“I know the move...the move is coming”
Could a new boxing promotional superpower be about to emerge?
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The Wasserman empire
THE LONG READ
“I know the move. The move you will see. The move is coming. There's so much excitement about it. Judge us on what we do and judge us in six months' time on what we've done.”
Kalle Sauerland speaking to Sky Sports, April 2021
In late March, Sauerland Boxing promoter Kalle, along with his brother and business partner Nisse, began posting somewhat cryptically on social media. They were counting down to a major announcement which they claimed would do no less than shake the foundations of the boxing industry...
‘Don Kalle’ has been as well known in recent years for his online image as a party guy and Twitter legend as he has been for his boxing promotion. He even has an Urban Dictionary entry in honour of his reputation. This series of communications intimated though that what was being worked on was an entirely serious boxing business game-changer.
Finally, at the end of the month, came the big reveal. Team Sauerland, the erstwhile family-run promotional business which had mainly been running big events in Germany and mainland Europe since the 1970s, had been sold to Wasserman (formerly Wasserman Media Group) and from the ashes would emerge a brand new promotional outfit, Wasserman Boxing. The Sauerland brothers will lead the day-to-day operations of the new offshoot business.
There hasn’t been much holding back on the intentions of the new outfit since the announcement, without too much concrete information being released. Kalle especially has relished making some pretty weighty proclamations across various boxing press appearances. “What it means is it gives us an opportunity to massively attack the market”, he recently told Sky Sports; “certainly we’ll be the most well-funded outfit in boxing”, he explained to Boxing News.
Bold claims aplenty have been released, which is not an uncommon thing by promoters in boxing. They often don’t end up going far. This might be posturing and exaggeration which doesn’t end up delivering what is promised, but then again it could be much more. Is this situation any different though and will Wasserman Boxing be a success?
Although most boxing fans will be familiar with Sauerland, Wasserman is a name that might not instantly rings many bells, but it is clear that a business of considerable size, with potentially huge spending power, has entered the ecosystem of the industry.
In the wider sports industry, Wasserman is a major player. Their bread and butter has been as a sport and entertainment talent agency, and they have grown considerably to become one of the world's biggest in recent years, acquiring a number of smaller firms and overseeing sport stars’ contracts across the world worth a somewhat eye-watering $5.7 billion. They have also expanded into marketing, media rights and even bought a social media influencer agency called Laundry Service in 2015 which, according to their website, incorporates “omnichannel thinkers, digital and social experts”. Brave new world indeed.
Some within the industry have cast doubt on what Wasserman Boxing can achieve. Barry Hearn certainly didn’t seem impressed when the news first broke if his Twitter reply to the announcement was anything to go by…
Barry’s son Eddie - who in April replaced his father as Chairman of Matchroom Sport - also noted recently that he didn’t feel that Wasserman would prove too much of a threat to their dominance of the top level of the British boxing market. “Will it change the landscape? Not at all...I don’t know what the plan is and they don’t really have many fighters at the moment but obviously it will be a plan to try and do that. In order to be a major force you need a major TV deal with a huge budget.”
Are the Hearns right in their dismissive outlook on the new outfit’s prospects?
Eddie Hearn himself has been consistently outlining his view that Matchroom can become ‘the UFC of boxing’ in the not-too-distant future, which would not be helped by another big-money outlet joining the fray. Matchroom’s future vision is something which I have previously stated would be extremely difficult to pull off anyway, especially in the States, due to the fractured nature of the sport.
A large percentage of big boxing events these days do seem to be either totally or partially promoted by the Hearns’ outfit, especially in the UK where they enjoy almost total dominance at the elite level. Canelo aside, I remain somewhat unconvinced about Matchroom’s US imprint so far, but that’s a story for another day. How Wasserman will ingratiate itself into a marketplace already well-stocked with promoters is the here and now.
