By Victor Salazar
Warriors Boxing Leon Margules’ business has picked up since the inception of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) brand. Working hand in hand in promoting the PBC brand, his promotion has staged PBC branded events on SpikeTV and last Saturday's Thurman vs. Collazo card on ESPN.
The PBC brand, and it's creator Al Haymon, have come under fire by two promotional heavyweights. Golden Boy Promotions is suing Haymon and PBC for over $300 million. And Top Rank is doing the same for $100 million. Margules and other promoters in conjunction with the PBC brand are also named in the suit.
Both promoters are claiming, among other things, that Haymon is attempting to create a monopoly and put all of his competitors out of business.
After the Thurman-Collazo main event, Margules told BoxingScene that he was perplexed at the lawsuits.
“I don’t get it,” Margules said. “Here you have an organization that’s trying to take boxing to the next level. They’re putting boxing on network television which both promoters have tried to do for years. It’s getting them (Top Rank and Golden Boy) ratings and their business is up. It’s free boxing for all, what can be better than at?”
Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya once had vision, according to an interview conducted several years ago, to become boxing’s version of Dana White and control every facet of the business. According to Margules, De La Hoya possibly didn’t have the vision or money to follow through with his desires.
“I think it took a substantial investment and a substantial vision that either he didn’t want to spend or he didn’t have,” stated Margules.
In regards to the legal suit by Top Rank, Margules says they are suing - “because all the fighters want to fight on NBC and CBS and ESPN.”
The verbiage in the Top Rank lawsuit names those promoters working with Haymon and PBC as ‘sham’ promoters. A term that Margules laughed off.
“Everybody that knows me, I’ve been promoting events for 25 years. I’ve put on big events all over the world. I’d been a mainstay in the business for over 25 years. We put on the event, we match-made the fights, we rented the arena, we sold the tickets, and I don’t know what else a promoter is supposed to do.”