Ortiz dispute with Arum livens up undercard
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The bitter nature of Oxnard junior welterweight Victor Ortiz’s defection from Bob Arum’s Top Rank to Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions was evident toward the end of Thursday’s undercard news conference to tout Ortiz’s upcoming bout against Jeffrey Resto.
Arum ended the session by contending that Ortiz’s recent personal bankruptcy filing was a ploy to help him escape from his Top Rank contract to join Golden Boy, and that the move was orchestrated by managers Shelly Finkel and Rolando Arellano. Arum said he’s hired a powerful Los Angeles attorney firm to appeal the bankruptcy ruling, and plans to sue the managers for their interference.
‘We will prevail and you guys will pay through your nose!’ Arum barked, refusing to shake Arellano’s extended hand as he left the stage.
Arum later explained to a group of reporters that he is confident Ortiz will have to return to Top Rank, and that he remains under contract for 2 1/2 years.
‘We can understand if a fighter wants to break a contract based on a breach, but we just had this guy on a big [November 2007] card, and then these [managers] came in and told the kid, ‘We can get you out of the contract.’ It doesn’t work that way. If it did work that way, who the hell would invest in a fighter?
‘They’re going to pay through the nose and I don’t care if I have to spend a million to win a half-million. This goes to the very nature of the business.’
Arellano said he’s confident the bankruptcy ruling will be upheld. Ortiz said he wanted to ‘let my managers handle it.’
Promoter Richard Schaefer grew irritated when reporters questioned Ortiz about the matter: ‘He’s going to take care of his business inside the ring, not the outside, and if anyone else asks him any more questions about this, I’m going to get [upset].’
Arum was highly critical of Finkel’s involvement with Ortiz, whom The Times
featured in a story last year.
‘He’s a creep ... the biggest creep who’s ever been involved in the sport of boxing.’
That prompted a nearby reporter to crack, ‘That’s saying a lot.’
Arum replied: ‘I can’t even look at him.’
‘Everything’s a matter of opinion, isn’t it,’ Finkel said. ‘He’s upset the kid left, and he went crazy. The kid’s a good fighter, and Bob’s going to lose the appeal. [Ortiz] is very gifted and if things go the way they should, he should be fighting for a [world] title maybe at the end of next year.’
-- Lance Pugmire
