Arum used his education and business savvy to become a boxing promoter, and during the 1980s became a driving force behind the sport, rivalling Don King. Arum put together super fights like Marvin Hagler vs. Roberto Duran and Hagler-Thomas Hearns, and while his wealth grew during that time, he was able to gain his boxers' trust by being a honest man who never stole money from his boxers. Many of Arum's boxers and former boxers nowadays can enjoy the fruits of their work because of that, and they have publicly recognized that every penny they made always showed up in their bank accounts.
A particularly touching moment happened when Arum mounted the Hagler-John Mugabi, Hearns-James Shuler[?] double header in Las Vegas April of 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. 10 days later, Shuler was dead in an unfortunate motorcycle accident.
Arum kept producing big-scale undercards and super fights, including the Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard bout, the Leonard-Hearns 2 fight, Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman and many others.
Some of Arum's superstars from the 1990s include former world Flyweight champion Michael Carbajal and current boxing superstar, 5 time world champion Oscar De La Hoya.
Arum is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
Search Encyclopedia
|
Featured Article
|