Although they do have the benefit of the Sauerland brother’s lifetimes of experience in the boxing industry, Wasserman are undeniably starting from a pretty low base and have a huge amount of catching up to do. The Sauerland brothers haven’t promoted a card of their own anywhere since September last year, and their most recent card in Britain as the sole promoter was way back in September 2014 for George Groves’ points win over Christopher Rebrasse at Wembley Arena. Aside from Nordic fight nights in Scandinavia and occasional events in Germany, the Sauerlands have tended to feature their world-level fighters on other promoter’s events, which will surely have to change given the scale of Wasserman’s ambition.
Without a TV deal to speak of, their current roster consists of heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic, social media star (and occasional middleweight boxer) Chris Eubank Jr, Cruiserweight world champion Maris Breidis...and not too much else. Wasserman will need to build their stable of headline-worthy attractions considerably to regularly run shows of any kind of high profile - given that Kalle has alluded to this in interviews as well, perhaps their big move partly involves signing name-value boxers to long-term agreements.
Kalle has also noted that the upcoming boxing event at the Tokyo Olympics will be “like going to Harrods” (“it’s shopping time, baby”) and sign at least a small percentage of the emerging talent to deals, explaining that their strategy will be a mixture of established names and highly valued prospects. The general rule is that any newly professional talent signed after an Olympic cycle will need years of nurturing before becoming top-level marketable names. There are of course exceptions (Anthony Joshua, Amir Khan) but they don’t come along often. At least initially these prospect signings would primarily be filling out Wasserman undercards rather than headlining, and they will need something bigger at the top of the shows to make an impact at launch.
It felt somewhat strange, then, that Wasserman did not bid at all for the IBF Heavyweight title eliminator between Filip Hrgovic, one of their few current world-level acts, and Michael ‘The Bounty’ Hunter. This felt like a good opportunity to place their marker for the future, or at least flex their muscles in the industry, on a relatively high-profile bout to decide the next mandatory for Joshua (or perhaps Fury...if their fight is ever confirmed). The timing might not have been right, or there could well be some grander scheme in play here, but it does feel a bit odd that they would allow Matchroom to secure the contest with the lone registered bid, despite Matchroom not promoting either fighter.
Eubank Jr returned for the first time in 18 months on the Chisora-Parker show - promoted, of course, by Matchroom - and big fights are apparently on the cards for him this year, but for the time being there is nothing concrete on that. Matchroom and Sauerland have had an excellent working relationship in the past, but you have to question how much longer Eddie Hearn would entertain that structure with Kalle now presumably aiming for Wasserman Boxing to be a direct competitor which could take some of Matchroom’s market share.
To be a truly successful boxing company, you need three things - money, influence (the latter tends to come with the former) and a broadcast platform. The first two appear to be covered. Without a partner for the last one, be it traditional linear TV, streaming service or a mix of both, you are dead in the water before you have really started. In Britain at least, an opportunity relating to the third prerequisite might have just opened up.
The Athletic reported recently that Hearn and Matchroom had decided to depart their long-standing exclusive agreement with Sky Sports in the UK to go in lock, stock and barrel with DAZN, already their partner across the rest of the world, signing a ‘nine-figure deal’ in the process. Should this take place as has been detailed, what will happen with Sky’s boxing content? Could a ‘new’ company such as Wasserman offer them a fresh start in the sport? Even if Sky went back to their model from the ‘90s of working with a number of different promoters to fill their yearly boxing slots in the schedule, they would offer Wasserman a considerable platform on which to build their footprint in the UK market, which they have expressly said they will target.
How Wasserman might tackle entering the American market is anyone’s guess. There are already a number of major promoters attached to broadcasters - Matchroom with DAZN, PBC with Fox and Showtime, Top Rank with ESPN. They could look to hook up with a streaming company new to the game, but with basically no recent track record in the States it’s difficult to envisage this happening any time soon. Perhaps Wasserman would be best off aiming for US co-promotions whilst building up an audience in the UK first.
