Bob Arum denies meeting with Roger Mayweather

LAS VEGAS -- Did they or didn’t they?

Roger Mayweather, the trainer and uncle of unbeaten boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., told The Times on Thursday that he had casually discussed with promoter Bob Arum the idea of Timothy Bradley being Mayweather Jr.’s next opponent.

Arum denied on Friday that he had any such discussion with Roger Mayweather.

“I haven’t talked to him in over a year,” Arum said. “I wouldn’t talk to him about anything like that. No meeting ever existed. I never had a discussion with Roger Mayweather about anything to do with Floyd Mayweather. He made up a story.”

Asked about what Arum said, Roger Mayweather said Friday, “Oh, man, that’s a … lie. Why am I going to lie about that?”

Roger Mayweather explained he visited Arum’s Top Rank office in Las Vegas “about a month ago” to propose that the company promote an amateur fighter Mayweather has helped train.

He declined to identify the amateur fighter, and said he made no progress with the pitch, because the office conversation “went -- boom! -- to Bradley.”

At the office, Roger Mayweather said, he saw Arum and the trainer mentioned he thought the unbeaten Bradley from Palm Springs might be the best next opponent for his nephew.

Roger Mayweather only trains his nephew. He has nothing to do with arranging fights.

Arum formerly promoted Floyd Mayweather Jr., but the pair had a bitter parting and haven’t worked together in more than six years, the animosity complicating repeated efforts to make a Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao super-fight.

“I said, ‘My nephew could fight Bradley, and then Pacquiao,’ ” Roger Mayweather said. “I wasn’t there to negotiate. I wasn’t sent there by anyone. I just said, ‘Tim Bradley’s got a win over Pacquiao,’ and Arum said, ‘You know how that goes.’ ”

Bradley won a disputed split-decision victory over Pacquiao in June, then recovered from injuries in the fight. His wife, Monica, said Friday she hasn’t been told of any progress for a Mayweather Jr. fight.

Arum said last week that he believed Bradley would be a better choice for Mayweather Jr. than the other leading candidate, Robert Guerrero, a southpaw.

Asked what Bradley is doing, and when he’ll fight next, Arum last week said, “I don’t know. Maybe he’s waiting for the brass ring.”

On Friday, however, Arum wouldn’t touch the topic.

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