By Steve Kim

Coming back to the promoting business late in 2016, one of the first orders of business for Richard Schaefer (who is now the head of Ringstar Sports) was to sign fighters to his new company.  Then it was to find platforms for them to be showcased on.

"The first thing is I'm very proud of the Olympians I signed, the standouts I signed, Carlos Balderas and Eimantas Stanions," said Schaefer, of this duo who made their pro debuts on April 9th at the Novo at L.A. Live and scored first round stoppages.

"They would've come back earlier but both had some issues with their hands after the first fight. Now, I'm happy to see them come back July 30th in Bakersfield (California). I have to tell you the tickets just went on sale on Friday and I just got the report this morning and they've already sold 600 tickets, which is fantastic."

This card will be broadcast on a Sunday night on FS1.

"I really want to focus on some of those smaller markets and build those guys up. So I'm very happy as it relates to that," said Schaefer on Monday, who has made inroads in Europe early on.

"I'm very happy with what we've been able to achieve in France with our first Ringstar France event in the beginning of June which was a big success, a sold-out venue and Tony Yoka delivered very strong ratings for our TV partner, CANAL-plus. The ratings were about four-times as high as they got for other boxing programs," says Schaefer who after his trip to Monaco on July 8th for the unveiling of the first round fights for the World Boxing Super Series, will have other business to attend to afterwards.

He explained - "I'm actually going to the UK, and David Haye and I are going to announce a TV series in the UK. So that's going to be announced next Tuesday in London."

Meanwhile, Schaefer said he is on the verge of an American deal so that the likes of Balderas and Money Powell can be showcased on a more regular basis.

"I am working on some TV platform where we will have maybe 10-to-12 dates per year, which frankly is enough to keep my youngsters busy and build them up and so I'm probably a few weeks away from announcing something to that effect," Schaefer said.

"So it's like I'm starting all over again and I do believe the future of this sport in the United States is going to be with some of those youngsters. Top Rank has some of them, as well, that's we need to focus on."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.