The promoter of boxing greats like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and Manny Pacquiao, Bob Arum is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

And in Part 1 of our interview with Bob Arum, the Founder and CEO of Top Rank Boxing, he told us about his unusual entry into the sport and how Muhammad Ali became the first fighter he ever promoted.

In Part 2 tonight, the long-time Las Vegan explains why he moved from New York to Nevada, whether he thinks Las Vegas is still the fight capital of the world, and how he thinks the sweet science will fare when he's no longer involved.

(Bob Arum) I had done fights here with Leonard and Hagler and Tommy Hearns, and I loved Las Vegas.

It was becoming the fight capital of the world.

But more than that, the people were just so friendly.

And New York was beginning to wear me down.

I felt coming out to Vegas, coming out to the West, gave me a chance to, in effect, recuperate.

And it worked, because I was able to live longer, I think.

-What do you mean by recuperate?

-Well, recuperate because in New York, you're always on.

There's always a kind of tension about life, whether it's to get transportation to go someplace or whatever.

The weather sometimes gets bad.

But in Las Vegas, in the West, it certainly wasn't that way.

It isn't that way now, and it's important for people to lay back and enjoy themselves when they're not working.

-This coming from a man who in the last six weeks had five different fights in how many different countries?

-Yeah, well, you're right.

I was all over the world.

I did a fight in Japan and then Perth, Australia, and then Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and then Leeds in England, and last weekend in New York, but then you look forward to coming back into Las Vegas and swimming in my pool.

So, you know, when you go on the road, it sometimes can be a little tough.

But if you know you're coming back to a place where you can relax, it really has a lot of good vibes for you mentally.

-The greatest fight that you've promoted in Las Vegas was?

-Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns.

That was the most unbelievable fight.

The rivalry between the two built up in a tour we did, traveling all over the country.

We had one plane with Hagler and his people, one plane with Hearns.

We had a lot of writers because we had newspapers then.

And the fighters got on each other's nerves, particularly on Hagler's nerves, Hearn did, because Hagler had a short fuse.

And by the time the bell rang for the fight in Las Vegas, in the outdoor stadium at Caesars, these guys didn't want to box.

They wanted to go out and knock the head off each of them.

I mean, it was like a bar fight.

They didn't want to fool around, feel each other out.

They just went at each other like two bulls.

-Hence why it lasted three rounds.

-Yeah.

And Tommy, in the first round-- Tommy was a great puncher.

And in the first round, he hit Marvin straight on.

And, like, Hagler's head spun back, and then he came forward.

And then I felt that the fight was over because Tommy had hit him with his best punch, and Marvin kept coming.

And by the third round, Marvin was able to take him out, even though Tommy had split open Marvin's head.

So Marvin was bleeding all over.

And luckily for him, they didn't stop the fight.

-I want to go back to when you were just getting into boxing and the Mob's role in it.

And how did you go about working with them, or did you?

I mean, your background being as an attorney within the federal government... -No, I was-- they looked at me.

There were a lot of mob people in boxing in those days.

And they looked at me, having been in the Justice Department, as a spy.

In addition, my first fighter, as I said, was Muhammad Ali, who was part of the Nation of Islam.

And the mob guys looked at the Nation, and they thought they were all crazy.

And they didn't want to get involved with these, what they looked as "crazy people."

-And that law degree, how important has it been to your longevity in this sport?

-Well, I don't know if it's important or not important, but the law degree from a place like Harvard taught me a way of thinking, of, you know, logic, logical thinking.

It was invaluable to me throughout my life, even when I wasn't practicing law, because if you got involved in a lawsuit, even though you'd hire, obviously, great lawyers, at least you could follow and understand what they were doing and what they were thinking.

-You brought up Joe Lewis earlier.

I also think Roberto Duran, Manny Pacquiao in boxing's ability to pull someone out of poverty and dramatically change their life.

When did you become aware of its power to do that?

Is there a fighter you've done it for that really stands out to you?

-Well, Pacquiao, you know, slept on the streets in Manila when he was a young boy.

