The New Year will kick off with a big fight if Top Rank’s Bob Arum is able to reach a deal with Antonio Margarito to fight Shane Mosley on Jan. 24 in a bout that, if it happens, will be on HBO.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer already has reached a deal for the fight with Mosley. Arum has yet to come to contractual terms with Margarito, but said he is confident he’ll be able work a deal with Margarito’s management without significant difficulty.
“I never want to say anything is done until it is done, but we have our side completed and we are waiting on Bob to work with his side,” Schaefer said. “I feel very good about this, but this is the kind of a thing where, until it’s done, I don’t really want to say too much about it.”
Arum said he hoped to put the fight at either the MGM Grand Garden or the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, though there are complications. The Super Bowl is the next weekend and is traditionally one of the biggest weekends of the year for Las Vegas casinos, so they may be hesitant to host a boxing match the week before and bring in their high-rolling customers.
Additionally, the MGM Grand is hosting UFC 94 on Jan. 31, but Arum said he is optimistic he could get a deal done with the company to host the fight in Las Vegas.
“The good thing is, if we get this fight done, this is a fight that you know a couple of months ago almost certainly would have been on pay-per-view and now, it’s going on HBO, so it’s a good deal for the fans,” Arum said.