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Boxing promoter Bob Arum this week recounted a time GOP front runner Donald Trump allegedly swindled him and another promoter, along with that promoter’s wife, out of $2.5 million more than two decades ago. The other promoter was Dan Duva, who passed away in 1996. His wife, Kathy, was intimately involved in the deal.
The alleged “swindle” happened on April 18, 1991 with the promotion of the heavyweight title fight between champion Evander Holyfield and challenger George Foreman in Atlantic City. The two men wanted a casino to sponsor the fight. They would ultimately approach Mr. Trump, who at the time was a major player in Atlanta City.
On July 16, 1991, 15 months after it opened and just three months after Holyfield-Foreman, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino declared bankruptcy.
The promotion for the fight was in full swing when Trump sent a fax to Arum at Top Rank and the Duvas at Main Events. Both Arum and Kathy Duva recall it was roughly 10 days to two weeks before the fight.
"Dan got one and I got one from Trump's office saying, 'The deal is off [because of an] act of war,' " Arum said. "We thought it was a joke, and I went to the press and said, 'There's no act of war unless and until Sadam Hussein lands troops on the beaches of Atlantic City. That's the only way it would be an act of war.' But Trump insisted it was an act of war."
Kathy Duva said "the bottom was falling out of the real estate market" at the time and Trump's casinos were struggling badly.
Eventually, Arum and the two Duvas wound up in Trump's office and Trump basically said he wasn't going to live up to the contract.
"He was very calm and very relaxed and he said to us, 'I know we had a deal and I know this was what I was supposed to give you, but I'm not going to be able to give you that,' " she said. "He said that he just couldn't give us what we were supposed to get. Dan said, 'Well, we have a contract,' and Trump looked at him and very calmly said, 'Well, you can sue me if you want.' "
Arum and Duva ultimately reached a settlement with Trump for far less than what was originally agreed to but only because the fight was too close to find another sponsor.
Kathy Duva added: "Every time I saw Donald after that, he'd tell me how badly he felt about it. Well you could still give it to me.' Whenever his name would come up, I'd joke about it with people and tell them, 'Yeah, he felt badly, but not badly enough to make it up and pay us.' "
Trump is listed with 5-1 odds of becoming the next US President.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
