Bob Arum
Bob Arum is the founder and chief executive officer of Top Rank, a Las Vegas-based professional boxing promotion company. He has also been a part of the tax division of the US Attorneys’ Office for the southern district of New York.
Arum was raised by a Jewish family and was born on December 8, 1931 in New York City. He went to New York University where he was the president of the student body, then to Harvard Law School where he graduated cum laude.
With a high quality education and entrepreneurial skills to back him up, he became a successful boxing promoter and even rivaled Don King at one point. Some of the most memorable fights he organized were Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns and Danny Lopez vs. Juan Malvares.
Working as a lawyer in the United States Department of Justice, Arum became very interested in boxing in 1965. It was when he left the Justice Department and joined Louis Nizer’s law firm that he met football star Jim Brown, the one who introduced him to Muhammad Ali.
In 1966, Bob Arum promoted several of Ali’s fights through a company he found called Main Bout Inc. Since then, he has promoted numerous champions, including George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Iran Barkley, James Toney, Larry Holmes, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Oscar de la Hoya among others.