By Peter Lim
Former heavyweight contender Lou Savarese opens a new chapter of his seven-year stint as Houston's leading boxing promoter on Dec. 1 when he brings his bi-monthly fight night to the Ballroom at Bayou Place in Downtown Houston. The venue's inaugural boxing event will feature seven bouts.
"It's going to be a really unparalleled event in a long time," Savarese said.
Savarese began staging boxing events in 2009 at The Houston Club downtown where he attracted an upscale audience. At the same time he also promoted cards at other venues in and around Houston that catered to the more traditional blue-collar fans.
But in 2013, Savarese was forced to uproot his downtown show to the Bayou Events Center outside the Loop when The Houston Club was sold and the building subsequently demolished. In New York real estate terms, it was the equivalent of relocating from downtown Manhattan to The Bronx.
Now that the show is back in Houston's prime business district, Savarese hopes to see a return of the suit-and-tie crowd. And if ticket sales are any indication, he appears to have achieved that goal.
"It's just perfect for our downtown clients," Savarese said. "When I moved over to the Bayou Events Center, I lost a lot of the lawyers that just liked the care-free society of walking over (to the fight venue)," Savarese said. "We were already sold out a week out, so things are good."
The ballroom's inaugural boxing card will accommodate about 800 fans, ranging from corporate sponsored tables that includes dinner and open bar to general admission seats starting at $50. Savarese already has four subsequent shows at the ballroom on the drawing board for 2017. Along with his other cards at the more traditional venues, Savarese envisions putting on 8-11 shows a year, catering to fans of every demographic.
"This is kind of playing into the business model because (the ballroom) is a higher end show with less seats. The other ones at The Zone and Texas City, we can put a lot of people in those."
Savarese's cards originally served as a launching pad for up-and-coming local prospects to hone their skills, pad their records and climb the rankings in front of their hometown fans. But over the years, with globalization in full swing, it gradually evolved into a more cosmopolitan affair.
Boxers from every corner of the world found their way into the Savarese squared circle and brought expatriates from their respective countries out of the diverse Houston woodwork to the show. Alongside the rank-and-file English- and Spanish-speaking crowd, fans were cheering on their fighters in Russian, Uzbek, Polish and Afrikaans.
Besides securing a new venue in the heart of Houston, Savarese has also brought in a new business partner Jody James, an entrepreneur who recently sold the oilfield manufacturing company he founded. According to Saverese, he and James have business talents that compliment each other.
"He's the antithesis of me," Savarese said. "He's the most detail-oriented guy which I'm not at all. I'm a big-picture type of guy which is a nice way of saying disorganized. He takes care of all the small stuff in helping us get to the big deal."
The main event of the ballroom's inaugural boxing card will see middleweight Junior Castillo (11-1, 9 KOs) of the Dominican Republic take on Taronze Washington (17-21, 9 KOs).
In other bouts:
Featherweight Edgar Alarcon (6-0-1, 1 KO) takes on Josue Salazar (1-0, 1 KO).
Curtis Johnson (4-0, 4 KOs) faces Robert Hill (5-29-1, 1 KO) in a lightweight bout.
Middleweight Raphael Igbokwe (4-0, 2 KOs) comes up against Carlos Dixon (1-7-1, 1 KO).
Heavyweight Joseph Rabotte (11-30-1, 3 KOs) fights Dominique Smith (2-2-1, 2 KOs).
Light heavyweight Neller Obregon (2-0, 1 KO) takes on Jhaquis Davis (record unknown).
And Eduardo Garcia (26-13-1, 14 KOs) faces Chris Gutierrez (0-1) in a welterweight bout.
