention that an avenue that used to be open for these second-tier promoters is now essentially closed because of Golden Boy and Haymon.

I'm not even saying that's a bad thing. To be perfectly honest, I think the product at both Showtime and HBO has been better for this clear and clean split. I think the two sides feel there's a legitimate competition now and they're trying to put on the best fights. And really, I think we might be better off if everyone out there was with either Top Rank/HBO or Golden Boy/SHO. Whatever gets missed by those companies not working together, that's nothing new. Whatever else would be easier to get done, though.

But look, whatever. This is the same old same old from Schaefer, and whatever Arum's response is, if he gives one, will be well-worn territory itself.

Here's a thing Schaefer also said:

"We don't put on these appearances fights like other people, and you know who I'm talking about, where the opponent doesn't win a single round of the fight."

The claim that Golden Boy and Al Haymon don't put on "appearance fights" is a mind-boggling statement.