Arum offers Top Rank's view of contract conflict with Teofimo Lopez
Promoter also says company not responsible for matching fight that ended with prized heavyweight Jared Anderson getting knocked out
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Top Rank chairman Bob Arum recently discussed numerous topics with Fight Freaks Unite in an extensive interview, during which he offered details on a brewing legal battle with lineal/junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez over the status of his promotional contract and distanced the company from the matchmaking that resulted in rising heavyweight contender Jared Anderson being badly knocked out by underdog Martin Bakole.
Lopez, the former unified lightweight champion, has been with Top Rank since turning pro in 2016 and he and Top Rank have had various contractual issues over the years and now there is a new one.
Earlier this month Lopez sent Top Rank a legal letter in which he claimed that his promotional contract was invalid and that he should be a free agent.
Top Rank has far different view on the matter. Arum said he signed a contract extension with the company before his split decision win over Sandor Martin in December 2022 and it remains valid.
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According to Top Rank, the extension would begin after he defeated former two-division titlist Jose Pedraza. However, Pedraza suffered an injury and was replaced by Martin.
“Teofimo sometimes acts like he has a screw loose,” Arum said. “You know, I like the kid, and I get along with him personally, but I can’t figure him out and he makes no logical sense. I mean, he signed the extension with us first with a Pedraza fight, which didn’t happen, and then when we did another fight for him with Sandor Martin, he signed the same extension, referring to the fact that the Pedraza fight didn’t happen.
“So, it’s there in black and white and I assume he showed the lawyer the first contract, which tied into the Pedraza fight, and not the second contract (for the Martin fight), which reaffirmed the extension. Dealing with Teofimo is like dealing with Alice in Wonderland.”
Since the win over Martin, Lopez has had three fights Top Rank believes were part of the contract extension — his junior welterweight world title victory over Josh Taylor in June 2023 followed by decisions in title defenses against Jamaine Ortiz in February and Steve Claggett in June.
Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs), 27, a Brooklyn, New York, native, had stated several times he wanted to be busier this year and Top Rank was hoping he would headline its ESPN card on Sept. 27 in New York. However, Lopez declined to fight, instead opting to take the rest of the year off and instead Mikaela Mayer outpointed Sandy Ryan in the action-packed main event to win the WBO women’s welterweight title.
Arum figures it is just a matter of time until things with Lopez are worked out as they have been before.
“I don’t want to disparage anybody because that doesn’t do any good, but eventually sanity will take hold and we’ll be doing a fight for Teofimo,” Arum said.
Anderson debacle
Anderson has been with Top Rank since his 2019 pro debut and been steadily built into a heavyweight contender.
Many viewed him as the best American hope for a world title in the division, but Top Rank felt Anderson needed more seasoning and it was against the company’s wishes that he took a fight with Martin Bakole on the Riyadh Season card headlined by Terence Crawford’s junior middleweight title victory over Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
With Arum at ringside, the 6-foot-6, 284½-pound Bakole pummeled Anderson, who was in his first fight with trainer SugarHill Steward. Bakole dropped Anderson three times — once in the first round and twice more in the fifth — and stopped him in the fifth round in a devastating performance.
“I want everybody to know that it wasn’t us,” Arum said of the fight.
Instead, he said the fight was made by Turki Alalshikh, who oversees the Riyadh Season events and its enormous budget in his role as the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
“His Excellency Turki Alalshikh went right to the fighter and made this proposal for money that the fighter had never seen before and picked as his opponent this Bakole, who is a tremendous puncher,” Arum said. “He never fought a guy like that, so the fact that he got taken apart and knocked out was not surprising. So, don’t put it on my matchmakers. We were against that fight. But again, when they wave money at these kids, they insist on taking it.”
Arum could have gone the legal route to stop the fight but elected not to get into a battle over it.
“Now, we could have gone into court to prevent (Anderson from taking the bout),” Arum said. “We don’t do those kinds of things. So, we let the fight go ahead and, you know, we made our money from the fight, but we let that fight go ahead and it was the stupidest fight that Jared could have taken.”
Many have wondered if the 6-4, 252½-pound Anderson (17-1, 15 KOs), 24, of Toledo, Ohio, will ever be the same after such a shellacking from Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs), 32, a Congo native fighting out of Scotland.
“I don’t know where his mind is now because he had just had his first child. He’s probably concentrating on that,” Arum said. “But I’ll leave (the next fight) up to the matchmakers.
“He's still a very talented young man. He’s very young. And so, you know, (Hall of Fame matchmakers) Bruce (Trampler) and Brad (Goodman) are great matchmakers working with (Top Rank vice president) Carl Moretti, and they’ll find a way to bring him back.”
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Photos: Lopez: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Anderson: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
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