KATHY DUVA
The Main Events boss discusses her highs, lows and plans for the future
THE rain refuses to leave New York alone. There is shelter in The Stewart Hotel, formerly The Affinia, and the halls of residence here have been temporary accommodation to the ghosts of Madison Square Garden that is just metres across Seventh Avenue. Glances around the reception area today reveal multiple fight figures in deep conversation, perhaps exchanging stories of yesteryear when the “Mecca of Boxing” housed the sport far more frequently. Kathy Duva, the president of promotional company Main Events, knows that era only too well. But for now, as she greets me by the building’s spinning doors, she’s preocuppied with the future, specifically Sergey Kovalev’s comeback bout against Igor Mikhalkin.
“Shall we find somewhere more quiet and comfortable?” she asks, leading me up a small staircase and away from a lobby that is filled with schoolchildren preparing for a junior basketball tournament across the street. Duva lets out a long sigh as we escape the noise, yet it’s clear the pressures of promoting tomorrow night’s show remain.
We’re interrupted almost immediately by a gentleman who tells Kathy that some Russians want to speak with her, but she kindly asks him to come back in a while.
Duva is more than accustomed to the unpredictability that fight week throws up, but I’m interested to hear what motivates the 65-year-old to continue with this unforgiving trade.
The widow of Dan Duva, a leading promotional brain throughout the 80s and until his death in 1996, Kathy is on a mission to continue her husband’s shining work.
Dan famously created a host of stars, most notably the bulk of the decorated 1984 USA Olympic team that included Pernell Whittaker and Evander Holyfield. Several references to Dan’s monumental success in the sport bring smiles to Kathy’s face.
“Dan is a big part of what I do, but there’s no way I could ever get anywhere near the standard of what he accomplished.
“My daughter, Nicole [vice president at Main Events], is very much like him. She reminds me of him so much with her drive and her passion for this business. She is someone who keeps me very much focused on this because there are days when it probably is easy to walk away. I was a single mother when he died and I had no idea what I was going to do because of how shocking it was, but he had built up such a reputation for Main Events, so I did feel that there was a duty to carry on with it, and if I could apply what I learned from him then I thought I’d be okay.
“I do think if he could have a small word with me now, though, he would just tell me to walk away.”
Despite holding the opinions of her late husband close to her heart, Duva is nowhere near ready to depart from an occupation that provides her with an equal measure of frustration and satisfaction.
An influential figure within boxing from the moment Main Events became recognised as one of the sport’s leading promotional companies, Duva has already experienced more than most promoters ever will.
Another loud exhale becomes a bemused laugh as she opines on the problems plaguing the fight game today.
”Boxing needs to take a long look at itself, especially in America,” demands Duva with the kind of honesty that now dominates the discussion. ³ “