By Mitch Abramson
Golden Boy Promotions is revving up its efforts to stage a monthly boxing series at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next year with a significant hiring this week and change of address for another key mover- and-shaker.
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told BoxingScene.com that fight agent Don Majeski will be the matchmaker for the Big Apple boxing series, while Golden Boy COO David Itskowitch has already moved back to the city he grew up in and will be heavily involved in the show’s promotion, Schaefer said.
A number of New York-based promoters were initially upset that an L.A. based company such as Golden Boy swooped in and struck a significant deal in July of last year. The furor has died down, but the activity by Golden Boy has not. While Itskowitch acknowledged his move back east was “personal” and was unrelated to Golden Boy’s venture in Brooklyn, it does place him a stone’s throw away from the boxing arena and future home of the Nets.
Majeski, who cited the ubiquitous Al Haymon as an early advocate for his selection as matchmaker, wasted little time in trumpeting the series, calling for Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to meet in the show’s inaugural main event.
“You have to think on that level,” Majeski said. “Why can’t we do that fight? What has to be done to make that fight happen? It’s about legacy. The sky is the limit. This is going to be wonderful for New York. We’re going to make this into the Carnegie Hall of boxing.”
After the deal was hatched-it’s a three-year contract to do monthly shows- Golden Boy went out and inked a number of well-known fighters from the area, such as Paulie Malignaggi, Peter Quillin, and most recently 5-0 Eddie Gomez, a former Golden Gloves champion (who is fighting at the Paradise Theater on Aug. 19 in the Bronx). Schaefer anticipates the series starting in the fall of next year, possibly around September and could showcase not only local fighters but also some of the stars of the Golden Boy stable such as Amir Khan and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
If the series is a success and Golden Boy allows its marquee fighters to appear, it would be the first New York monthly boxing series of its kind in years to not be predominantly full of club fights.
“We want to create champions and stars with this boxing series,” Schaefer said over the phone. “We want to focus on the diversity of New York by having all of the ethnicities of New York represented. We want to see the Italian Americans and Dominicans and the Puerto Rican fighters on our cards. We want to give everybody a chance to see the fighters that they can identify with. It’s going to be great for the city and great for the fight fans.”
Schaefer, his feet a little firmer on the ground, imagined the popular Quillin (25-0, 19 knockouts) fighting for a world title in the opener. Itskowitch said that Golden Boy and the Barclays Center may promote a show in Brooklyn leading up to the first show as a way to whet the public’s appetite for boxing.
“We’re still a year away from the first show,” Itskowitch said. “[The Barclays Center] is just hiring their staff, starting to fill it out. I’ve been dealing with them and we’re still trying to pin down the first date. We want it to be an HBO event. With boxing it’s tough because so much can happen 14-15 months from now. But we’re starting to work things out.”
While Golden Boy has signed up a number of local fighters, Itskowitch, who sharpened his teeth in the business working for Lou DiBella, expects the cards to blend local flavor with famous out-of-towners.
“It makes sense for the main or the co-main to be a guy from New York,” Itskowitch said. “But look, if Bernard Hopkins is going to headline, I’m sure local fans would like to see him; I could envision a “Canelo” or an Amir Khan- fighters who aren’t necessarily from New York but they could hold shows there.”
Majeski, who works as a matchmaker and advisor to IBF super middleweight champ Lucian Bute (they’re still looking for a Dec. 5 opponent for the Showtime date), promised competitive fights in Brooklyn, not blowouts to improve the standing of a Golden Boy fighter.
“The fans are No. 1,” he said. “And I don’t think that fighters have to be coddled. If a fighter loses, they have to know that they’re still going to be able to come back. We’re going to make good fights. I promise this. There will be no mismatches in this building. The fans are going to want to come back to see great fights.”
Majeski, bubbling with ideas, suggested that a seasoned boxing staff still needed to be assembled, with a publicist and an assistant matchmaker (“I have a dream team,” he says.) en tow. He added that a deal needs to be hammered out with a hotel chain to house the fighters and their people to compete with the free room and board provided by Las Vegas casinos.
Another element is the television; Majeski likens the Barclays Center to Madison Square Garden. The Barclays Center recently hired a new vice president of programming, Sean Saadeh, who will be working with Golden Boy on the boxing series, a Barclays Center spokesman said.
“The Garden has the MSG Network,” he said. “We can have our own TV, too.”
Even though Golden Boy is the exclusive promoter of the Barclays Center, it’s still open to working with other promoters on a given show, much in the same way that Golden Boy is working with Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing for Gomez’s Aug. 19 show, Iskowitch said.
“There was a lot of outcry when we first announced that we’re going to be the exclusive promoter of the building,” Iskowitch said. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to work with other promoters. We’re open to working with everyone for the good of the show.”
On a personal note, both Itskowitch and Majeski, two lifelong New Yorkers, are taking a special pleasure in working on a project that will impact their hometown. Itskowitch grew up in Manhattan, attending the Horace Mann School before working for Lou DiBella at HBO and later for DiBella's own promotional company. Majeski, 58, is a resident of College Point, who grew up in Elmhurst and got his start selling fight programs outside Madison Square Garden in the mid ‘60s. He was working for Bert Sugar, who had just taken over Boxing Illustrated in 1970 by the time he was in high school. The colorful Majeski has also worked for Don King and Butch Lewis, among others in a career that started with lofty aspirations.
“I’ve wanted to be two things all my life,” Majeski said, “chief curator of the Bronx Zoo and the director of boxing for Madison Square Garden. This is the closest thing to my dream coming true.”
Mitch Abramson covers boxing for the New York Daily News and BoxingScene.com.