And with that, Richard Schaefer, the former Swiss banker who gave up his career in 2000 to help build Golden Boy Promotions into one of the most powerful companies in the boxing business, announced Wednesday that he is returning to the sport as an independent promoter after a two-year absence.
Schaefer formed a new promotional entity a few weeks ago called Ringstar Sports and said he’s already been licensed in New York, Texas and California, and has applied in Nevada.
Schaefer resigned as the CEO at Golden Boy in June 2014 and was sued by Golden Boy founder Oscar De La Hoya, who claimed Schaefer breached his fiduciary duties. De La Hoya sought $50 million, and eventually the two settled in arbitration. Schaefer signed a non-compete clause that expired in August 2015, freeing him to return to the sport.
“I could have come back then, but I really wanted to take my time and do things right,” Schaefer told USA TODAY Sports. “The next order of business is to go and recruit the best team. I want to have the best team in boxing again, from matchmakers to operational staff, marketing staff and foreign sales.
“At the same time, I want to start to have some conversations with TV networks as well. Once I have a team and sponsors and networks lined up, then I will go and aggressively pursue some of the young Olympians coming out of Rio and build them into the first generation of Ringstars.
“I will also aggressively pursue promotional free agents, current or former champions and rising stars, and give them the benefit of my expertise, which always was to empower the fighters. With me, the fighters always got paid a lot more than anywhere else.”
Schaefer said he will not be aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, as had been rumored since Schaefer left the business, or with Mayweather Promotions.
“This is totally on my own, it’s a natural evolution,” he said. “Though I would hope that I might be able to promote some of the PBC events.”
Schaefer said he has had and will continue to have conversations with potential capital partners, and that at a later point, he might invite some capital partners in to expand Ringstar, not only domestically but globally.
“I want to build it as the next great promotional powerhouse and I’m as enthusiastic as I ever was about boxing,” he said. “You see boxing today on more channels, and it has more exposure than it ever has. I got into it in 2000, and I’ve never seen as much exposure as boxing now has. While there might be some challenges, I think the challenges are exactly what makes it an opportunity as well.”
Schaefer has been seen at several big boxing events since he left the sport — maybe 8-10 by his count.
“I believe in the sport. I’m very passionate about it. This for me is not a job, it’s a lifestyle,” he said. “And I think that’s why I became so good at it, because it is my life and I’m excited to be back.”
Schaefer said he has been touched by how many fans and media members approached him and encouraged him to come back. “All of that inspired me to continue to help bring the visibility and the excitement of the sport of boxing.
“Love me or hate me, I was always very colorful and accessible to the media, I was always good for a colorful quote and I do think that is one of the reasons why, if you look at some of the biggest boxing events in the last 15 years, I was involved in more than half of them. It was amazing that if you look at the 20 largest (grossing) gates of all time, I was involved in more than half of them.”
It is the promotional aspect, Schaefer said, that intrigues him and brought him back into the business. It is a part of the business of boxing, he insists, that has been largely missing recently, with some exceptions, and it is something he believes he excels in.
“I like to do big events. And big events don’t just happen. You need to know how to build them,” he said. “To tell the story and to promote. That’s the key thing: promote. That’s the big thing missing these days. You have the big events, but promotion is missing, and that is what gets me going: The passion I have about fighters and events. And the beneficiary of that passion is the fighter. Because he’s going to make more money.
“You saw that at the very highest level with Floyd Mayweather. It starts and ends with his skills, of course, but I dare say I was not an insignificant part, and Floyd was the first to acknowledge that, in helping him to become the highest paid athlete in the world.”
Schaefer said it reminds him of when he and De La Hoya started Golden Boy Promotions in 2000, and they had a desire to break the then-pay-per-view Mike Tyson record of 1,990,000 homes.
“People laughed at me and said that was way back when they had all these great heavyweights, and you’re never going to break those records because it’s a different time. And look what we did. We didn’t just break them, we shattered them,” he said.
“I want to break these records again. I want to make boxing as big as it’s ever been and I like my chances.”
Schaefer takes issue with the constant criticism of the Premier Boxing Champions fight cards on the networks.
