‘No new fight schedules yet’ – Arum
TOp rank boss bob arum said it is still unknown when the postponed fights of filipino world boxing champions jerwin ancajas and john riel casimero will happen as the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) wreaks havoc around the world.
Ancajas was supposed to defend his International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight title against Mexican Jonathan Javier Rodriguez on April 11 at the Cosmopolitan, while Casimero was supposed to fight Japanese
Naoya Inoue in a unification bout on April 25 at the Mandalay Bay both in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Top Rank announced the postponement of all its boxing events in March and April last March 16 because of the
Covid- 19 pandemic.
“I wish I have the ability to predict the future. I don’t know when this will be all over, I don’t know when will be able to do fights again,” the 88- year- old Arum told the TheManilaTimes in an overseas call.
Arum said there is something bigger now than boxing.
“That is not a major problem for the world, the major problem for the world is to conquer this virus so we can get back to business. When that will be, I absolutely have no idea. I’m not going to tell any date and talk like I know something because I don’t.”
Arum is concerned about boxers who don’t have any income if they don’t fight. “You have to look at these losses in these young men’s careers because they are not being able to pursue their activities because there are no fights and unlike promoters that can go on forever,” he said.
“Fighters are athletes and they die young in the sense that they have live-in careers and so without taking a big chunk out of their careers by this inactivity.”
Inoue, the reigning IBF and World Boxing Association bantamweight titleholder, and Ancajas
did not fly to the United States after the pandemic exploded in mid-March while Casimero and his trainers were already in Las Vegas.
Arum said he himself is f o l l owi n g the orders of health authorities.
“We’re staying inside the house, I go for a little walk, but the restaurants are all closed, everything is closed, and we are not interacting with people,” said Arum.
“We are making the best of it, and hopefully we’ll conquer this virus and go back to normal. When that will be we don’t know.”