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Bob Arum Perseveres as Many of His Old Stomping Grounds Bite the Dust

Bob Arum Perseveres as Many of His Old Stomping Grounds Bite the Dust
Someone once said that the only constant in life is change. That goes double for Las Vegas, the city that is constantly re-inventing itself. Casino-resorts seemingly change ownership on a whim, begetting a make-over, and others are imploded to make way for whatever is next.
Top Rank honcho Bob Arum has seen it all in the four-plus decades he has been making waves in Sin City. He has out-lived so many Las Vegas casinos that we have lost count.
It was learned last week that three more Las Vegas hotel-casinos are headed to the scrap heap. Station Casinos is shedding three of their nine Las Vegas properties. Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Fiesta Henderson are being torn down and the land underneath them has been put up for sale. Because these are locals-oriented casinos situated off the Las Vegas Strip, this wasn’t a national news story.
Texas Station in North Las Vegas happens to be the place where Floyd Mayweather Jr made his professional boxing debut. We have a suggestion for whoever buys the property – how about some sort of permanent marker to commemorate the event? One doesn’t have to like Floyd to acknowledge that he left a large footprint. Monuments have been built in homage to boxers of far less prominence.
Mayweather made his pro debut on Oct. 11, 1996, on a Top Rank show staged in a small outdoor arena. Two other future world title-holders – Diego “Chico” Corrales and Eric Morel – appeared on the undercard. The featured bout pit Johnny Tapia in a WBO 115-pound world title defense against Sammy Stewart (Tapia TKO 7). In hindsight, it was a show that merited more ink than it got.
By then, Bob Arum was well-established in the city. The first sighting of him had come in December of 1976 when he co-promoted a show at the Aladdin featuring Earnie Shavers. The following year, Arum co-promoted several more shows at the Aladdin, the most noteworthy of which was an October card that marked the first 10-rounder for U.S. Olympian Leon Spinks who was matched against Minnesota journeyman Scott LeDoux.
Arum’s partners in these ventures were veteran matchmaker Mel “Red” Greb, who kept his day job as a craps dealer, and the noted wise guy Irving “Ash” Resnick, a casino host whose specialty was collecting unpaid markers. Neon Leon managed only a draw against LeDoux which made it all the more shocking when he upset Muhammad Ali four months later.
The Aladdin was imploded in 1998. It sat where Planet Hollywood now sits. Two years earlier, the Hacienda was torn down to make way for Mandalay Bay. A small casino at the far south end of the Strip, the Hacienda housed club fights in its so-called Matador Ballroom. Arum has fond memories.
In February of 1981, Arum initiated a series of monthly shows at the Hacienda which were televised on the fledgling ESPN network. His second and fourth shows featured a fresh-faced, 21-year-old super bantamweight from Massachusetts who would go on to become a big local attraction. The kid’s name was Freddie Roach.
Arum took Freddie Roach with him when he settled in at the Showboat where the Top Rank ESPN series had a long run beginning in 1982.
There were actually two unrelated properties with Showboat motifs operating simultaneously in Las Vegas, one situated on the Las Vegas Strip and the other on Boulder Highway on the outskirts of the downtown gambling district. This second Showboat whose signature attraction was the bowling alley, a key stop on the professional tour, was heavily vested in boxing before Arum came along and crashed the party.
Freddie Roach had 15 fights on Top Rank shows at the Showboat, all of which were main events. He won 10. In his final fight here, he passed the torch, in a manner of speaking, to Greg Haugen, who stopped him in the seventh round. Haugen supplanted Roach and Texas lightweight Robin Blake as the ‘Boat’s most popular “house fighter.” He was 8-0 at the Showboat and won another fight for Top Rank on an ESPN show at the Sahara prior to wresting the IBF world lightweight title from Jimmy Paul at Caesars Palace.
The Showboat, which bore the name Castaways in its end days, is long gone. The casino with its 19-story hotel tower was demolished in July of 2005 and is now the site of an apartment complex.
Of all the Las Vegas hotel-casinos that have passed into antiquity, none is as fabled as the Sands. The Rat Pack frolicked here.
The number of boxing shows hosted by the Sands can be counted on one hand, but Bob Arum turned up here too. Top Rank promoted the March 30, 1991 card at which 19-year-old featherweight Rafael Ruelas stamped himself a rising star with a third-round blast-out of former title-holder Stevie Cruz. Future Hall of Famer James Toney appeared on the undercard in a stay-busy fight. Toney’s next bout would come against IBF middleweight champion Michael Nunn.
The Sands was reduced to rubble on Nov. 26, 1996. A mega-resort, the Venetian, rose like a Phoenix from the ashes.
Twenty years later, in the summer of 2016, another iconic Las Vegas casino-resort went poof when the Riviera was blasted into oblivion. Arum wasn’t nearly as active at this property as was his great rival Don King, but he brought Marvelous Marvin Hagler here in March of 1984 to oppose the rugged Argentine battler Juan Domingo Roldan. Hagler, the undisputed world middleweight champion, was making his ninth title defense. He stopped Roldan in the 10th round.
