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Richard Schaefer has formed own promotional firm with summer return

Fighters Network
22
Jun
Floyd Mayweather Jr. recently hinted that his business relationship with Leonard Ellerbe (center) might be ending. Could former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer (left) be next in line to head up Mayweather Promotions?

Former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer (left) is looking forward to working with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has formed his own promotional company and plans to return this summer with an eye toward working with Al Haymon and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on future projects, Schaefer said on Wednesday.

“I think we make a great team,” Schaefer told RingTV.com of working with Mayweather. “So I’m sure we’ll be promoting events together.” Of joining forces with Haymon and the PBC, he said, “I sure hope I’m going to be able to promote some of those PBC events. I have a lot of ideas on how to go about it and increase visibility and maximize revenues and so on.”

Schaefer’s new company, Ringstar Sports, was incorporated earlier this month and is licensed in California, New York and Texas, with a license application pending in Nevada, he said. He hopes to put on his first show later this summer. “Back in the saddle,” Schaefer said in a phone interview after an 18-month absence from the sport.

Schaefer resigned from in his role at Golden Boy in June of 2014 after he was sued by Oscar De La Hoya for allegedly breaching his fiduciary duties to the company. Schaefer and De La Hoya reached a settlement on the $50 million De La Hoya was seeking in arbitration in January of 2015. Schaefer’s non-compete clause expired in August of last year, freeing him to return to the sport.



Now, Schaefer hopes to work with Haymon on future PBC projects as a promoter, though he also expects to do his own shows independent of the PBC, he said. The PBC has struggled with ratings and at times has lacked a sense of direction with numerous fights dotting the calendar with little correlation piecing them together.

“I do hope I get the opportunity and prove to the PBC people what I’m capable of,” Schaefer said. “If I promote PBC events, I’ll be there. For me, being a boxing promoter, it’s not a job. It’s a lifestyle, and I think that’s why I excel at it because I made it my lifestyle. I want to build this up as a national and international global promotional powerhouse. I hope that Al will give me the opportunity to promote some of the PBC events. But I will certainly promote my own events, as well. I will go out there and get my own TV deals done. I might be working with other promoters, as well.”

Schaefer spoke of working with Mayweather Promotions and Floyd Mayweather Jr. There were rumors that Schaefer may come back to run Mayeather Promotions, but that won’t be the case, he said.

“Floyd and me are very good friends,” Schaefer said. “I respect him tremendously. He’s one of the most loyal guys I have ever met, inside and outside of boxing and we will always be friends. But he has Mayweather Promotions and a very capable team in place there, so I’m sure that Mayweather Promotions and Ringstar will eventually work together at some events and Floyd knows he can always count on me and I can always count on him.”

In the end, Schaefer said he hopes to run the company much like he did Golden Boy, with Haymon as a close business partner but also with the freedom to do his own projects, which he said will be announced soon. “Just like before, when I was at Golden Boy, did I have a close working relationship with Al? Yes, because he’s the smartest guy in the business,” Schaefer said. “That didn’t mean we didn’t do our own events, as well. So I’m going to pursue that same (business plan).”

Schaefer is now in the process of staffing his company with matchmakers, marketing experts, social media strategists and the like at the Los Angeles-based office, he said. He has yet to sign a fighter. “I think my track record as a promoter speaks for itself,” he said. “Those who know me know I always have an ace up my sleeve.”

Mitch Abramson is a former reporter at the New York Daily News and can be reached on Twitter at: @Mabramson13.

 

 

 

 

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