After American Timothy Bradley and Filipino Manny appeared in the final press conference for the world welterweight title rematch on April 12, 2014, promoter Bob Arum took the opportunity to rant against Richard Sturm, President of MGM Grand Entertainment and Sports.
Arum was very unhappy about the large signages and banners around the MGM Grand promoting the Mayweather-Maidana fight on May 3, 2014. The Mayweather materials were placed beside the Pacquiao-Bradley rematch posters and signages, which, according to Arum, is prejudicial to their interests. Arum proceeded to call Sturm, "the president of hanging posters and decorations for the wrong fight." in a report by Yahoo! Sports.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Sturm did not comment on the rant, but during the press conference, Arum proceeded to attack the MGM Grand, comparing it to its competitor, the Venetian. He said that he will most likely be holding fights at the Venetian in Macau in the future. Arum added that the Venetian would not commit a similar mistake.
82-year-old Arum said, "If what I said was incendiary, I'm an old guy and I apologize."
Subsequently, however, he said that he was not apologetic and called the MGM officials "out of their minds", "moron" and "brain dead". The Pacquiao fight is close to a sellout and Arum alleged that MGM had to sell tickets on his back for the Mayweather match. The officials at MGM Grand knew that the Pacquaio-Bradley fight was set in a few days, so it would be absurd to put up posters about another fight set three weeks after it.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum may be justified in his remarks, considering how the Mayweather fight obviously out-promoted the Pacquiao-Bradley 2 match. A giant banner of Mayweather appears on the side of the building. There is a Pacquiao-Bradley signage in the main lobby, but others are either unnoticeable or inexistent. Other Mayweather-Maidana fight materials were obviously placed in various parts of the building, according to an ESPN report.
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