Several of the venues where Top Rank did business are still standing but have been re-branded. The Las Vegas Hilton, where Arum parked Ali-Spinks I, morphed into the Westgate. The Holiday Casino, where Arum had a cup of coffee in 1990 (Michael Carbajal vs. Fernando Martinez was the featured bout) became Harrah’s. Bally’s, the city’s original MGM Grand, is in the process of being re-branded the Horseshoe. George Foreman fought one of his comeback fights at Bally’s on a Top Rank promotion.
There’s an old saying that when one window of opportunity closes, another opens. Bob Arum would know. Through all the hubbub, Arum never missed a beat. When in a pinch, he always found a new roosting place for one of his smaller shows as he was plotting another grand spectacle.
The newest addition to the ever-evolving Las Vegas skyline is Resorts World, a 3,506-room mega-resort that opened in June of last year. In March, the property on the grounds of the demolished Stardust held its first boxing event. Predictably, it was a Top Rank promotion. Top Rank returns here next month with a card featuring the return of Teofimo Lopez.
There will come a day when Resorts World joins its Las Vegas forerunners in the casino graveyard. It’s just the natural order of things. My goodness, will the indefatigable Bob Arum out-live this joint too?
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Arne K. Lang’s latest book, titled “George Dixon, Terry McGovern and the Culture of Boxing in America, 1890-1910,” will shortly roll off the press. The book, published by McFarland, can be pre-ordered directly from the publisher (https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/clashof-the-little-giants) or via Amazon.
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Mercito Gesta Victorious Over Jojo Diaz at the Long Beach Pyramid

LONG BEACH, CA.-Those in the know knew Mercito Gesta and Jojo Diaz would be a fight to watch and they delivered.
Gesta emerged the winner in a super lightweight clash between southpaws that saw the judges favor his busier style over Diaz’s body attack and bigger shots and win by split decision on Saturday.
Despite losing the main event because the star was overweight, Gesta (34-3-3, 17 KOs) used an outside method of tactic to edge past former world champion Diaz (32-4-1, 15 KOs) in front of more than 5,000 fans at the Pyramid.
The speedy Gesta opened up the fight with combination punching up and down against the peek-a-boo style of Diaz. For the first two rounds the San Diego fighter overwhelmed Diaz though none of the blows were impactful.
In the third round Diaz finally began unloading his own combinations and displaying the fast hands that helped him win world titles in two divisions. Gesta seemed stunned by the blows, but his chin held up. The counter right hook was Diaz’s best weapon and snapped Gesta’s head back several times.
Gesta regained control in the fifth round after absorbing big blows from Diaz. He seemed to get angry that he was hurt and opened up with even more blows to send Diaz backpedaling.
Diaz targeted his attack to Gesta’s body and that seemed to slow down Gesta. But only for a round.
From the seventh until the 10th each fighter tried to impose their style with Gesta opening up with fast flurries and Diaz using right hooks to connect with solid shots. They continued their method of attack until the final bell. All that mattered was what the judges preferred.
After 10 rounds one judge saw Diaz the winner 97-93 but two others saw Gesta the winner 99-91, 98-92. It was a close and interesting fight.
“I was expecting nothing. I was the victor in this fight and we gave a good fight,” said Gesta. “It’s not an easy fight and Jojo gave his best.”
Diaz was surprised by the outcome but accepted the verdict.
Everything was going good. I thought I was landing good body shots,” said Diaz. “I was pretty comfortable.”
Other Bouts
Mexico’s Oscar Duarte (25-1-1, 20 KOs) knocked out Chicago’s Alex Martin (18-5, 6 KOs) with a counter right hand after dropping him earlier in the fourth round. The super lightweight fight was stopped at 1:14 of the round.
A battle between undefeated super welterweights saw Florida’s Eric Tudor (8-0, 6 KOs) emerge the winner by unanimous decision after eight rounds versus Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain.
The taller Tudor showed polished skill and was not bothered by a large cut on his forehead caused by an accidental clash of heads. He used his jab and lead rights to defuse the attacks of the quick-fisted southpaw Cato-Cain. The judges scored the fight 80-72 and 78-74 twice for Tudor.
San Diego’s Jorge Chavez (5-0, 4 KOs) needed less than one round to figure out Nicaragua’s Bryan Perez (12-17-1, 11 KOs) and send him into dreamland with a three-punch combination. No need to count as referee Ray Corona waved the fight over. Perez shot a vicious right followed by another right and then a see-you-later left hook at 3.00 of the first round of the super featherweight match.
Photo credit: Al Applerose
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Jojo Diaz’s Slump Continues; Mercito Gesta Prevails on a Split Decision

At age 30, Jojo Diaz’s career is on the skids. The 2012 U.S. Olympian, a former world title holder at 126 and 130 pounds and an interim title holder at 135, Diaz suffered his third straight loss tonight, upset by Mercito Gesta who won a split decision at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA.. The scoring was strange with Gesta winning nine of the 10 rounds on one of the cards and only three rounds on another. The tie-breaker, as it were, was a 98-92 tally for Gesta and even that didn’t capture the flavor of what was a closely-contested fight.