Kalle has recently expressed an opinion that a shift in the presentation of boxing events is required, even going so far as to suggest fight nights in places like Ibiza could be on the cards for Wasserman (sign me up for that idea now please, by the way). Sauerland were certainly involved in some barmy events in the past. Take, for example, when they became Triller a decade early by promoting then-48-year-old Evander Holyfield’s fight with long-retired Brian Nielsen in front of a pissed up crowd on Danish pay-per-view in 2011. The output of the brains behind this on a much larger budget will, at the very least, not be boring.
One thing Sauerland has proved themselves adept at in the past is delivering brilliant tournaments - something which boxing does not have enough of. This body of work might provide something of a more accurate blueprint on what Wasserman Boxing will provide at the elite level, if not for the tournament format then more for the quality of the events they created and the fights they managed to get made.
The Sauerland brothers have been very involved with both the fondly remembered Super Six World Boxing Classic - which ran from 2009 to 2011 - and the current World Boxing Super Series (WBSS), which have featured the best available fighters in events lavished with outstanding production values. Both events either made or enhanced some of the absolute best fighters of the modern age (Andre Ward, Oleksandr Usyk, Josh Taylor) and achieved that thing not always seen in boxing - the best fighting the best. With a considerably larger war chest of their own, Wasserman will surely be aiming to replicate both the scale of presentation aesthetic and quality of matchups once their fight nights are fully up and running.
Given the depth of Wasserman as an operation, and the unique placement it has within sport as a whole, having this new player at the table certainly makes the landscape considerably more interesting. Whether the talk can be backed up with action and results will be decided as Kalle and co gradually show their hand to the wider industry. The boxing world keenly awaits the reveal of Wasserman Boxing’s next move.
THE BOXING AGENDA
Quick thoughts on the boxing newswire…
Another British Matchroom show, and another women’s contest taking fight of the night. This one though was truly world class. The event last Saturday night in Manchester may have been nominally headlined by Joseph Parker and Derek Chisora, but Katie Taylor’s close, engrossing points win over Natasha Jonas provided the undoubted athletic highlight of the card. A fantastic fight between two supremely talented boxers, it ebbed and flowed for the duration - had the bouts involving the men on the show been even close to this exciting, the event would have been worth the pay-per-view cost charged in the UK. The depth of talent across the women’s divisions isn’t there yet for sure, but there is no doubt that huge progress has been made on the female side of the sport in recent years. There is also no doubt that particular praise for this goes to the work of and platform provided by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom…
Britain has a new world champion and a potential superstar in the form of Sunny Edwards, who delivered a supreme performance last Friday night to defeat Moruti Mthalane for the IBF Flyweight title at the York Hall on Frank Warren’s latest card. Demonstrating the true definition of good boxing - hit and don’t get hit - Sunny didn’t stop moving, showed outstanding footwork and superb discipline for all of the 12 rounds as he claimed a clear and convincing unanimous decision against a long-reigning, established champion who has cleared out a number of recognised names and had been a world champion for most of the past decade. I myself predicted it would be a tough assignment for Sunny but I was very glad that he proved me completely wrong, and it was nice to see a British fighter step up to world level and absolutely overdeliver. At just 25 years of age, Sunny has the boxing world at his feet now…
Slightly flabbergasted that FITE TV have ended up with the UK broadcasting rights for the historic undisputed light welterweight title fight between Scotland’s Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez on 22nd May, and that it’s only been announced a couple of weeks beforehand. British fight fans can watch it on pay-per-view for the princely sum of £12.99. Taylor is aiming to do something very few British fighters have ever done - I’ve written previously about his enormous ambitions in the sport - so for it to not be screened on a mainstream UK TV carrier like BT Sport or Sky is pretty shocking, particularly from BT who have a business deal in place which would allow them to have picked it up and have recently had Taylor fight on their channel. Boxing is a business, with contracts and politics at play; I get that. Whether right or wrong, promoter Top Rank don’t really care about the UK market; I get that too. But this absolutely deserves to be seen by the widest possible audience in Taylor’s homeland. Honestly, Josh Taylor’s management team has to take a fair portion of the blame - to sign to a promoter without a TV deal in your homeland means something like this happening for the biggest fight of their career is always a possibility. Aside from anything else, as a stand-alone contest, it’s a great match-up. If Sky are losing Matchroom full-time to DAZN, then one silver lining could be them once again using some of their boxing budget to enter the market for big fights from across the pond…
