Ben Shalom: “We feel we are the number one place for fighters now.”

Ben Shalom: “We feel we are the number one place for fighters now.”

Ben Shalom started young. Shalom was just 23 when he was the youngest licensed promoter in Britain. Five years on, he is pushing to be the biggest. He is well on his way.

Shalom places much value on his work ethic, long days, and midnight calls. Shalom is in demand, and his time is limited. It’s been a long wait to grab some of that precious Shalom time. It came just a few days after that historic night on Saturday night. If ever the sport needed some light shining on it, it was now. Everything that was good about the sport was there in full view at the O2 in London. Future stars of the sport and two headline fights that would top virtually any other fight night.

In one of the greatest ever all-female fights, the American Claressa Shields got the better of her most heated rival, Savannah Marshall, in that titanic main event. Over Zoom, Shalom told me, that despite the defeat, it was still a very special moment for him:

“At that point when we signed her, Savannah wasn’t a headliner. She wasn’t a star and didn’t feel like a star. The first time she headlined was up in Newcastle when Chris Eubank and Hughie Fury were on the undercard and she looked around and couldn’t believe she was headlining. Savannah looked around and said to me, Ben you have got this wrong, nobody is going to buy any tickets and that she shouldn’t be headlining and why is she headlining above Eubank and Fury. And it is really special seeing her development over the last 12 months, her confidence has grown so much. And to then see her walk out in front of 20,000 fans at the O2 on that sort of spectacle was amazing. That was another reason why Saturday was so special.”

Shalom gambles in the boxing sense. His gamble that Amir Khan and Kell Brook could still sell, despite both being some way past their sell-by date, paid off handsomely in February. And Shalom rolled the dice once again to stage the iconic card this past Saturday night:

“We got a fair amount of criticism for putting on an all-female card. A lot of people said it was over the top and unnecessary and that we wouldn’t sell enough tickets. But if we could sell tickets and do massive numbers it would be unbelievable not just for women’s boxing, but for the sport itself. We just had to find the stars and the fights to put it all together. And for it to come off like that was incredible. I have been in some big nights, but not one that took the risks that one did. We also had the passing of the Queen and then having to sort the rescheduled date out in 4 or 5 weeks it was a massive achievement with some incredible fights as well.”

The hope is it doesn’t become a lost moment in time, a one-off event that can never be replicated somewhere down the line. It would need the right fights, but Ben is open to doing it again under the right circumstances:

“It could happen again but we don’t want to make a point of separating the two sides of the sport. As we have seen before there are usually one or two women’s fights on each card. This time was such an opportunity with Shields and Marshall being such a huge fight, a massive stand-alone fight that didn’t need to be propped up by any other fight. Then having the chief support and then having the other incredible talent coming through with Caroline, Karriss and Lauren and others there is just a lot of talent that it just made perfect sense on that occasion. We knew how much interest there was in Shields and Marshall and we knew if we did it right we could create a lot of interest in women’s boxing. I think it will be hard to top because to get two headline fights on one card with that sort of investment was difficult. We did it and maybe it can happen every year. The main thing we have achieved is that everyone is taking women’s boxing so seriously now and is not just dependent on the men’s side of the sport. We have proved it can sell out arenas and have millions of people tuned in and it has changed the dynamic a little bit and going forward everyone will benefit.”

The previous week in the often murky world of boxing, was everything that was wrong with the sport. Reports of alleged failed drug tests and the sleazy aftermath that came with it left the sport in an extremely dark place. But at a time when the sport needed a deep cleanse perhaps more than ever, the process started in London on a truly memorable night. Shalom concedes the sport needed it:

“It was the perfect night and the perfect time to take the opportunity. It was the reaction to it as well. Nobody can argue what it has done for the sport at a time when the sport needed it the most. It shone a good light and reset the sport. A lot of people are just thankful to us for changing the narrative of what the sport can do.”

There were many highs from that memorable occasion, but one young fighter probably stood out from the pack. The incredibly talented Caroline Dubois enhanced her potential yet again. Dubois is among the brightest prospects in the sport. Shalom is clearly excited about what is to come:

“Caroline looked incredible, a future star, knocking out people like she’s doing and she is only 21. She is still growing and it’s incredible to see that.”

