-40%
"Boxing Promoter" Bob Arum Hand Signed 3X5 Card Todd Mueller COA
$ 26.39
- Description
- Size Guide
Description
Up for auction"Boxing Promoter" Bob Arum Hand Signed 3X5 Card.
This item is authenticated by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-2007
Robert Arum
(born December 8, 1931
) is an American lawyer, boxing promoter and businessman. He is the founder and CEO of
Top Rank
, a professional
boxing
promotion company based in
Las Vegas
. He also worked for the US Attorney's Office for the
Southern District of New York
in the tax division during his legal career before moving into boxing promotion. Arum was born in New York City. He grew up in the
Crown Heights
section of New York, with an
Orthodox Jewish
background.
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 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 Forward to the
Warren Commission
Report.
Following the 1963 suicide of Washington Heights Savings and Loan Association president Floyd Cramer, hours after his indictment for being the "mastermind" of a mortgage tax evasion scheme; Arum recalled, "I knew then that I wasn't cut out to be a prosecutor." Arum continued to practice civil law until dissolving his office in 1979.
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."
[11]
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
Toronto
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 later, Shuler was dead in a motorcycle accident.
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. He has had great success with fighters
Miguel Cotto
, who has won world titles at the 140, 147, 154, 160-pound weight divisions, and
Antonio Margarito
, who held a 147-pound
WBO
belt from 2002 to 2007.