While boxing is forever looking for the next big check, there are some hoping to utilise boxing to galvanise their communities.
Dr Ezekiel Adamu, head of Balmoral Promotions in Lagos, Nigeria, is hoping to become a significant player in the sport, while the sport enhances what is on offer for residents in Nigeria.
They have already started rolling out events, fight cards that include both sanctioned matches and influencer bouts.
The next show is on July 31 and, in December, he hopes Chris Eubank Jnr will box on one of his events.
“We are working on one this December, which actually includes Chris Eubank Jnr, and with another fight, I’m not allowed to say that [what bout it is] yet, but I believe this December, we should buy us that time to get into the proper big league of promoters as well. We are looking to do a big stadium fight this December, so we are building.”
They have a head start, too, galvanised by the online numbers for their last controversial promotion that saw streamers threaten to get out of hand with the “celebrity beef” of two of the well-known combatants.
Balmoral are trying to fuel entertainment with sport, having some licensed bouts share bills with streamers in a bid to increase the number of eyeballs on their shows.
“You can’t really argue with the last show we’ve done where we’ve done about two billion views across all socials and about 4.2 billion impressions across all socials as well,” Dr Adamu added. “I think we’ve got some of our posts on DAZN that has done 16 million views and just one post, some have done 8 million views. So, yeah, so it’s a growing sport, and then what we’ve done as well too is to infuse a bit of entertainment into it as well too.”
But Dr Adamu hopes their promotions will inspire more young men and women in Nigeria to take up boxing, and he has grand plans.
“Before I got into boxing, I think I have the largest network of venues here in West Africa, so I know about venue management, I know about venues,” he added. “We are looking to get concession of some venues as well, too, from the government, where we bring investment to be like something like the London Olympic Stadium, and so that’s the long-term plan, what we’re doing. What we’re building is beyond boxing, to be honest with you. It’s a proper infrastructure when it comes to sports development… To be honest with you, I think we started boxing about 18 months ago and then where we are at the moment, I don’t think any African promoter has gotten promotion to get to this level before. I think the biggest one we’ve done before was Zaire and that was Don King coming here to promote fight here in Africa. I have a 10-year plan, I’m trying to achieve that in six months and see how it goes. So I’m an overachiever, I’ll keep pushing. The time we’ll get there, I don’t know.
“It could be the next one, it could be by the end of this year, it could be next year, who knows. But here, it’s never about perfection for us, it’s about momentum. I think the biggest one we’ve done before was Zaire and that was Don King coming here to promote fight here in Africa [George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1974].”
Does Dr Adamu have a dream fight, a modern day rumble he has in mind that he’d like to showcase in Africa?
“I would say if it’s to do with a fight here in Nigeria and Africa, that makes sense, especially in Nigeria, I would say a Moses Itauma and AJ [Anthony Joshua] fight because they’re both Nigerians. Maybe get [Deontay] Wilder on the card as well, because he’s got Nigerian blood in him as well. Get [Daniel] Dubois also on the card. He’s also got Nigerian blood in him. But I mean, for me, the big fight would be AJ versus Moses Itauma in Nigeria.”
