Short Jabs

Richard Hoffer

April 17, 2006

Hurt in recent years by poor draws for bouts featuring African-American fighters, Bob Arum, 74, decided to pitch those fighters as he has his Latin moneymakers--targeting their fans as a niche market. For Mayweather-Judah, he ignored ESPN and USA Today and directed his ad money to hip-hop radio stations instead. It seemed to work (selling out the Thomas & Mack Center), though there was that confusion in Baltimore when Arum asked a deejay if he had any Sinatra on the playlist.... After Sergei Liakhovich took Lamon Brewster's WBO heavyweight title two weeks ago, there are two Russian champions in the division. (Nikolay Valuev owns the WBA belt.) Two more Russians will fight for the WBC and IBF titles later this year.