Originally listed as a 12-rounder, the match was reduced to 10 and that, it turned out, did Diaz no favors. However, it’s hard to feel sorry for the former Olympian as he came in overweight once again, having lost his 130-pound title on the scales in February of 2021.
Diaz also has issues outside the ropes. Best elucidated by prominent boxing writer Jake Donovan, they include a cluster of legal problems stemming from an arrest for drunk driving on Feb. 27 in the LA suburb of Claremont.
With the defeat, Diaz’s ledger declined to 32-4-1. His prior losses came at the hands of Gary Russell Jr, Devin Haney, and William Zepeda, boxers who are collectively 83-2. Mercito Gesta, a 35-year-old San Diego-based Filipino, improved to 34-3-3.
Co-Feature
Chihuahua, Mexico super lightweight Oscar Duarte has now won nine straight inside the distance after stopping 33-year-old Chicago southpaw Alex Martin in the eighth frame. Duarte, the busier fighter, had Martin on the deck twice in round eight before the fight was waived off.
Duarte improved to 25-1-1 (20). Martin, who reportedly won six national titles as an amateur and was once looked upon as a promising prospect, declined to 18-5.
Other Bouts of Note
New Golden Boy signee Eric Tudor, a 21-year-old super welterweight from Fort Lauderdale, overcame a bad laceration over his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads in round four, to stay unbeaten, advancing to 8-0 (6) with a hard-fought unanimous 8-round decision over Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain. The judges had it 80-72 and 78-74 twice. It was the first pro loss for Cato-Cain (7-1-1) who had his first five fights in Tijuana.
In the DAZN opener, lanky Hawaian lightweight Dalis Kaleiopu went the distance for the first time in his young career, improving to 4-0 (3) with a unanimous decision over 36-year-old Colombian trial horse Jonathan Perez (40-35). The scores were 60-52 across the board. There were no knockdowns, but Perez, who gave up almost six inches in height, had a point deducted for a rabbit punch and another point for deducted for holding.
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‘Big Baby’ Wins the Battle of Behemoths; TKOs ‘Big Daddy’ in 6

Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne weighed in at a career-high 277 pounds for today’s battle in Dubai with Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, but he was the lighter man by 56 pounds. It figured that one or both would gas out if the bout lasted more than a few stanzas.
It was a war of attrition with both men looking exhausted at times, and when the end came it was Miller, at age 34 the younger man by nine years, who had his hand raised.
Browne was the busier man, but Miller, whose physique invites comparison with a rhinoceros, hardly blinked as he was tattooed with an assortment of punches. He hurt ‘Bid Daddy’ in round four, but the Aussie held his own in the next frame, perhaps even forging ahead on the cards, but only postponing the inevitable.
In round six, a succession of right hands knocked Browne on the seat of his pants. He beat the count, but another barrage from Miller impelled the referee to intervene. The official time was 2:33. It was the 21st straight win for Miller (26-0-1, 22 KOs). Browne declined to 31-4 and, for his own sake, ought not fight again. All four of his losses have come inside the distance, some brutally.
The consensus of those that caught the livestream was that Floyd Mayweather Jr’s commentary was an annoying distraction that marred what was otherwise an entertaining show.
As for what’s next for “Big Baby” Miller, that’s hard to decipher as he has burned his bridges with the sport’s most powerful promoters. One possibility is Mahmoud Charr who, like Miller, has a big gap in his boxing timeline. Now 38 years old, Charr – who has a tenuous claim on a WBA world title (don’t we all?) — has reportedly taken up residence in Dubai.
Other Bouts of Note
In a 10-round cruiserweight affair, Suslan Asbarov, a 30-year-old Russian, advanced to 4-0 (1) with a hard-fought majority decision over Brandon Glanton. The judges had it 98-92, 97-93, and a more reasonable 95-95.
Asbarov was 12-9 in documented amateur fights and 1-0 in a sanctioned bare-knuckle fight, all in Moscow, entering this match. He bears watching, however, as Glanton (18-2) would be a tough out for almost anyone in his weight class. In his previous fight, at Plant City, Florida, Glanton lost a controversial decision to David Light, an undefeated Australian who challenges WBO world title-holder Lawrence Okolie at Manchester, England next week.
A 10-round super featherweight match between former world title challengers Jono Carroll and Miguel Marriaga preceded the semi-windup. Carroll, a 30-year-old Dublin southpaw, overcame a cut over his left eye suffered in the second round to win a wide unanimous decision in a fairly entertaining fight.
It was the sixth straight win for Carroll (24-2-1, 7 KOs) who elevated his game after serving as a sparring partner for Devin Haney. Marriaga, a 36-year-old Colombian, lost for the fourth time in his last five outings, declining to 30-7.
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