Bob Arum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bob Arum
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Arum at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, April 18, 2010
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| Born | December 8, 1931 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
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| Education | |
| Occupation | Lawyer, boxing promoter, businessman |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Lovee duBoef
(m. 1991) |
| Children | 3 |
Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorney in the tax division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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Background and early life
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Arum was born in New York City. He grew up in the Crown Heights section of New York, with an Orthodox Jewish background.
Education and legal career
He attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York University, then Harvard Law School with fellow students recalled as "snooty guys from the prep schools and the eating clubs," where he was graduated cum laude. He worked as an attorney in the United States Department of Justice during the Kennedy administration, and had little interest in boxing until 1965.
Following the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy and his Justice Department service under Robert F. Kennedy; Arum joined Wall Street law firm Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon, where he researched Kennedy's assassination for senior partner Louis Nizer, author of the foreword to the Warren Commission Report.
Arum continued to practice civil law until dissolving his office in 1979.
Boxing promoter
In 1962, Arum was assigned by the Department of Justice to confiscate proceeds from the September 25, 1962 Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson world heavyweight boxing title fight; during which he met closed-circuit television (CCTV) pioneer and former Leo Burnett & Co. vice-president Lester M. Malitz (1907 – July 24, 1965) of Lester M. Malitz Inc. Malitz was the promoter of the 1965 Terrell–Chuvalo bout, during which he retained Arum to represent him. In 1966, subsequent to a suggestion by Jim Brown, whom Arum had secured for Malitz as the fight's announcer, Arum became a boxing promoter. In 2016, Brown recalled that Arum had seen a televised fight in 1965, as "The first fight Arum ever saw was Terrell–Chuvalo, and he watched that from the television truck." Arum credits Brown with introducing him to Muhammad Ali, and Ali with teaching him how to be a boxing promoter.
Arum became a vice-president and secretary of Ali's promotion company, Main Bout. Mike Malitz, son of Lester, like Arum, owned 20 percent of the company and became its vice-president. Jim Brown owned 10 percent of the company and served as its vice-president in charge of publicity. Referencing his first live fight viewing, Arum was reported as saying that he "had never seen a boxing match before the first fight I did with Ali", referring to the 1966 Muhammad Ali vs. George Chuvalo Vancouver bout.
During the 1980s, Arum became a driving force behind the sport, rivaling Don King. Arum organized superfights including Marvin Hagler vs. Roberto Durán and Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns. Arum mounted the Hagler–John Mugabi, Hearns–James Shuler doubleheader in Las Vegas in April, 1986. After the Hearns–Shuler fight, Shuler, who had lost by knockout in the first round, showed up at Arum's hotel room to thank him for the opportunity to fight Hearns. ten days after that bout, Shuler died in a motorcycle accident. In 1994, he tried to add basketball to his interests, joining forces with Fred Hofheinz and Louisiana politicians to purchase and relocate the Minnesota Timberwolves to New Orleans, but the deal was rejected.
Arum kept producing big-scale undercards and superfights, including the Hagler–Sugar Ray Leonard bout, the Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns 1989 rematch, Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, and many others. Some of Arum's superstars from the 1990s include former world flyweight champion Michael Carbajal, six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya, eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, and three-division world champion Erik Morales. Arum also promoted the legendary champion Julio César Chávez in his later years of boxing.
Arum has concentrated largely on promoting Hispanic fighters in recent years, citing surveys which show boxing is among the most popular sports within the Hispanic community. This strategy began after his success signing Roberto Durán and promoting Durán's comeback fight against Davey Moore, which demonstrated that he was not washed up after the 1980 "No más" fight. Next, he signed Julio César Chávez Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. He has had great success with Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, who won world titles at the 140, 147, 154, 160-pound weight divisions; Mexican-American Antonio Margarito, who held a 147-pound WBO belt from 2002 to 2007; Mexican-American José Ramírez, the former WBC and WBO light welterweight world champion; Honduran-American Teófimo López, the former lightweight world champion; and Mexican Óscar Valdez, the former WBC super featherweight world champion.
Arum has concentrated many of his shows in the Southwestern portion of the U.S., in cities with large Spanish-speaking populations. He is also the promoter of many of the cards on Telefutura, a Spanish language network. He later shifted over to Azteca América. In 2016, he put together an all-Hispanic undercard for Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley III in protest of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump's statements on Mexican immigration.
Arum was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1999. In 2003 he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Arum has been married twice. He had three children with his first wife: Richard, Elizabeth, and John. His son, environmental lawyer John Arum (1961–2010), fell to his death in 2010 while climbing the north face of Storm King, a mountain in North Cascades National Park; he is most remembered for his meticulous representation of Native American tribal rights.
In 1991, he married Lovee duBoef with whom he has two stepchildren; Todd duBoef, President of Top Rank and Dena duBoef, vice president of Top Rank. Arum was a close friend and business partner of the late billionaire casino tycoon, and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp, Sheldon Adelson.
Arum endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Film and television
Arum has appeared on several television documentaries, boxing specials, movies and shows, usually being interviewed about a boxer or fight but occasionally as an actor himself, including in Play It To The Bone (where he played a boxing fan) and Arliss.
See also
In Spanish: Bob Arum para niños
