Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is not bothered by the recent comments from WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero, who says Arum's company was unable to afford a unification clash with WBA, IBF champion Naoya Inoue.

The fight was originally scheduled to take place back in April, in Las Vegas, with the entire event being canceled due to the coronaviris pandemic.

Since that period, the two champions have gone in separate directions.

Casimero retained his world title back in September, when he blew away Duke Micah in three rounds, as part of a Showtime Pay-Per-View event.

And Inoue was back in action last month, when he dropped and stopped Jason Moloney.

Arum admits the fight is not doable while the pandemic is still raging and fans are unable to attend the event.

“So who is going to pay for it without the [live] gates? I cannot afford that fight—Casimero and Inoue—inside the bubble, I just can’t [pay for it],” Arum told Josef Ramos of the Business Mirror.

“They really need spectators who would watch [live] and pay for the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to get good revenues. I can’t keep doing these fights during the pandemic where I can’t get spectators although MGM wants to do the next Inoue fight. They want to do it to bring in tourists and wealthy gamblers from Japan, but can’t do that while the pandemic is [going] on.

"[Casimero] should be patient. When Inoue fights next year, Casimero is right there. They already mentioned Casimero and I think he will be next."