“With the PBC, they do so many fights, and they’re always getting criticized. Look at this past weekend. ‘Oh, it’s a mismatch. (Joe) Smith shouldn’t be allowed to be in the same ring with (Andrzej) Fonfara, this is one-sided, and how can they do that? And boom, we all know what happened.”
Smith knocked out Fonfara in the first round.
“I think the promotional aspect of PBC could be better,” he said. “But the fact that they have been able to bring boxing back to network TV is fantastic. You get (1.6 million) people watching on TV and they say, ‘oh, this is horrible.’ But it really isn’t when you compare it to these other things, like soccer. What kind of ratings does soccer get? The networks are paying big license fees to MLS to show MLS games. And yet their ratings are half or less than PBC.
“I really applaud PBC and Al for what they have done. After two years. Nobody can do (what they need to get done) in two years, you have to give them five years. I hope I get the opportunity to promote these events.”
Schaefer said he hopes to be promoting his first event by late summer. But he doesn’t want to do it the way other promoters have.
“They sign fighters first then try to get TV networks and stuff like that. That’s the wrong way,” he said. “You’re going to have to first get your platform, TV networks, sponsors, then you go after the fighters so you can offer them something, and you can empower the fighters. That’s what I want to do.
“I will be in Rio and try to sign some of the Olympians, and other amateurs who maybe didn’t make it. And I want to pursue promotional free agents, Champions and former champions and who knows? Maybe we’ll find the next Floyd Mayweather.”
Schaefer says he doesn’t expect to run into any problems with top promoters such as De La Hoya and Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who Schaefer says knows so much about the promotional side of the business and taught him much.
“I don’t have any problems. This is in the rear-view mirror and I’m sure there are events and fights where we might work together,” he said. “I’ve moved on. Oscar is telling everybody how great he’s doing and how great Golden Boy is doing, and that’s great. I hope it’s true. I wish him nothing but the best and who knows? Maybe we’ll work together again.
“With Bob (Arum), I have many great memories, too. I know boxing can be a nasty business. I just want to focus on my new company, Ringstar, and bring positives to the sport. That’s my main focus. I don’t want to get caught up in all these other things.”
Article courtesy of USA Today
Schaefer formed a new promotional entity a few weeks ago called Ringstar Sports and said he’s already been licensed in New York, Texas and California, and has applied in Nevada.
Schaefer resigned as the CEO at Golden Boy in June 2014 and was sued by Golden Boy founder Oscar De La Hoya, who claimed Schaefer breached his fiduciary duties. De La Hoya sought $50 million, and eventually the two settled in arbitration. Schaefer signed a non-compete clause that expired in August 2015, freeing him to return to the sport.
“I could have come back then, but I really wanted to take my time and do things right,” Schaefer told USA TODAY Sports. “The next order of business is to go and recruit the best team. I want to have the best team in boxing again, from matchmakers to operational staff, marketing staff and foreign sales.
“At the same time, I want to start to have some conversations with TV networks as well. Once I have a team and sponsors and networks lined up, then I will go and aggressively pursue some of the young Olympians coming out of Rio and build them into the first generation of Ringstars.
“I will also aggressively pursue promotional free agents, current or former champions and rising stars, and give them the benefit of my expertise, which always was to empower the fighters. With me, the fighters always got paid a lot more than anywhere else.”
Schaefer said he will not be aligned with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, as had been rumored since Schaefer left the business, or with Mayweather Promotions.
“This is totally on my own, it’s a natural evolution,” he said. “Though I would hope that I might be able to promote some of the PBC events.”
Schaefer said he has had and will continue to have conversations with potential capital partners, and that at a later point, he might invite some capital partners in to expand Ringstar, not only domestically but globally.
“I want to build it as the next great promotional powerhouse and I’m as enthusiastic as I ever was about boxing,” he said. “You see boxing today on more channels, and it has more exposure than it ever has. I got into it in 2000, and I’ve never seen as much exposure as boxing now has. While there might be some challenges, I think the challenges are exactly what makes it an opportunity as well.”
Schaefer has been seen at several big boxing events since he left the sport — maybe 8-10 by his count.
