Bob Arum: Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos Jr not worth anything near Triller bid

In the immediate aftermath of the stunning $6 million bid Triller put up for the right to promote Teofimo Lopez’s mandatory title defense against George Kambosos Jr, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum tells RingTV that obviously everyone involved will be happy with the amount of money they stand to earn based on the winning bid, but still says the fight isn’t worth that kind of money.

“Everyone’s happy, though the bid being the size it was, was pretty crazy, that fight isn’t worth anywhere like that. Everyone’s a winner, the fighters, Lou DiBella, Top Rank, the only loser was Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, they put their nose where it shouldn’t have been. Eddie lost the bid, got Top Rank pissed at them, for no reason. They came away with nothing, everybody else involved came out ahead.”

Arum taking shots at Matchroom is at least slightly surprising in this instance since they didn’t win, but Arum isn’t at all upset with Triller for their huge bid as Top Rank will net nearly $800K for sitting on the sidelines while Triller puts on this fight. In fact Arum says that Triller uses a different marketing plan than most promoters and that could possibly pay dividends if it increases casual fan interest in the sport.

If Triller’s plan ultimately works — perhaps by putting this fight alongside another boxing side show — Arum says more power to them as he’s never been a “complete purist” when it comes to putting on matches that could appeal to a broader audience than strictly boxing fans. And should this event be successful, Arum says Lopez — who is still under contact with Top Rank — will only return to him with a bigger fanbase going forward.