Whether it's with Sugar Ray Leonard or Tommy Hearns, rich kids don't go into boxing.

Rich kids, by and large, don't become National Football League players.

It's the poor kids that go through the stress and strain and take the shots to their body in order to improve themselves and their families.

-What's it like to know that you play a role in that elevation of someone's life?

-Well, you know, I don't take particular credit for it, because other people can do it and do it, but I think it, a lot of ways, justifies what I'm about and what I do and what my company is involved in.

-Is that a characteristic of fighters you're looking for currently when you are scouting them, that hunger, that chip on their shoulder?

-Not necessarily chip on their shoulder.

Ability.

We have matchmakers.

We have talent scouts.

We pretty well know which kids have the ability to succeed.

-Is there a fighter you wish you could have promoted that you may have passed on and then kicked yourself later for it?

-Yeah, sure.

I mean, there's always great fighters that you miss, like Evander Holyfield, for example.

He would have been a great fighter that we would have loved to promote.

But there have been other fighters along the way that we had an opportunity to promote, and we didn't give them credit for the ability that they were able to demonstrate later along the line.

I don't want to go into specific.

But I think our track record, because of the people that we have who make those decisions in the company, like Carl Moretti and Bruce Trampler and Brad Goodman, they're pretty well on, you know?

They're not going to bat 1,000%.

I mean, Tommy doesn't bat 1,000%.

He's, you know, he hits in the 300s, and, you know-- -And that's a good batting average.

-Our guys hit, hit high.

-When you moved here, you said Las Vegas was becoming the fight capital of the world.

Does it deserve that title right now?

-I would say it's the fight capital of the United States.

But look what's happening around the world.

I mean, I just made this trip.

And in Japan and Tokyo, first fight in the Tokyo Dome in 30 years since Buster Douglas and Tyson fought.

Sold out fight, sold out completely.

Then we went to Perth for Lomachenko and Kambosos.

Sold out fight.

Then we went to Riyadh for the Heavyweight Championship, Fury and Usyk.

Sold out.

And then finally went to Leeds in England for Taylor and Catterall.

Sold out again.

Boxing, particularly around the world, has taken on a new life because of the satellites and because of streaming.

People are able to see more boxing.

So when boxing comes to their country, you have so many more fans.

-We're about done, because this has been a little long.

But we go through all of that, and then I wonder what you think about this quote you said a while back, quote, Yesterday I was lying; today I'm telling the truth.

-All right.

That's asked of me when I testify at a trial.

They quote that, Did you say it?

And the answer is, Yes, I said it.

But then I go on, and the judges always allow me when I said it and how I said it.

And that was Ray Leonard was fighting in Syracuse against a guy named Bonds.

And in those days, the writers would come a few days before to cover the fight, and it was in Syracuse in the winter, Syracuse, New York.

And there was snow all over the place.

So one night we all were in a bar drinking, the writers and everybody, because there was nothing else to do.

And the question was: Who was the better fighter, A or B?

So I said A.

Then the next night, everybody's together drinking again, and the same argument: Who was the better fighter, A or B?

And this time I said B.

So one of the writers said, Yesterday you said A, and today you said B.

So like a wise guy, I said, "Yesterday I was lying; today I was telling the truth."

And that's lived with me for decades.

-Do you regret saying it?

-No, I don't regret saying it.

I regret how it's been used.

But again, you can't let it eat you up.

You just have to laugh about it.

-Bob, you're 92.

How is boxing going to fare once you're gone?

-Very well.

People in boxing, they're probably better equipped in boxing to run it, to work it, than I am, because they understand all of the differences that we're now faced with, like social media, basic communications.

We're moving into new eras, new ways to sell the sport.

-What do you think of social media?

-I think it's terrific.

We spread the word in social media.

How we do it, I wouldn't know, because, as you say, I'm 92 years of age.

So a younger generation will take over, and they understand communication now a lot better than I do.

And so the sport not only will be fine, but I think will prosper in the years ahead.

-To see Part 1 of this interview and for more interviews like this, go to our website, vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.

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