Looking after your own mental health is and should be everyone’s number one priority. Boxing is a macho sport in which any kind of perceived weakness is considered a negative, and it can be especially hard in an industry like this one to admit you aren’t in a great position and need help. I therefore applaud Ryan Garcia for taking the time away from the sport for himself. It means his intriguing fight with Javier Fortuna has been cancelled of course, but I know from personal experience how poor mental health and anxiety can negatively impact every single part of your life, work and relationships. The reaction of the wider industry has generally been really encouraging, with a small smattering of disdain and doubt but largely support and love. A very, very positive step forward for a sport with some extremely questionable examples of people with what are perceived as ‘difficulties’ not being supported when they needed it the most, but the world in general has also moved on so much on this issue in recent years. The reality is, mental health issues impact every single one of us to different degrees, and society accepting and understanding that has been one of the most positive developments of the last decade...
THE NEXT ROUND
A far-from-exhaustive rundown of upcoming boxing calendar highlights…
8th May 2021
Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders
Promoter: Matchroom / TV: DAZN (UK and US)
For now, let’s put the ring size ‘controversy’ of fight week to one side and analyse the actual bout at hand. Can Billy Joe really defeat Canelo, in his pomp, on the biggest show of the year so far, in Texas, in front of 70,000 people? Most American fans have written him off as another British lamb to the Alvarez slaughter. Quite a few of my friends, on both sides of the Atlantic, think he has a real shot at upsetting the odds. One thing is for sure…a win here to become the unified WBO, WBA (Super), WBC and Ring Magazine Super Middleweight champion would rank amongst the finest performances by any British boxer, home or abroad, ever. Although Billy Joe possesses outstanding boxing skills, I still think this is a huge ask. I am unconvinced he has the power to put Canelo in major trouble, and even if he puts on a boxing clinic and runs rings around Alvarez history tells us he will struggle to get the judges to award him the fight on points. I just don’t see an obvious route to victory, and Saul obviously offers up a clear and present danger of his own. I hope I’m wrong, but I just can’t picture it. Saunders’ career-best performance, his outstanding away win against David Lemieux in 2017, was at middleweight, and he hasn’t appeared to be nearly as effective at 168 pounds so far. Whatever the result, this really does have the feel of a major event and should be a fascinating clash of styles. Those people who have written Saunders off as a bum without really seeing him perform when he’s motivated could be in for a shock as he does have the ability to test Canelo, but odds are that the pound-for-pounder will pass once again.
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15th May 2021
Joshua Buatsi vs Daniel Blenda Dos Santos
Promoter: Matchroom / TV: Sky Sports (UK); DAZN (US)
As things stand, this looks like it could well be the last regular (non-pay-per-view) Matchroom show to be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK. This card was supposed to be headlined by Terri Harper and Hyun Mi Choi’s super featherweight title unification clash, but as of Thursday the former has pulled out due to a hand injury, which hopefully won’t derail her career for too long. This means, for now at least, that light heavyweight contender Buatsi against unheralded Frenchman Dos Santos - whose last six opponents have all had losing records - is the current, uninspiring de facto main event. On the undercard, there are fights for European titles at different weights involving Lerrone Richards, Gamal Yafai and Tommy McCarthy. All might prove to be decent scraps, but this still feels like a pretty low-key way to end the long and fruitful relationship between the Hearn’s promotion and Sky. If DAZN really has chucked the financial kitchen sink at Matchroom to broadcast all their major UK shows, they will be expecting more bang for their buck than this if and when that deal kicks in.
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