Evander Holyfield’s new boxing promotion company has held one event here and has another set for April at the KFC Yum Center. On Wednesday, he talked about why he finds Louisville so attractive and how his promotion has fared in its first year.
Four-time world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield and his business partner, veteran boxing promoter Sal Musumeci, want to make their professional boxing promotion a fixture in sports-crazy Louisville.
And their company, Real Deal Sports & Entertainment, is looking for office space in the hometown of boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
Holyfield and Musumeci are in Louisville this week to promote their upcoming pro fight card in downtown Louisville. Real Deal Sports & Entertainment is hosting the first round of the Jose Sulaiman World Invitational Tournament at the KFC Yum Center on Friday, April 27, in conjunction with the World Boxing Council and Louisville’s Top Knotch promotion. Tickets went on sale earlier this month and start at $35.
Musumeci told me the tournament is a three-part series that will be held over roughly six months to identify a championship contender. The card lives up to its international claims, as boxers from the U.S., Dominican Republic, China, Germany and other countries will compete in the tournament.
Holyfield said the other rounds of the tournament likely will be held in July and late October, but the locations have not been finalized. Musumeci said the promotion is open to hosting all three rounds in Louisville if fan support is adequate. For the April event, the organization wants to attract at least 8,500 fans to fill the lower bowl of the Yum Center.
“We want to bring the fans, people and businesses of Louisville great, entertaining events,” Musumeci said.
And that should translate to economic impact locally as those fighters and their fans will travel from other countries for the tournament, benefiting hotels, restaurants and other Louisville businesses, Musumeci said.
Holyfield and Musumeci launched Real Deal Sports & Entertainment last year as the parent company of a boxing promotion, The Real Deal Boxing, and broadcast series Real Deal Championship Boxing.
During the start of the promotion last summer, Real Deal hosted a bout at Freedom Hall that coincided with Louisville’s six-week celebration of Muhammad Ali’s legacy, entitled the “I Am Ali” festival, in June and July. Another boxing event was announced for Louisville but never came to fruition last year, Holyfield noted.
Real Deal made a promise that it would return to Louisville if fans filled Freedom Hall and supported last June’s inaugural event. Since then, half a dozen more events have been held by Real Deal in other cities, and another card is planned in Brooklyn, N.Y., in April.
“The people of Louisville kept their promise … so we’re keeping our promise,” Musumeci said.
Real Deal has about 40 fighters now under its professional banner, including world-ranked contenders, former champions and Louisville rising star Carlos Dixon, who will compete on the Yum Center card.
Holyfield feels the promotion is a way to draw awareness to rising fighters while he imparts his own wisdom about the fight game, though he admitted the response to his new venture has been mixed.
“I am new in the promotion business. A lot of people hope that you don’t do well. Some people don’t want you to succeed for the fact you have succeeded already,” he told me. “It will take time. I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t know that.”
So why Louisville? Musumeci said Real Deal considered other cities to host its inaugural bout, but Louisville boxing coach James Dixon and Argi Financial Group CEO Joe Reeves made a superb pitch for Louisville.
“They courted us and convinced us that Louisville is the place we would start,” Musumeci said.
It didn’t hurt that Ali is so beloved in his hometown. When he was younger, Holyfield heard he could accomplish great things like Ali did in the business if he applied himself, even as some naysayers dismissed his future.
“They told me I wouldn’t going to be anything, and I did it anyway,” Holyfield said, laughing.
Real Deal has offices in New York and Florida but is chatting with Reeves about local opportunities, though HOlyfield and Musumeci didn’t say where Real Deal might set up a Louisville office.
Holyfield said he has been to Louisville about five times since Real Deal was established, including a recent visit to West Louisville to take part in discussions with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and members of President Donald Trump’s Urban Revitalization Coalition about a plan to revitalize West Louisville.
The exchanges between Bevin, the advisers and West Louisville residents were tense, Holyfield said, but urban renewal and assisting youth are among his passions, and he enjoyed engaging guests at the event and talking about his own experiences as a child growing up in a tough urban environment.
“They take it in stride — and they like me, and I like them,” he said of Louisville residents.
