By Terence Dooley
Long-time PR guru Richard Maynard has told BoxingScene that he is leaving his current role with Frank Warren to start a new PR and Communications agency specialising in boxing and sports. Maynard will leave Warren in May to focus on his new venture.
A graduate of the University of East Anglia, earning a BA Honors in Business, Maynard has been a fan of the sport since he was a child so his role with Warren was a dream come true. In an exclusive in-depth interview, he told his favourite boxing site why he has decided to strike out on his own just shy of his second decade working alongside Warren.
“After a fantastic 17-years, I am leaving to achieve one of my ambitions in setting up a sports PR and Communications service, Maynard Communications, and I’ll still be working within the boxing world as well as the wider sports sphere,” he confirmed.
“I’ve had an unbelievable time working for Frank Warren, a Hall of Fame promoter, so it has been great to be working for one of the all-time great promoters. This is just a personal development and change I want to make for myself, and it will certainly present new challenges.
“It’s something I’ve had in mind for a while, I’m at the right age and it’s the right time to do it. I’m 40 now so I want to do it while I’m still young, full of energy and enthusiasm—it’s an ambition of mine. I have some clients that I’ll be confirming shortly and I’m really excited.”
Maynard earned his spurs for years before starting with Warren, who elevated him into the upper echelons of a sport he had once admired from a distance.
He said: “I was always into combat sports, I went kickboxing at the age of 14 and have been into boxing my whole life. When I was 17, I decided to get into boxing and my basic education was done at Brendan Ingle’s gym in Sheffield, where I did my work experience.
“I finished university in 1999, then I got the role with Frank and have had that one career role until now. I’ve met incredible people: celebrities, three Prime Ministers—Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron—and been to Number 10 Downing Street. One minute you’re dealing with celebrities and royalty the next you’re dealing with a diverse range of people across the whole of society.
“You look up to Mike Tyson as a boy watching him on telly and idolising him, then you’re working three of his fights. It was the same with Joe Calzaghe. With Ricky [Hatton] it was different because I worked with him before he became a superstar so it’s something you help create and are involved in.”
Indeed, Maynard was one of the chief architects of the Manchester boxing boom, one that continues to this day. From coming up with ways to get publicity for the three “Manchester Mexicans”—Hatton, Anthony Farnell and Michael Gomez—through to trying to cajole Billy Graham into getting on a train for a press conference in Newcastle, Maynard played a key role in the city’s success.
“Yes, Billy was a real character, but he was looking after Ricky’s interests,” he recalled. “Ricky had to train, my job was to publicise and promote, so we came to a head at times over certain media activities. It was always mutually resolved in the end. Billy’s a strong character, so it was always going to be like that. His results spoke for themselves, especially the win over Kostya Tszyu.”
“There was a buzz in Manchester from 1999 onwards,” he continued. “The (Manchester) Arena had been built, all the big fights were going there with Naz and then Ricky coming through. Plus you had the music scene with Oasis and the football thing with Manchester United—the vibe was incredible at that time.”
One of the biggest challenges for boxing fans is keeping up with the rise and fall of websites. Then there was the increase in vbloggers; plus anyone with a camera, Youtube or other media account can launch a blog or host a podcast. It is hard to keep up even if it is your job to vet the various outlets.
“So many people want to get into boxing, you get calls and emails from new sites every day,” said Maynard. “They want accreditation for shows, to come to press conferences and to be on the mailing list—you don’t know the validity of some of the guys. You just have to have a bit of patience to see what they’re like, a website can pop up one minute then disappear the following week.
“Now you have people trying to emulate iFilm London. Anyone with a camera or iPhone or iPad is suddenly a video journalist and they want to come and film at the shows. It is hard to distinguish who are the real writers and who are fans who just want to get close to the action—it’s hard to sort the wheat from the chaff.”
Still, there are a couple of genuine, decent sites—BoxingScene for example. “I’ve got tremendous respect for Rick Reeno and Jake Donovan, two great guys who I enjoy dealing with, and they’ve got a great British Editor, who I call “The Renegade”, so it’s a site I enjoy dealing with—it’s the number one boxing site in the world,” he declared.
Keeping up-to-date with things means that Maynard also enjoys a healthy relationship with Anthony Leaver, his counterpart over at Matchroom. The two have enjoyed a close professional relationship over recent years.
He said: “Anthony's a top PR man who I've got great respect for and he does a fantastic job at Matchroom where, like myself for Frank, we're under a lot of pressure. I'm happy that despite the promotional rivalry we have got a great working relationship where we can pick up the phone and avoid clashing with press conferences or announcements."
We live in an age of power browsing, decreasing attention spans and the strange ‘I’ve got a right to an opinion, me’ stance that pervades social media, even if the opinion in question is spectacularly misinformed, hurtful or plain odd.
Things are changing, perhaps irrevocably; the irony is that articles such as this one could become a rarity as everything gets boiled down into either 200-300 words news pieces or 800 word interviews.
“Overall, the industry is changing towards video content, not just boxing websites but newspaper sites, too, so we could see less of the traditional journalism over the next 10 years as people seem to want short video clips—attention spans are so short now,” was Maynard’s take.
