Ben Shalom said his Boxxer stable will be looking to produce a card a month ahead of his promotional stable’s debut on the BBC.
Shalom was previously with Sky Sports, but he starts his new journey with a British heavyweight title fight between former Olympian Frazer Clarke and Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva.
Speaking at the press conference ahead of the new network deal with the British broadcasting giant, Shalom said: “It’s been a long time; delighted to be here. Delighted to see everyone here. It’s a massive moment for us, it’s a massive moment for British boxing. “Boxing is flying right now but what we need is national audiences; we need household names; we need the future stars of the sport and BBC have given us that opportunity. It really is an opportunity for us and an opportunity for boxing to get back on the front pages, and on the back pages, and put on some major, major nights.”
Clarke-TKV is their first show, and a super-middleweight bout between Callum Simpson and Troy Williamson follows on December 20. Adam Azim is thought to be headlining a Boxxer card in January.
“It all starts on Saturday with the British heavyweight title and we’ll be looking for a show a month thereafter, so it’s a massive moment for us but really excited to get going and Saturday night is a huge event,” Shalom added.
“We had to find a way to make boxing work for [the BBC]. For 20 years they’ve decided to take a break from the sport. There were reasons for that, and they’re in a position where now they want to connect with their younger audiences; they want to connect with combat sports audiences, and for us it was how can we disrupt the industry; how can we bring boxing to mainstream audiences; how can we break down barriers, and BBC are the perfect partner to do that.
“Timing is everything. Timing for us was good; timing for them was good and it all begins on Saturday night.”
