Greg Leon: Congrats on another great card. Can you give us thoughts on the performances Terence, Teofimo, Shakur and rest of the gang? Bob Arum: "I thought the kid Edgar Berlanga looked sensational in his fight, he whacked his guy out before you could see anything, but apparently he's the goods. He's a big puncher and he's got a big fan base. Moving up the card, I think the guy who showed unbelievable potential and will become a world champion is Carlos Adames. I think he's an absolute beast at junior middleweight. I'm expecting Muguia to move up and maybe we'll be able to make Adames fight for the vacant title. I feel he would destroy Munguia if they ever fought. I was very pleased to see Felix Verdejo coming back. He's still not 100%, he was a terrific prospect and he looked very good against Bryan Vasquez, he's got a ways to go but I have high hopes for Verdejo. Then we had Shakur Stevenson and let me tell you, who the f**k is going to beat that guy? I mean he's very elusive, has tremendous defense and as he gets older his offense will improve. He's a real potential superstar down the road and he's competitive with any featherweight champion in the world."

 

GL: Before we move on to Teofimo and Terence, you guys had reservations about making this fight with Diaz. Was that out of concern of him losing or getting on the fast track too quickly? 

 

Bob Arum: "We just thought that Diaz had so much more experience that Shakur would have trouble, and particulary in the later rounds. Shakur was fighting six rounders and I think he had one eight round fight, and he doesn't have much experience going as much as ten rounds. We thought Christopher might be able to wear him down and beat him."

 

GL: And those concerns have without question been alleviated.

 

BA: "Absolutely! I met up with the kid in Crawford's dressing room after the fight and he told me he couldn't believe I was worried."

 

GL: Where does he go from here? He wants Warrington, he's been calling him out. Is that what's next? Is another step like Diaz next next?

 

BA: "I think we take another step. He's always wanted and we're looking to carry out the promise of him fighting in his hometown. We have a hold on The Prudential Center in New Jersey and we're going to be meeting with the Mayor, I'll be putting a call in to Senator Booker who is a big fan so hopefully we'll get it on. Then towards the end of the year we'll look to get him a championship fight."

 

GL: What did you think about Teofimo's performance against Tatli? He pulverized him with a body shot and made his six rounds or less prediction come true.

 

BA: "He makes guys look ordinary. Tatli has fought all of the European lightweights, he's fought some very good fighters and he's never been off his feet. You could see where there was one part where Teofimo battered the shit out of him and he stood up. He's a good durable lightweight and Teofimo always finds a way to reach these guys and whack them out. That body punch, I thought Lomachenko threw that, it looked like a Lomachenko punch."

 

GL: He basically had Tatli in straight survival mode from the second round on. 

 

BA: "That's because of the way he was bouncing his fists off his head. You've got to give the guy credit for staying in there as long as he did, but that body punch, Jesus Christ, he aimed it right where it pulverizes a guy. You didn't hit him in the head so you know he's not concussed, but then he's on the ground thinking he can get up, but it was just a paralyzing shot."

 

GL: When you signed both of these kids, Shakur was held in a much higher regard than Teofimo. Since then Teofimo has gotten more attention and is closer to a mega-fight like Lomachenko than Shakur is to a mega-fight in his weight...

 

BA: (cutting in) "I see where you're going with this and let me tell you differently. With Shakur everyone knew how good he was and there was a bidding war. Haymon threw a lot of money at him and he had Prince as his manager and Prince realizes that if you want to build a kid, the company to build him with is Top Rank. We have the matchmakers and the track record with Haymon you can't name one fighter that he's built really, and there were other people interested in Shakur. With Teofimo Lopez we had no competition, nobody was really interested to pursue him. We signed him because the people said he had potential and was a good fighter, but there was no big signing bonus or anything like that. We pick up promising kids all the time, but you know Conlan and Shakur were the significant signings we made."

 

GL: Sometimes the best guys slip through the cracks like Golovkin, Kovalev, Teofimo.

 

BA: And Crawford, and Marvin Hagler.

 

GL: They sometimes slip right through those cracks and manage to rise all the way to the top.

 

BA: "Tommy Hearns also, I know that and you're right. Making the Olympic team and being a sought after amateur doesn't mean that a kid nobody was after can't surpass you. It's the same in any sport, there's tons of undrafted free agents who become stars in the NFL. That's the category I put Teofimo in. Shakur Stevenson and Conlan were first round draft picks and Teofimo Lopez was an undrafted free agent."

 

GL: Will Teofimo fight Richard Commey for the IBF title in his summer headliner at the Theater?

 

BA: "No. He's going to have that card and then we're going to look to put him in with Commey later in the year and if he beats Commey we'll have him face Lomachenko early next year."

 

GL: Will Commey fight Teofimo's card since he's expressed the desire to get a title defense in before making a big fight?

 

BA: "No, but he'll be fighting on a different card around the same time. He'll either have his own show or be on a different show around the same time."

