Boxing promoter claims Donald Trump once 'swindled' him out of $2.5m after 'act of war'

A boxing promoter has previously claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump “swindled” him and a colleague out of $2.5 million.

Trump, 78, is an avid golfer and is often spotted playing the sport when his busy schedule outside of politics allows him to take to the course.

However, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the 45th & 47th U.S. President was involved with boxing and even rubbed shoulders with the likes of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

But the sport is a cut-throat world where villains often thrive – namely promoters who even to this day are not always well received by fans.

And legendary promoter Bob Arum once claimed Trump “swindled” him and his partner Dan Duva out of $2.5m.

According to The Telegraph’s Gareth A. Davies, Arum, 93, and Duva, who died aged 94 in 2017, both claimed the now-President manipulated a deal with them as site hosts for a fight between Holyfield and George Foreman in Atlantic City back in 1991.

As reported by Yahoo, the Duvas and their company, Main Events, promoted Holyfield. Arum and his company, Top Rank, promoted Foreman.

And both parties had agreed that the fight would take place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. They wanted a local casino to sponsor the event.

So, bids were subsequently accepted from Caesars Atlantic City and from Trump.

Caesars bid $11 million for the bout, while Trump's bid was around $11.5 million.

"I told Dan we should go with Caesars because they were more responsible," Arum said.

"But Dan said, 'No, a deal is a deal. We have to go with Trump because he outbid Caesars by $500,000.' "

Trump then earned the right to host the fight.

Donald Trump was involved with boxing in the 1980s and 1990s (Credit:Getty)

Little did Arum and Duva know that the Persian Gulf War was about to begin, causing then-President George H.W. Bush to send American troops to Kuwait.

Promotion for the fight was ongoing when Trump sent a fax to Arum and the Duvas’ respective promotional companies.

"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 Saddam 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."

However, it was too late to postpone the fight and find another sponsor, so the trio reached a deal, which Arum wasn’t too pleased with.

"So he tells us that we could keep the gate, he'd give us $1 million, and he'd give us a bunch of hotel rooms," Arum said. "At the end of the day, we took in, with the sale of the tickets and with the million dollars [from Trump], $9 million.

"So to this day, I am angry at Donald Trump because he swindled us, and that's the only way to say it, he swindled Dan and myself out of $2½ million."

“He [Donald Trump] most definitely promoted himself into the presidency in exactly the same way he promoted fights and has promoted himself his whole life,” Duva said.

“He could say things and it would sound completely outrageous, but by the time he got through, it was the truth.”