“I believe in the sport. I’m very passionate about it. This for me is not a job, it’s a lifestyle,” he said. “And I think that’s why I became so good at it, because it is my life and I’m excited to be back.”
Schaefer said he has been touched by how many fans and media members approached him and encouraged him to come back. “All of that inspired me to continue to help bring the visibility and the excitement of the sport of boxing.
“Love me or hate me, I was always very colorful and accessible to the media, I was always good for a colorful quote and I do think that is one of the reasons why, if you look at some of the biggest boxing events in the last 15 years, I was involved in more than half of them. It was amazing that if you look at the 20 largest (grossing) gates of all time, I was involved in more than half of them.”
It is the promotional aspect, Schaefer said, that intrigues him and brought him back into the business. It is a part of the business of boxing, he insists, that has been largely missing recently, with some exceptions, and it is something he believes he excels in.
“I like to do big events. And big events don’t just happen. You need to know how to build them,” he said. “To tell the story and to promote. That’s the key thing: promote. That’s the big thing missing these days. You have the big events, but promotion is missing, and that is what gets me going: The passion I have about fighters and events. And the beneficiary of that passion is the fighter. Because he’s going to make more money.
“You saw that at the very highest level with Floyd Mayweather. It starts and ends with his skills, of course, but I dare say I was not an insignificant part, and Floyd was the first to acknowledge that, in helping him to become the highest paid athlete in the world.”
Schaefer said it reminds him of when he and De La Hoya started Golden Boy Promotions in 2000, and they had a desire to break the then-pay-per-view Mike Tyson record of 1,990,000 homes.
“People laughed at me and said that was way back when they had all these great heavyweights, and you’re never going to break those records because it’s a different time. And look what we did. We didn’t just break them, we shattered them,” he said.
“I want to break these records again. I want to make boxing as big as it’s ever been and I like my chances.”
Schaefer takes issue with the constant criticism of the Premier Boxing Champions fight cards on the networks.
“With the PBC, they do so many fights, and they’re always getting criticized. Look at this past weekend. ‘Oh, it’s a mismatch. (Joe) Smith shouldn’t be allowed to be in the same ring with (Andrzej) Fonfara, this is one-sided, and how can they do that? And boom, we all know what happened.”
Smith knocked out Fonfara in the first round.
“I think the promotional aspect of PBC could be better,” he said. “But the fact that they have been able to bring boxing back to network TV is fantastic. You get (1.6 million) people watching on TV and they say, ‘oh, this is horrible.’ But it really isn’t when you compare it to these other things, like soccer. What kind of ratings does soccer get? The networks are paying big license fees to MLS to show MLS games. And yet their ratings are half or less than PBC.
“I really applaud PBC and Al for what they have done. After two years. Nobody can do (what they need to get done) in two years, you have to give them five years. I hope I get the opportunity to promote these events.”
Schaefer said he hopes to be promoting his first event by late summer. But he doesn’t want to do it the way other promoters have.
“They sign fighters first then try to get TV networks and stuff like that. That’s the wrong way,” he said. “You’re going to have to first get your platform, TV networks, sponsors, then you go after the fighters so you can offer them something, and you can empower the fighters. That’s what I want to do.
“I will be in Rio and try to sign some of the Olympians, and other amateurs who maybe didn’t make it. And I want to pursue promotional free agents, Champions and former champions and who knows? Maybe we’ll find the next Floyd Mayweather.”
Schaefer says he doesn’t expect to run into any problems with top promoters such as De La Hoya and Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who Schaefer says knows so much about the promotional side of the business and taught him much.
“I don’t have any problems. This is in the rear-view mirror and I’m sure there are events and fights where we might work together,” he said. “I’ve moved on. Oscar is telling everybody how great he’s doing and how great Golden Boy is doing, and that’s great. I hope it’s true. I wish him nothing but the best and who knows? Maybe we’ll work together again.
“With Bob (Arum), I have many great memories, too. I know boxing can be a nasty business. I just want to focus on my new company, Ringstar, and bring positives to the sport. That’s my main focus. I don’t want to get caught up in all these other things.”
Article courtesy of USA Today
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