Bob Arum Irate At NSAC Over Franco-Moloney 2 Outcome

Top Rank Boxing’s Bob Arum is not happy with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

This weekend, all the focus was on the WBO Welterweight Title fight between champion Terence Crawford and Kell Brook. There was, however, a title fight that took place on that same card. What most fight fans were expecting was a decent appetizer to Crawford vs. Brook. Instead, those who tuned in on ESPN saw a controversial ruling that took almost 30 minutes to make official.

Joshua Franco put the WBA (Regular) Super-Flyweight Title on the line against Andrew Moloney in a rematch. Franco’s eye closed rather quickly in the fight. Referee Russell Mora declared this to be caused by an accidental headbutt. The ESPN production crew didn’t find any evidence of the headbutt, leading the commentators to conclude that Moloney’s jab caused the injury.

The fight was stopped, and ringside officials needed nearly 30 minutes to go through the replays only to declare the fight a No Contest.

Arum was none too pleased and even got into a shouting match with NSAC executive director Bob Bennett. Speaking to Fight Hype, Arum didn’t hold back on his feelings regarding the situation (h/t BoxingScene.com).

”They waited until the end of the fight and they kept with it to protect the referee who didn’t know what the hell he was doing. I am absolutely disgusted…I just want a fair adjudication, they made a mistake, the referee made a mistake. It’s clear, it’s not even close.”

Arum then made it clear that in order to avoid mishaps such as this one from happening again, he needs Top Rank Boxing cards to “get the f*ck out of Vegas.”