Bob Arum talks Stevenson-Gonzalez, Beterbiev, Canelo, Lomachenko, and Crawford

To be on that wall in Cancun...

All-star promoters Bob Arum and Don King convened in Mexico and on Monday, received awards from the WBC, which is running their annual convention in that vacation destination.

No deals were brokered, Arum told me, they just shot the shit. But, of course, business is always on the front-burner for the 88-in-December dealmaker from Brooklyn.

“They’re honoring Lomachenko,” he said, and he noted he would be jetting on Wednesday.

I asked Arum if he knew that Artur Beterbiev was that sort of beast — he figured Gvozdyk’s “better boxing skills” would make him a real hard out, but Beterbiev, he said, just ground down the loser.

And next for Beterbiev? Arum said that next for the Russian would be a fight against China’s Meng Fanlong (16-0, 10 KO), rated No. 1 by the IBF.

“If Canelo wins over Kovalev, I don’t think he’ll fight Beterbiev, he’s too big and strong,” Arum said. “If Kovalev wins, that’s a possibility and there’s always Dmitriy Bivol.”

As for Fanlong, “there’s no danger, he’s just gonna be demolished (by Beterbiev),” he assured me.

Note: I also spoke to Terry Lane, Mills Lane’s son, who does promotion with his brother Tommy. They are now advising Fanlong and Zhang Zhilei, an unbeaten heavyweight. Terry said that work is being done on hashing out that Beterbiev vs Fanlong, which Arum says will happen February in China. That sounds on target, Lane said, around the Chinese New Year.

And looking to Saturday, which the Lane brothers are helping to promote: no, Arum has in all his years not seen a situation like the one going into the Shakur Stevenson-Joet Gonzalez beef.

They tangle on ESPN+, from Reno. Joet doesn’t love Shakur, who he seems to feel isn’t the best sort of person for his younger sister, with whom he’s been linked for about three years. It’s Romeo and Juliet set in the boxing sphere, Arum told me.

And what of Vasiliy Lomachenko?

“I think we’ll wait for the winner of Richard Commey vs Teofimo Lopez,” he said. Maybe targeting Miguel Berchelt and Gervonta Davis, the Las Vegas resident said.

Also, Devin Haney? “He needs to mature before he’d think of getting in the ring with Loma, but that’s a possibility now,” he continued.

And Bud Crawford, we know that we all sagged some when we heard Errol Spence was hurt in a car crash, primarily for him as a human being. So if Spence is off the table for a while, does Arum have other ideas for a Crawford super fight?

Arum said they’ve tried to get Danny Garcia to fight the Nebrsakan. He will “fight the best possible fights around,” Arum shared. They will see some solid 140s heading up to 147, so that should help fill Crawford’s dance card, in his mind.

And yes, he’s still thinking Feb. 22, 2020 we see Deontay Wilder versus Tyson Fury, their rematch.

Two dates in January, two dates in February, Top Rank is working on filling up those slates, he said. Arum simply doesn’t slow up, his energy reservoir is admirable for a man half his age.