Promoter Nelson Lopez will stage his first amateur event on November 7 in Belle Glade, Florida.
Earlier this year, Lopez promoted Deontay Wilder’s fight with Tyrell Herndon in Wichita, but now he is putting his time up against making changes in the unpaid code.
Lopez has created Global Combat Amateurs in a bid to build future pros, provide opportunities for local fighters, and positively influence the community.
“I’ve travelled the world and promoted boxing events everywhere – from Kazakhstan to Russia, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador. Everything I’ve learned from helping fighters worldwide fulfil their dreams, I’m now bringing back home,” said Lopez. “This isn’t just about one event. We’re building an annual season for our community. Just like football, basketball, and track and field have given our youth a platform, now combat sports will have its place. And it starts here in Pahokee and across the Glades.”
The initiative will see fighters work alongside a regional medical partner for pre- and post-fight evaluations and with BoxRec.com, with GCA bouts officially logged and bios created for the boxers.
“It’s hard for fighters to get active, be at these tournaments in specific places, to be connected to the right companies and promoters that are doing these fights,” said Nelson. “There’s not a lot of promotion. It’s almost like it’s a very closed network. “When people want people to fight in the amateurs here, you either go through USA Boxing and the process isn’t hard, but you’ve got to wait for that tournament or that specific fight happening in your area. And I wanted something a little bit more in a professional kind of setting where there’s undercard fights, there’s graphics for each fighter, there’s information on marketing in the local boxing gyms and combat sports gyms and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
The idea is to create a pool of fighters and they can be matched accordingly, developed, and shaped towards a career in the professionals.
Traditionally, the path for amateurs has led them to the desire of being Olympic champions, but GCA is set up to help them transition into the pro game.
“Things change. When I was fighting USA Boxing, it was my goal to go to the Olympics because going to the Olympics was what was the biggest amateur promotion,” added Lopez. “That’s how you got your next deal. I’m not opposed to doing something with the companies that actually give you the points and part of the system that will get you on the Olympic team. I’m not opposed to that.”
And Lopez knows that fighters have more and more opportunities elsewhere in combat sports other than the previously tried and tested routes, from MMA to bare knuckle to traditional boxing.
“This is more for fighters that are in certain areas of the United States where they don’t have the means to maybe travel to these tournaments,” Lopez explained. “They’re just as good, but don’t have the team, don’t have the ability to take off work or get on the airplane and go to this tournament or that tournament. This is another option where if I’m doing six fights a year and I have another team doing another six fights a year somewhere else where fighters can actually gain 12 to 15 amateur fights in a couple of years and develop into a professional fighter…. Hence the Jake Pauls of the world. He fought in developing fights and he fought what he thought was suitable for his skill level until he got to where he can be a pro fighter to fight real pro fighters. So it’s almost the same kind of thing.”