MANILA, Philippines – Top Rank and Golden Boy may be bitter rivals as boxing promoters but when it comes to making big fights happen, they’re ready to compromise for the good of the sport.
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, a Harvard-educated lawyer with White House experience, and Golden Boy chief executive officer Richard Schaefer, a Swiss banker, don’t mind eating humble pie if it means clearing the way for something special.
And that’s exactly what they did in sealing the deal for the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight in Las Vegas last weekend.
When the fight was hatched early this year, Arum and Schaefer agreed the fighters would split revenues on a 50-50 basis. Hatton, after all, was the defending IBO lightwelterweight champion and would bring in substantial pay-per-view income from the UK market. And Pacquiao was the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.
But Pacquiao felt he deserved the edge in the split. He worked hard to earn the pound-for-pound accolade and was coming off a win over Oscar de la Hoya in a fight that registered 1.25 million pay-per-view buys.
Since Pacquiao was represented by Top Rank and Hatton by Golden Boy, Arum sat down with Schaefer to work out a compromise. Pacquiao wanted a 52-48 share with a $12 million guarantee. Hatton was happy with a purse of $8 million.
In the end, Arum and Schaefer decided to give up part of their share to accommodate Pacquiao. Arum said it ended up “a 52-50 split” where the extra two percent for Pacquiao came from what Top Rank and Golden Boy would’ve earned as their piece of the action.
There was still no confirmation on how many pay-per-view hits the fight generated but from Arum’s estimate, it would be the first non-heavyweight bout without De la Hoya to breach the one million mark.
Arum and Schaefer enjoy a working relationship based on mutual respect. Even as they’re fierce competitors, both realize that animosity has no place in their rivalry.
“Richard and I can negotiate tough and fight hard,” said Arum, “but he is a good businessman and I trust him.”
The title for the Pacquiao-Hatton fight, “The Battle of East and West,” was in fact conceived by Arum and Schaefer who are both Rudyard Kipling fans. Kipling wrote the poem “The Ballad of East and West” in 1889 and Schaefer recited the final lines in announcing the match: “But there is neither East nor West, border, nor breed, nor birth when two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth.”
Arum said he used a similar title in promoting the 1979 world heavyweight title fight between John Tate and Gerrie Coetzee in South Africa .
A few years ago, Top Rank and Golden Boy were at odds over the rights to promote Pacquiao in the US . But they settled out of court, agreeing to co-promote fights involving Pacquiao if his opponent is from Golden Boy.
It will be recalled that Arum was once De la Hoya’s promoter.
Arum said Pacquiao has the potential to overshoot De la Hoya as the sport’s leading light.
“Manny is a very unique fighter and he has a great set of skills that translates itself to going up and down the divisions,” continued Arum. “It’s as simple as that. He outspeeds everybody and he outpunches everybody. And he never gets tired. There are welterweights out there that he can compete with like (Miguel) Cotto or (Floyd) Mayweather, Jr. that would make very interesting fights in the years ahead. So I am not concerned with his smaller frame. He matches up really well with some of the top welterweights. I really believe that Manny’s body of work at this particular time establishes him as one of the great fighters in the history of boxing. I really believe that there is a lot more to come which will cement that legacy.”
Arum said it’s a cinch that Pacquiao will win a congressional seat in the 2010 elections. He will run out of Saranggani province.
“The Philippines has the best welfare system in the world and it’s called Manny Pacquiao,” said Arum who once served Attorney General Robert Kennedy. “Whether it be hundreds of academic scholarships and hospital beds or simply cash in the hands of folks in the streets, he gives a tremendous percentage of his earnings back to the poor.”