According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Rocnation, the sports company founded by rap mogul Jay-Z will get into boxing promoting and has hired longtime respected boxing man Dave Itskowitch as COO.
“There’s no question the sport of boxing needs a new player, someone who can do something different,” Michael Yormark, the president and chief of branding and strategy for parent company Roc Nation, told ESPN.com on Sunday night. “We’re energized, and we’re going to make a difference. This is a huge priority to us. This is a highly serious business to us.”
“This is a serious business for us moving forward, and Dave has one of the great reputations in the boxing industry,” Yormark said, adding that Jay Z and Roc Nation Sports president Juan Perez are big boxing fans. “Hiring him should be a loud and clear statement this is serious for us and that we will do this the right way. We have one of the most respected individuals in the sport leading the charge for us.
“We didn’t wake up yesterday and decide we wanted to get into the boxing business, but our first significant move was to bring Dave into the organization. This is an opportunity for us to change the game. It’s been in the works for the last six or eight months, and now we are making our move. Jay Z has an incredible passion for boxing. We want to take the platform we’ve created and bring that to the boxing industry. We want to bring more money and visibility to the sport and give the boxers opportunities outside the ring.”
“We’re going to promote our first event by the end of the year, and we’re currently strategizing on which fighters we will seek to sign,” Itskowitch told ESPN.com.
“We’re looking to make an immediate and dramatic impact on the sport. We feel we can do that, and we plan to build Roc Nation Sports into a boxing brand by leveraging Roc Nation’s current marketing, public relations and branding infrastructure. We’re going to brand Roc Nation Sports fighters, and we’re confident that branding will lead to financial opportunities both in and out of the ring that will be available nowhere else.”
“We’re starting with a clean slate,” he said. “One of boxing’s biggest problems is that the audience is getting older, but we have an infrastructure that can reach younger fans. We believe that is something we can do based on what we already have in place.”
Yormark said the goal is not only to put on quality boxing events but also to do for the fighters it will eventually sign what it tries to do with the other athletes it represents.
“There’s no question Roc Nation Sports can create celebrity status for boxers and align them with corporate America,” Yormark said. “Look at the success we’ve had with our athletes and [recording] artists [represented by parent company Roc Nation]. That is what we do, and we do that better than anyone. We will be able to build brands for these boxers and build their careers outside of the ring. That’s the difference that Roc Nation will bring to this sport.”
Said Itskowitch, “We will be a promoter, but our job won’t end once a guy fights on a particular Saturday night. We will promote him 365 days a year.”
