BOB ARUM has launched a scathing attack on Canelo Alvarez and Devin Haney, slamming their recent performances against William Scull and Jose Ramirez.
The 93-year-old Top Rank promoter, speaking in a media scrum shown on Fight Hub TV, tore into Canelo’s unanimous decision over William Scull for the undisputed super-middleweight title, one of 2025’s most forgettable fights.
Weighing in on September’s potential super-fight between Canelo and Terence Crawford, Arum said: “If they’re going to really fight I think it’s terrific, it’s very interesting. But, again, if I had to pay money to watch that fight I wouldn’t do it because Canelo has shown in his last few fights that he’s just a businessman. He’s not in there to entertain the public, he just takes the big cheque.”
Asked if Crawford could topple Canelo, he fired back: “Who is Canelo? What Canelo is going to show up? The Canelo who’s looking to cash a big cheque or the Canelo that really wants to fight like a fighter?”
Arum didn’t stop there, slamming Canelo’s lack of spark: ““Why would he [Canelo] take a chance? That’s no good for boxing. In the old days when we had a fighter like Sugar Ray Leonard or Oscar De La Hoya doing a fight they had a reason to really give the crowd an entertaining fight because their next fight had already been agreed to. But they stood to make extra money from the pay-per-view, from the gate, so there was an incentive always for them to look good. Now that incentive is gone because they’re promised great money for their next fight and the only sure way they’re going to get it is to not engage in a fight.”
Haney, who outpointed Ramirez in a lacklustre Times Square bout, also felt Arum’s wrath. “Devin Haney is a very good fighter. The fight with Ramirez was a disgrace, that was an absolute disgrace. But if you’re Devin Haney and getting good money for the fight with Ramirez and you’re going to get super money to fight [Ryan] Garcia because he assumed Garcia would win [against Rolando Romero] then why would he take any risks. That’s no good for boxing,” Arum fumed.
