Toronto scene has fighting chance
Card cancellation shouldn’t slow growth of pro game in GTA
The boxing card scheduled for Saturday night at Budweiser Stage was set to deliver star power and high-stakes fights.
It promised two main events — semifinals in a tournament culminating in a WBC world welterweight title bout — and Evander Holyfield, the heavyweight hall-of-famer whose company co-promoted the event.
The card also stood out as a milestone in a year of aggressive growth for the local boxing industry, and by last Monday organizers had already collected roughly $150,000 in ticket revenue.
But those details didn’t matter to the federal government, which recently began requiring work visa seekers from Europe, the Middle East and Africa to include biometrics like fingerprints and photos in their applications. The new requirements slowed visa approvals for two main event fighters, leaving them unable to enter Canada and forcing organizers to cancel.
Local co-promoter Lee Baxter says scrapping the show cost him $90,000, but says the cancellation doesn’t hint at structural problems within the local boxing industry. Instead, experts say regulatory changes and a cohort of standout fighters mean the local boxing business is healthy enough to survive disappointments like this week’s aborted show.
“Anyone who loses $90,000 doesn’t turn around the next day and say it didn’t hurt,” Baxter said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop.”
The number of boxing shows in Ontario has risen sharply since January 2017. From 2012 through 2016, the province averaged fewer than eight pro boxing shows a year, but since January 2017 Ontario venues have hosted 33 pro cards, with four more scheduled over the next two months. Those events span the spectrum from hyperlocal — like a seven-bout card at the Ancaster Fairgrounds in June — to international bouts like the world-title showdown between Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack at the Air Canada Centre in May.
Promoters point to a late 2016 regime change at Office of the Athletics Commissioner as the catalyst for boxing’s renewed growth.
The previous commissioner, Ken Hayashi, left behind a mixed legacy when he retired in December 2016. Peers often lauded him as a principled stickler for rules who prioritized safety over profit. Hayashi refused to allow mixed martial arts events in Ontario for years, even as the rise of the Ultimate Fighting Championship promised blockbuster events and ticket revenue windfalls. But promoters remember Hayashi as an autocrat who undermined their efforts with a frustrating series of steep fees and knee-jerk decisions, often approving bouts only to veto them days — and sometimes hours — before showtime.
Boxing promoters said marketing their events grew prohibitively difficult with Hayashi in charge, while mixed martial arts promoter Garnet Ace blamed the commissioner for the sport’s virtual disappearance from Ontario.
“Instead of working with us, he was always working against us,” Ace told the Star in 2016. “Amateur shows are exploding but what are the pros having to do? They’re having to leave the province.”
The mixed martial arts industry still hasn’t rebounded — no MMA shows have occurred in Ontario since UFC 206 in De- cember 2016, and the UFC is scheduled to return to Toronto this December.
But boxing promoters say acting commissioner Ray Dempster offers them a consistent set of expectations, which in turn allows them to plan and market fight cards without worrying about unexplained last-minute changes from the commission. “Ken Hayashi was a guy who put obstacles in the way,” said boxing business consultant Adam Harris, head of Athlete Development and Management. “Dempster just follows the rules.”
The resulting flurry of pro boxing action has allowed sev- eral business models to develop.
Where Baxter forges relationships with established U.S.based players like Holyfield and Floyd Mayweather, who copromoted the May 19 card at the Air Canada Centre, other promoters focus almost exclusively on local shows. Either way, says Ajax-based promoter Tyler Buxton, the goal is to convince roughly 5,000 boxing fans to pay for tickets.
The Stevenson-Jack bout, which aired on Showtime in the U.S. sold roughly 4,700 tickets, while Buxton says junior middleweight contender Brandon Cook routinely drew 5,000 to shows at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre.
“I’m in this for business,” says Buxton, who promotes Cook. “I don’t care if I’m doing a show with Joe Blow or with Mike Tyson. It has to make financial sense.”
While Toronto still doesn’t rival Montreal as a boxing hotbed and title-fight destination, promoters say a locally developed world champion could help move a niche sport into the mainstream.
Adecade ago, Sarnia-born and Mississauga-based Steve Molitor parlayed a world junior featherweight title into string of fights at Casino Rama and appearances on TSN. That wave of exposure crested with a November 2008 title unification bout against Panama’s Celestino Caballero, which aired live on TSN in Canada and on Showtime in the U.S.
Harris says Molitor’s reign proved a world champ in the GTA could help cultivate new boxing fans locally.
“Our sport is about stars, and building stars,” Harris said. “Montreal wouldn’t be a fight destination unless it had world champions.”
Stakeholders point to Molitor’s template when they look ahead to a September fight schedule that includes potential breakthrough bouts for Cook and Mississauga’s Sam Vargas.
Vargas faces U.K.-based star Amir Khan on Sept. 8 in a bout that should propel the winner to a welterweight title fight. The following weekend, Cook, an Ajax native, challenges Mexico’s Jaime Munguia for the WBO world junior middleweight title in Las Vegas.
Both Canadians are betting long shots, but either could spur growth in the local boxing market with an upset win.
“If Cook wins, it could open a lot of doors,” Buxton said. “And not just for himself.”