Ben Shalom Believes Competition In British Boxing Has Forced Promoters To Work Together
Ben Shalom Embraces Tough Competition In The UK And Looks Towards The Positives It Brings
28-year-old BOXXER CEO Ben Shalom became the youngest licenced promoter in British boxing when he founded the company ‘Ultimate BOXXER’ in 2018, now renamed as just ‘BOXXER’
When Matchroom left in 2021, an opportunity arose for a smaller company to become the exclusive promoter of Sky Sports Boxing, and to the surprise of some fans it was BOXXER who was given the mammoth task of stepping into the boots of Eddie Hearn.
In the eighteen months since BOXXER has grown into one of the leading promoters in British boxing competing extensively with Matchroom and Queensberry in the UK and Shalom believes the addition of a third major competitor has forced British promoters to work together through an increasing divide in the split of talent across networks.
Shalom told IFL TV that he believes that promoters now have ‘no choice’ but to work together due to the demands of broadcasters and this is largely down to the competitive nature of the market.
“I don’t believe in the philosophy that your business is made better by not making fights.”
Certain promoters are notorious for refusing to work with anyone else despite the greater opportunities which can be provided for their stable. The BOXXER CEO doesn’t agree with this and aims to work with competitors as much as possible.
Shalom wants to see fans and media continue putting pressure on promoters to deliver big cross-promotional bouts that may have been seen as impossible previously. The best example of this in recent times is Joyce vs Parker – a PPV bout made through a Queensberry-BOXXER co-pro.
“The promoters that work together are exposing promoters that don’t work together and now the promoters who never work together are starting to realise ‘oh we have to work together’.”
British boxing for the last decade or so was dominated by Matchroom and Queensberry and you could count on two hands how many fights they made together in that period.
In recent months, we’ve started to see better communication between the parties including the Fury-Joshua negotiations, making the Parker-Ryder fight and Matchroom’s involvement in the making of Joyce-Zhang on a Queensberry show.