Promoter Bob Arum speaks to the media at a Manny Pacquiao open workout on April 15, 2015. Photo by Harry How/Getty Images.

He seems to want to do the right thing, not poke a stick at the beehive … but he’s Bob Arum, y’all.

He has an octogenarian proclivity for being candid now, and, frankly, it’s always been there. The man never had to be prodded into speaking his heart.

The dealmaker, chatting with media in the tent-room housing working press next to the MGM in Las Vegas, was asked Tuesday what he thought about Floyd Mayweather Jr. saying he was better than The Greatest, Muhammad Ali.

Arum paused. Already, he’d said a couple times that he had no bone to pick with Floyd, that the acrimony present during this promotion was aimed at, in his eyes, MGM boss Richard Sturm and Mayweather adviser Al Haymon.

“Better than Ali at what? At spending money? Buying cars? C’mon … I’m not gonna trash Mayweather, but don’t say that,” Arum said. “He’s not better than Ali, he’s not better than Sugar Ray Robinson, not better than Leonard. He’s a good fighter. A terrific fighter but leave it at that.”

In case you missed it, master pot-stirrer Mayweather told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, “I’m a better boxer than Muhammad Ali,” and then when given the opp to back down on a conference call, didn’t do so. An Ali surrogate, comfortable with the stance, took to Twitter to allow The Greatest to respond: “Don’t you forget, I am the greatest!”

It’s the sort of kerfuffle tailor-made for this age, as we have so many platforms in which to engage in pointless debate. But I know some historians who don’t think Mayweather is a top five all-time welterweight … so … I guess we can kick this around on Twitter for a spell longer.

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