“People have smart phones and look at things quickly then it’s on to the next video, so we may see that shift away from print journalism. It’s moving towards more short, newsy stuff now and it’s less about features. When people go to a website they do they want to see a long article or a short video clip?”
The majority of boxers are characters; a collection of loose cannons, eccentrics and street kids. Maynard must have vivid memories of some of the people he has dealt with.
“Mike Tyson’s first one [against Julius Francis in Manchester] was a baptism of fire,” he revealed. “He was a delight on the first visit; he accommodated all the media and fans, totally different to what you expected. In Glasgow, it was the exact opposite: difficult, surly, moody and wouldn’t do a thing—we saw both sides of Mike Tyson.
“It’s a difficult job at the best of times, especially on fight week when they’re making weight and are tense about the fight. Unfortunately, that’s when the media want the most access to them.
“It takes a lot out of them so you have to try not to overload it while bearing in mind that fight week is crucial to the promotion as you’re trying to get BoxNation subs and sell the remaining tickets.
“That final week was always difficult with Calzaghe because it was so difficult for him to make weight, he could be an absolute nightmare. When he fought Sakio Bika, Tom Jones was staying in the same Hotel. I spent weeks trying to get one Welsh legend together with another one.
“I’d lined The Sun up for an exclusive photo, and was working with Tom’s son and agent to secure it. The only day it could be done was the day of Joe’s weigh-in. I had a good relationship with Enzo [Calzaghe], so I asked him if we could get Joe to do a quick snap, a quick quote and that’s it done. Enzo said: ‘No way, not with the mood he’s in’.”
“I went up to Joe, who was effing and blinding, and told him it was an exclusive spread. We got it done after a bit of arguing. He was absolutely ecstatic when he met Tom. He met one of his idols, we got the photo in the paper.”
Sadly, Richard lost his wife in 2011. As a single parent, he has to balance the demands of boxing with the rigours of fatherhood. It is a reminder that there is a human element to the game.
“I do love the sport,” he reiterated. “But sometimes the business side of it does get to you and effects you. At home, you’re trying to leave boxing outside the door. It is a 24-hour business, but as a single parent I try to concentrate on my son and his activities—after school and weekend stuff as well as his homework. I do have to divide my time between work and my son.
“Work does encroach, but you get used to it. My new venture means I can work from home so I can see him more. Certain situations happen at certain times so there’s nothing you can do but deal with it. You might have to put press releases out at a difficult time to deal with the matter. It’s not 9-5. Issues arise at any time. There’s always something going on in boxing.”
On his last day, Maynard will leave behind a team that includes Warren, (Frank, Francis and George), Andy Ayling and other staff members who are only known within the trade itself. It will be one of his hardest days at the office.
“Frank is an all-time legend, secondly there’s Andy who, as people know, is a very interesting character—“The Beast of Brentwood”, as he’s known affectionately! Then there’s Frank’s PA Emma Hedley, who has been with him for over 18 years yet barely gets a mention and does an amazing job. It’s very sad that I won’t be seeing them on a daily basis now.”
Dean Powell’s death was a huge loss to the sport. Powell had suffered from depression for years prior to his suicide in 2014. Although we spoke about his struggles often, the news that he had taken his own life still came as a huge shock; one that is still keenly felt by those who he helped and worked with.
“Dean was old school, he came through the Thomas a Becket and Royal Oak, a traditional boxing factory of the past,” said Maynard when talking about his former friend. “We’ve constant reminders of Dean in the office. Like Ernie Fossey before him, he was a master at matchmaking. We have portraits of them both in the office.
“Dean’s presence and impact is always felt because the way we all sat and it was laid out meant Dean figured strongly in the everyday boxing business. It was a real pleasure to work with someone of his stature.”
In life, chapters open and close. You are happy to race through some, filled with regrets when some end. Maynard is ending one chapter and opening another, prompting feelings of sadness, nostalgia, excitement and the sense of entering into something new—a heady brew of feelings.
However, he will be able to hang with the best of them when it comes to recalling something of the biggest names and nights of recent times. He said: “I’ve worked with two of Britain’s greatest fighters in Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe.
“I’ve also worked with Johnny Nelson, a long-reigning WBO cruiserweight champion, and Scott Harrison, two times WBO world champion plus great American stars like Johnny Tapia and Bernard Hopkins. Also Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, David Haye and Acelino Freitas. I had wonderful times with Anthony Farnell, Enzo Maccarinelli, Amir Khan, Nathan Cleverly and Ricky Burns.
“Now I’m leaving at a time when Frank has three tremendous world champions in Liam Smith, Terry Flanagan and Billy Joe Saunders, who all could have fantastic fights in the next few years. Billy against [Gennady] Golovkin, Terry can unify the division and Liam could get a superfight against Miguel Cotto.”
And with that, it is time to bid the office an adieu and head out into the world after being taken to school, college and dropped off at his first day at the University of boxing by Warren and the people he has met through boxing. It is time to begin the next chapter.
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