Notebook: Chinese connection ahead if Rahman wins

Originally Published: August 4, 2006

Email Print Share

By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
Archive

AROUND THE RING

Rahman headed for China?

Big plans lay ahead for Rahman, left, if he wins on Aug. 12. (AP/Obed Zilwa)

If Hasim Rahman can retain his heavyweight title against Oleg Maskaev on Aug. 12 (HBO PPV) in Las Vegas, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has big plans and a lot of frequent-flier miles for him.

Arum told ESPN.com that he is talking to Showtime boxing boss Ken Hershman about holding a Rahman title defense Nov. 4 in Macau, a special administrative region of China located off the southern coast that has become a major tourist destination and enjoys autonomy from mainland China similar to Hong Kong's.

Arum would do the proposed fight against an opponent to be decided at the Wynn Macau, hotel magnate Steve Wynn's latest project, a $1.2 billion, 600-room resort modeled after his year-old Wynn Las Vegas resort. It opens in September, and Arum said he is going to attend the grand opening.

Since the opening of Wynn Las Vegas, which is playing co-host to Rahman-Maskaev along with Caesars Palace, Arum and Wynn have enjoyed a close business relationship. Arum has been the only supplier of fights for the resort, and he hopes to extend that monopoly to the Macau property and a potentially rich Asian market.

"I want to do something spectacular there," Arum said. "I've talked to the Wynn people and the Rahman people and they would love to do it. I am working on it. If Rock does his part and wins the fight with Maskaev, we can make this happen. I need to work outside the box and do innovative things like this."

The Rahman camp is on board, and very interested in going to Macau.

"We've all discussed it and if everything comes out right with Maskaev, we want to get right back in the ring as quickly as possible," said Steve Nelson, Rahman's co-manager. "We know we can't get [a unification fight with] Klitschko until at least the first quarter of 2007, and we don't want to sit around. Rock is not good with layoffs, so it's full steam ahead, keep busy. That's what is best for Rock."

On April 22, 2000, Showtime became the first network to nationally televise boxing from China to the United States when it aired a card from Guangzhou featuring heavyweight Andrew Golota and female star Laila Ali.

A return trip to China is not out of the question, Hershman said, although nothing is set in stone.

"We toss around ideas [with Top Rank] all the time and that's one we've discussed," he said. "We did talk about November and Rahman in a general way. At this point, I am considering a whole host of options."

Calendar confusion

All along, HBO's fall plan was for two of its contract fighters to fight on back-to-back Saturdays in early December to close out the year. Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor was going to defend his title Dec. 2 and welterweight titlist Ricky Hatton would finish HBO's boxing year Dec. 9.


	Taylor

However, there is now a cloud of confusion. Promoters for both fighters, claiming to have the blessing of HBO, are making plans for cards on Dec. 9, leaving HBO to sort out a potentially embarrassing mess.

Artie Pelullo, co-promoter for Hatton, told ESPN.com that he has e-mail confirmation from HBO giving him Dec. 9 to plan Hatton's next fight. That's just what Pelullo did, securing a site deal for a venue in Atlanta and narrowing the field of opponents to Oktay Urkal, Hatton's mandatory challenger and Juan Urango, a junior middleweight belt holder who recently won one of the titles Hatton vacated earlier in the year so he could go up in weight.


	Hatton

The Hatton camp has agreements in place with both camps, and now it's a matter of the team deciding which opponent to select.

"All I know is that the date belongs to Ricky Hatton," Pelullo said. "It was given to us, it's our date and we are running with it. I don't know anything else."

DiBella, meanwhile, was working on a deal for Taylor to defend Dec. 2 against "Contender" Season One winner Sergio Mora in Las Vegas or Los Angeles in a probable HBO PPV fight.


	Mora

However, Mora is scheduled to fight Eric Regan Aug. 25 on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights," and DiBella and the Mora camp still have no deal. Therefore, rather than rush Taylor-Mora for the end of the year, DiBella and the Mora people decided to put the fight off until the first part of next year.

That would allow Taylor to have the homecoming fight in Little Rock, Ark., that he has wanted since beating Bernard Hopkins for the title last summer.

So DiBella booked Little Rock's Alltel Arena for Dec. 9 for Taylor's next fight, which could come against Giovanni Lorenzo. DiBella and Carl Moretti of Lorenzo promoter Main Events will meet Saturday in New York at DiBella's card at the Madison Square Garden Theater to talk about a deal.

DiBella insists that he also was given the green light by HBO to go on Dec. 9.

"As far as I know, I have the date," DiBella said.

Both promoters insist they have no intention of moving back to Dec. 2, especially now that Showtime figures to have a strong competing card featuring Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito in separate bouts from Atlantic City, N.J.

HBO had no comment.

Hatton-Castillo in early 2007?

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com that he and Artie Pelullo, who co-promotes Ricky Hatton, have had several discussions about matching former lightweight champ Jose Luis Castillo with Hatton in an HBO PPV fight in the first quarter of 2007.


	Castillo

A few things need to fall into place first, however. Hatton needs to win a December bout and Castillo needs to serve the suspension that the Nevada Athletic Commission will dole out later this month to punish him for missing weight for his June rubber match with Diego Corrales, which led to the fight being canceled.

"We'd like to have Castillo fight Hatton," Arum said. "I have talked to Artie, [co-promoter] Dennis Hobson, all of them. It's a big fight and I think it would do very well. It's an exciting match."

Arum said one of the reasons that junior welterweight titlist Juan Urango is being considered as Hatton's December opponent is so Hatton can go down in weight to reclaim a title at 140 pounds, which would give Castillo a belt to challenge for.

Hatton won the recognized junior welterweight championship last summer against Kostya Tszyu but relinquished it this year in order to move up. Hatton won a welterweight belt from Luis Collazo in a close May fight.

Arum said making Hatton-Castillo depends largely on what happens with Castillo's punishment in Nevada.

"They'll probably suspend him until the end of the year," Arum said. "If they do that, we would have him fight in Mexico in a tune-up fight at the end of the year and then have him ready for March or April on HBO PPV. Castillo can make 140. We'll make sure he makes weight this time. No more screwing around. We'll have him work with the folks at Velocity Personal Training, like [Erik] Morales is doing to get ready for the fight with Manny Pacquiao. From now on, my fighters in these big fights will work with them if they have problems with their weight, or they won't fight for me."