Bob Arum sounds off on Puerto Rico-bashing, reflects on longevity

Talk about timing.

As the political world has reacted strongly this week to a Donald Trump-retained comedian calling Puerto Rico “garbage” during the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally, it just so happens the World Boxing Organization is staging its annual convention on the U.S. territory’s lush grounds, with opinionated Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum in attendance.

As a guest invited on to the WBO’s “Jabs” podcast Wednesday with co-hosts Claudia Trejos and ProBox TV’s Ricardo Celis, Arum, of course, had some choice words about the hate speech from the Trump campaign.

When Trejos thanked Arum, who will turn 93 in December, for his years of embracing diversity and staging fights with global representatives from Muhammad Ali to Manny Pacquiao, from Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera to Marvin Hagler and George Foreman, Arum nodded.

“If Puerto Ricans want to say thank you to me, go to the polls and vote for [Vice President] Kamala [Harris],” Arum said as Tuesday’s presidential election nears, elaborating that he saw right through the comedian’s message as a revelation of how Trump views minorities.

“It’s a comment not only about Puerto Rico the island, it’s a comment about Puerto Ricans,” Arum said. “It shows what these people think of Puerto Ricans because they’re not white people. They consider Puerto Ricans garbage. This beautiful, beautiful island … how do you equate it with garbage unless you feel the people who live here or come from here are garbage?

“And why should these people who’ve been called garbage support these bigots when they can support somebody who really loves them, like a Kamala Harris?”

Arum in 2016 staged a “No Trump” card that included present-day two-division champion Oscar Valdez of Mexico and Southern Arizona. Arum spent time during that promotion praising the contributions of the numerous Mexicans who have immigrated to the U.S. for a better life and have diligently fulfilled or exceeded their ambitions.

Valdez will seek to regain the WBO junior lightweight belt December 7 in Phoenix against titleholder and Mexican countryman Emanuel Navarrete.

Arum elaborated to Trejos and Celis what he told BoxingScene recently: that he plans to meet with Valdez and Eddy Reynoso, trainer for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and perhaps Alvarez himself if time allows.

Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) is coming off a pair of super middleweight title defenses this year, against Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga, and two possibilities for a Cinco de Mayo return are Top Rank-promoted No. 1 WBC contender Christian Mbilli and newly undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.

“I’m a friend of Eddy. He’s become a great friend,” Arum said. “I’ve also become close to Canelo. If there’s an opportunity for Top Rank and Canelo, sure, I would promote him. But I’m not going to try and push Top Rank on them.

“If there is a community of interest between us, sure, but I don’t want you to read anything incorrectly. Canelo has done very well in boxing financially and in his career without Top Rank and maybe he’ll continue to do that. I haven’t had a discussion in years with Canelo or Eddy about a Top Rank fight. Maybe I will in Phoenix in December.”

There’s also speculation that WBO President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel will step down Thursday after more than three decades of leadership and be replaced by his top lieutenant, WBO attorney Gustavo Olivieri.

Olivieri told BoxingScene on Wednesday that he was patiently waiting for the process to play out.

“I am honored and humbled,” Olivieri said.

Arum said the WBO will be in good hands with Olivieri.

“Paco has done a tremendous job. If he steps down, he’ll always be around. [Olivieri is a] … tremendous young man, a very good lawyer,” Arum said. “He would be a tremendous successor to Paco, being in the organization for 10 years. He’s down to earth, smart, a lawyer who’ll run the organization the right way.”

On the 50th anniversary of the “Rumble in the Jungle,” pitting men Arum promoted at points during their careers – Muhammad Ali and George Foreman – Arum took stock of his own longevity.

“People look at me as an old man, which I am,” he said, noting that he will turn 93 with a birthday party brunch the morning after Navarrete-Valdez II. “When I came to the first convention, 37 years ago, I was a young man.

“I can’t do it myself. I’ve got to be smart enough to take a step back.

“I look at the kid’s personality and his background, and my matchmakers look at his talent, like scouts in baseball … they can evaluate talent. I rely on them totally. It’s not a one-man gang. If you delegate authority and rely on the experts, you’ll make fewer mistakes.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.