By Matt Stolow - Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum promoted the historic Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks rematch back in 1978 at the then new state- of-the- art Louisiana Super Dome in New Orleans.Tonight he and Top Rank President Todd DuBoef are VIP guests in Dallas Cowboys / Cowboys Stadium owner Jerry Jones' luxury box / owner's suite for the Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles important first round NFL playoff game.
Certainly they will get around to talking about boxing and specifically Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey on March 13.
But it's a lock. A done deal. March 13 will happen in Arlington, Texas. Known by many as the hyphen between Dallas-Fort Worth. Maybe the first of more boxing events to come at JerryWorld. And Arum can still always go back to Las Vegas and the MGM Grand. He doesn't burn his bridges.
Meanwhile, I doubt Richard Schaefer's going to be up in Jerry's suite anytime soon. But the business does make for strange bedfellows.
I remember when Arum was deep into buying an NBA basketball franchise in New Orleans I believe around 20 years ago. But he fell short. Back then the image -conscious NBA thought that his Las Vegas ties were to controversial. Now Vegas is hosting the NBA All- Star Game and players bring guns into the dressing room.
I remember once in the late '80s I believe, after a media tour stop in Houston at The Summit Arena for a long forgotten fight, Arum rushing to catch a few minutes of the Houston Rockets' Twin Towers: Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon at practice on the Summit floor. Arum's a big New York Football Giants fan but he'll be all Cowboys tonight.
He understands the big stadium appeal for boxing that has been all but forgotten today. He wants to put a fight at the new Yankees Stadium. After that you can say he's conquered the stadium scene.
Let's hope Jerry Jones has forgotten about what Richard Schaefer pulled off last month and let's be thankful we got a second shot at this.
Go Cowboys!
Source: examiner.com
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