I am legally going to enjoy an edible with Bob Arum before we fly to England.

There is a big fight this weekend.

BIG.

Vasyl Lomachenko (14-1) will look to defend his pair of lightweight belts (WBO and WBA) AND unify the division by adding that final infinity stone: Teofimo Lopez's (15-0) IBF strap.

(technically, there is a 4th lightweight belt, but nobody seems to care about Devin Haney's WBC title)

I just got off of a plane, and now I am in a cab, on my way to the bubble at the MGM. 

I will break the fight down to its very last compound after I see the fighters tomorrow morning, but before I left NYC, I was able to sit down with the man behind the fight… The legendary promoter, Bob Arum.

"Who the fuck is Bob Arum, Large?"

Try to think of the name of any boxer from recent history… We'll say all the way back to Ali… that you thought was any good.

Do you have that name in your head?

"Yessir."

Bob Arum promoted at least one of his fights.

USA Today culled together some numbers on just how many events Arum has had his fingers in, and I found the list staggering…

BOB ARUM BY THE NUMBERS:

2,079: Fight cards promoted
824: Shows on ESPN family of networks
655: World title fights promoted
219: American cities in which Top Rank has promoted
129: Shows promoted on HBO
92: Foreign or international cities in which Top Rank has promoted
63: Shows promoted in Puerto Rico
52: Shows promoted in Mexico
49: Pay-per-view shows promoted
42: States in which Top Rank has promoted boxing
41: Miguel Cotto fights promoted
38: Michael Carbajal fights promoted
38: Shows promoted in New York City
37: Oscar De La Hoya fights promoted
36: Johnny Tapia fights promoted
35: Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights promoted
33: James Toney fights promoted
32: Erik Morales fights promoted
28: Iran Barkley fights promoted
27: Muhammad Ali fights promoted or co-promoted
26: Foreign countries in which Top Rank has promoted, plus Puerto Rico
25: Freddie Roach fights promoted
23: World heavyweight title fights promoted
22: Terence Crawford fights promoted
20: Marvelous Marvin Hagler fights promoted
20: Manny Pacquiao fights promoted
19: Juan Manuel Marquez fights promoted
14: George Foreman fights promoted
14: Shows promoted in China
13: Thomas Hearns fights promoted
10: Alexis Arguello fights promoted
10: Ray Mancini fights promoted
9: Timothy Bradley Jr. fights promoted
8: Roberto Duran fights promoted
7: Sugar Ray Leonard fights promoted
7: Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. fights promoted
5: Carlos Monzón fights promoted
5: Emile Griffith fights promoted
4: Mike Tyson fights promoted
3: Tyson Fury fights promoted
2: Larry Holmes fights promoted
1: Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon jump promoted

So, on the surface, this looks simply like a long interview with an 88-year-old Jewish guy from Brooklyn who is worth over $300 million… But Bob and I (outside of this weekend's bouts) wind up covering our shared affinity for edibles, Evel Knievel, and the future of the heavyweight division.

Give it a peek, and take a report.

-Large

I found it interesting that Bob passed on the opportunity to shit on Don King, but Gerry Cooney and I didn't in The Twisted History of the Sweet Science…

TAR.

-L