 

GL: Terence Crawford made a statement last night. 

 

BA: "Everyone says he's such a slow starter...well he wasn't last night. He keeps getting better and better and it's true. He hasn't peaked yet. I think he's going to keep getting better in the next couple of years and that will be his peak, that's why he and I and Bo-Mac want Spence next. He's looking like he's reaching his peak and we don't want Spence to go up in weight before Terence has a chance to fight him. That's really the urgency, Kell Brook was at the fights and there's plenty of guys we could get Terence to fight, but we want Spence now because he's not going to stay around the welterweight division too much longer."

 

GL: You made it clear after the fight who you feel is blocking the fight from happening, but if the roles were reversed and Top Rank had the opportunity to create an undisputed champion within its stable the way that PBC can with the other three champions, would you be in a rush to make the Crawford fight?

 

BA: "You can't call anybody else the undisptued champion because everyone who knows boxing knows that Terence Crawford is the best welterweight in the world and you can't be undisputed unless you beat the WBO champion. And the other welterweights he's got their either mediocre or over the hill. (Danny) Garcia is a mediocre fighter. Garcia wouldn't last five rounds with Crawford. Porter is average, he's a plodder. They're decent fighters, but they're B level fighters. Thurman used to be an A level fighter, but the fact that Josesito Lopez almost had him out, he's no longer A grade and Manny Pacquiao is way past his prime. He's an old guy. I don't care how you looked at the Horn fight, it was a very close fight and if you're in a close fight with Horn you're not elite. The one guy that Haymon has who is elite is Spence and that's the fight that everybody wants to see and that's a fight that can be made, where the fighters can make a lot of money. The promoters would make money and it's an easy fight to make."

 

GL: So if Haymon did an in house tourney that lead to one fighter having the WBC/IBF and WBA belts you don't think that fighter would be undisputed even though those have always been the three belts that define it?

 

BA: "No, because everybody would say he hasn't fought the best and that's the WBO champion."

 

GL: What do you think the chances of getting that fight are?

 

BA: "I don't know everybody's going to have to put a lot pressure on Haymon. I talked to Spence and I have no doubt that he wants to do the fight. It's an easy fight to get done. What are bringing to the table? Terence Crawford and ESPN, which is a megaphone that we haven't seen in boxing since the 80's. Look at the publicity and promotion we got from ESPN! All day Saturday they were plugging the show and at the end of the day we may double the number they did for Spence-Garcia. What does that tell you? Nothing?"

 

GL: It tells me that ESPN's megaphone is serious, so much so that you wouldn't even say that Crawford doubling Spence-Garcia wouldn't definitively make him the A side of a Spence fight and that's because of the ESPN backing.

 

BA: "Absoluetely! And forget about A side and B side. We're willing to split everything down the middle with them."

 

GL: If you can't make the fight at 50-50 then you can't make the fight.

 

BA: "Thank you. Not only that, if they want to bring Fox or Showtime to the table, we're willing to do a co-distribution deal with Fox or Showtime the same way we did with Pacquiao and Mayweather."

 

GL: When the fights are big enough, both companies can find a way to work together.

 

BA: "Seems simple enough to me if they want to make the fight."

 

GL: If we're unable to get Crawford and Spence done, when can we expect Crawford back in the ring?

 

BA: "Crawford's probably going to be back in the ring in Omaha this fall."

 

GL: Do you think Amir Khan quit last night?

 

BA: "Yes."

 

GL: Where do you think a Crawford-Spence fight should go?

 

BA: "It doesn't matter, but there's three places that it would do the most and that's Madison Square Garden, Cowboys Stadium or Las Vegas. It's immaterial to us where it is. I think all three places would do great, great business. If they want to do it in Texas because of Spence, we've got great relations with the Dallas Cowboys and I love the Texas commission. We have absolutely no problem fighting in Texas, Vegas or the Garden."

 

GL: You're a Garden man. Would there be any problem with The Barclay's Center?

 

BA: "I wouldn't want to fight at Barclay's I'll tell you, but I wouldn't let that interfere with doing the fight. The truth is, you can't charge the same kind of prices at Barclay's that you can at Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden it's much easier to do a promotion, though I must say I've never done a promotion at Barclay's. But again, if Barclay's is going to put up a big guarantee, why not? Who cares?"

 

GL: Closing thoughts for the fans.

 

BA: "On May 4th we're going to be back in Stockton, California and it's a beautiful 10,000 seat arena and as of Thursday there were less than 500 tickets available for sale. If you can sell 10,000 in a place like Stockton then you've got to say that boxing is back and it's very strong. We had a great crowd of over 14,000 in the Garden on Saturday, last Friday we did over 12,000 fans with Loma and this is not paper. This is people who are buying tickets, so I am thrilled that boxing is back. The only way that boxing can fall down is the friggin promoters and if that happens then we all ought to be ashamed of ourselves."