Top Rank promoter Bob Arum gave an update this past weekend on where Naoya Inoue vs Stephen Fulton Jr and Devin Haney vs Vasiliy Lomachenko currently stand in negotiation, plus his thoughts on Top Rank recently, somewhat surprisingly parting ways with Edgar Berlanga.
Arum spoke with iD Boxing about those topics plus Fury vs Usyk, Shakur Stevenson, the latest delay for Taylor vs Catterall 2, and Mikaela Mayer’s looming move to 135.
On where Inoue vs Fulton stands
“I don’t think anybody beats Inoue. ‘The Monster’ is ‘The Monster,’ and he’s ‘The Monster’ for a reason, and I’m really blessed to have pound-for-pound the three hardest punchers in boxing, and that’s Inoue, Beterbiev, and Tyson Fury.”
“All that business is handled by our partner in Japan. They’ll let us know when it’s put together, but I’m confident that it will be. I think April, they’re talking about.”
On Haney vs Lomachenko
“We’re looking at the end of May, and we’re determining what the best site is for it. We’ll have an announcement hopefully within the week.”
On Top Rank parting ways with Edgar Berlanga
“We had a different philosophy, and we didn’t want to hold him back. He is bound and determined to proceed at a pace that we don’t think he’s ready for — he thinks differently, and I wish him all the luck in the world. He’s a nice young man, his father is a nice guy, but we just have a different philosophy of where he’s going.”