Collision Course Night of the Champions: A Coming out Party

Collision Course Night of the Champions: A Coming out Party

By Sergio Martinez (January 18, 2006)

There are many boxing promotional companies operating around the world, but very few are actually known. As much as many of the ‘others’ attempt to break into the ‘huge fight’ market, any contest that appeals to the masses is usually promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank, or Don King Promotions. Five years ago, Guilty Boxing began its run at promotional significance. “We felt that fans out there did not have a way to attach themselves to fighters anymore like the way a ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard or (Muhammad) Ali did in the days of Howard Cosell and ‘Wide World of Sports’. Those guys were built as household names through ABC. Guilty Boxing’s philosophy is to put fighters on our television networks and create a fan following for them so that once they move up to the next level of HBO/Showtime, and even pay-per-view, they have a large fan base that will support them. We have weekly shows running on various television outlets and have many great fighters on contract with us so it makes for great, competitive shows,” said Jay Hassman, CEO of Guilty Boxing, to DoghouseBoxing.com.

Guilty Boxing does have some solid talent on their roster of fighters and has made some waves in the boxing world. Fighters like Humberto Soto, who recently upset featherweight title hopeful Ricardo ‘Rocky’ Juarez, Gamaliel Diaz who just a few weeks ago handed Robert ‘Ghost’ Guerrero his first loss, mini-flyweight Omar Soto, former five time world champion Manuel ‘Mantecas’ Medina, and a ton of young and exciting prospects that are making for great fights. “We have so many fighters under contact and we put on forty-eight shows a year. We make all of our contests competitive and we put fighters in there that are fighting for their careers and since they are mostly Guilty fighters on our cards, we are able to match very competitive fights and make more entertaining cards than our competitors do on a regular basis. We keep our guys busy and they are matched against tough competition. We don’t put on ‘protect’ type of fight cards just for the sake of having a card. We believe that the fans deserve the best possible match-ups available and that is what we always try to provide. We want to make sure that the paying public gets the most out of their money.”

With that in mind, Guilty Boxing is venturing into the pay-per-view arena this year with its first event, ‘Collision Course Night of Champions’, scheduled for January 27, 2006, from the Tropicana Hotel Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. For $24.95, fight fans can enjoy fighters the likes of Cestus Management’s ‘Mighty’ Mike Arnaoutis, Virgil Hill, Nate Campbell, Stevie Johnston, Omar Soto, and Prince Badi Ajamu competing in different title fights throughout the evening. It should be an exciting night of boxing for everyone to enjoy as Hassman further illustrates. “I believe this fight card has the makings of being the best boxing show for 2006 because it features some great fighters matched in great fights. The main event features Virgil Hill, but I think that this card is so solid that you can turn it upside down and any of the fights on there could be the main ones. Having Cestus Management on board for this show is great because it brings us credibility.”

Hassman continued, “Mike Michael and Cestus Management are true assets and it has been a pleasure to work side by side with them. Their fighter, ‘Mighty’ Mike Arnaoutis who is featured in the co-main event, is the hottest prospect out there right now and Cestus Management continues to show their belief in him as he is, again, matched against an undefeated fighter in Marc Thompson. Mike brings his name and reputation as an exciting fighter to this card. What he does is bring in a huge fan base to the pay-per-view show as we all know that there is a huge Greek population in the area and Cestus has also crossed him over to the Latino fans making him a huge draw in any market. He will bring people that may never have bought a pay-per-view before and is going to be a big reason why this pay-per-view is going to be very successful. He’s been on Shobox and our networks before so fans are familiar with him and really want to see what he will do next. ‘Mighty’ Mike is going to prove to everyone that he is ready to be a headliner on any premium network or pay-per-view show. Having Arnaoutis and Virgil Hill, who are both local kids, fighting in New Jersey is really having an impact as these tickets are becoming the hottest around. ‘Mighty’ Mike is a kid on fire and we look forward to continue working with him and Cestus Management to get him his deserved title shot against (Miguel) Cotto.”

In closing, Hassman said, “I just really want to thank everyone out there that has been very supportive and I want to thank Star Boxing and Silverhawk Boxing for joining us and making this great pay-per-view fight card possible. Also, I want to thank Mike Michael and Cestus Management for the huge part they have played not only in this promotion, but in guiding Guilty Boxing and really helping make a lot of the things that have happened possible. Look forward to a big year from us and we will continue to bring the fans great fights.”