The win over Marshall leaves the undisputed middleweight champion of the world with plenty of options for her once her PFL MMA commitments have been honoured. Shields called out another fighter on the Boxxer roster the unified world super-welterweight champion Natasha Jonas. Shields and Jonas both appear up for a fight that could happen sometime in 2023. But while Shalom is more than open to Shields/Jonas, Savannah Marshall might also be in consideration for a return with Shields once the American returns to boxing:

“It would be incredible. Tasha has got a big unification fight to get through first in Manchester next month, and Claressa won’t fight her unless she has the belts. Tasha has got a tough fight ahead of her. Tasha has always wanted the big fights, she was willing to jump up weight divisions to win a world title so I am not surprised that she wants to fight Claressa and I am not surprised Claressa wants to fight Tasha. And Tasha deserves a big night. But I think Savannah will have a lot to say about it. She feels she could have done a lot better. She feels it wasn’t her. Savannah is a huge superstar now and made more money than she could ever have dreamed of. But she is devastated and that shows me there is more to give. Savannah is finding it tough right now but that is a good sign and the rematch is something I think she’ll want.”

There is a sense of pride for the platform he has given to his still-developing stable of fighters. Stars made out of fighters that languished in relative obscurity elsewhere. The likes of Marshall and Jonas, are two fighters who have benefited greatly since they signed with Boxxer:

“Savannah is a shining example of what we can do for fighters and why they can trust us. The power of the Sky platform is there and what it can do for you. Tasha is another fighter, what we have done for her in such a short time is amazing. Where she was and now she is a unified world champion. Richard Riakporhe is another one we are proud of. He hadn’t boxed for 18 months and now he is number two in the division and boxing for a world title soon. We have had to work with what we have got and we are very proud of all the fighters we got. They are the fighters who really took a risk to come with us because nobody knew who we were. They mean a lot to us and we are trying to deliver in every possible way we can for them.”

Shalom and his partnership with Sky have grown beyond any reasonable expectations, but there is no resting on any laurels or looking back in satisfaction, the focus is on achieving more in the year ahead:

“Because it is so crazy and relentless, we are still building a team while we are trying to compete at the top, so I don’t really look back because I can’t afford to take my eye off the ball. We have broken into British boxing, nobody has done it on this scale for a long time, since Frank and Eddie. I did have my promoter’s licence for 4 or 5 years before and we always prepared to be in this position. But we had to wait for the broadcasting world to open up and the opportunities to come. We knew around 18 months ago that Eddie would be leaving Sky. So we had 18 months of planning and preparation making sure we were ready when the opportunity came we could hit the ground running. It’s been a crazy whirlwind 12 months and it is crazy to think how much we have done in that time. It has been a grind and it has been a struggle. It did start in 2017, and it’s been full-time, with the same team every single day. We’ve given everything to get here and we want to stay here. It does come from a genuine place, we feel we have a different perspective on boxing. We are probably not as profit-driven as some and it allows us to take longer-term decisions. We do care about the sport. We do see problems with the sport, but now we have a seat at the table with Sky we believe we can make changes.”

The addition of Boxxer to the boxing world has benefited many fighters, including those that have gone elsewhere. Their market value has gone up, and demand for their services is greater. For once, the fighters have a choice:

“When there is a monopoly in the industry it is up to the promoter what they pay their fighters because they have no real competition. We are not overpaying now. At the start, we had no fighters, and with some fighters on 4 or 5-year contracts, they were not available. But what helped us was the Tokyo Olympics. It always feels great to sign a fighter at the start of the journey so the Olympians became very important to us. So we made sure we got them at all costs. Some fighters have been underpaid and now they are getting what they deserve. Luckily now we have three big broadcasters investing in the sport and for the fighters, it is a win. People will ultimately choose where they want to go. But we are in a different position than 12 months ago. People now know we can put on Box Office events and guide them to world titles. We have shown we deliver what we say. 12 months ago the fighters didn’t have those answers. The ones that did come over did take a massive risk and maybe we did spend have to spend a bit more because they did not know what we could deliver. A lot of people were in their ear saying Sky boxing was dead and they were not interested in boxing anymore.”

There has been the expected resentment towards Shalom, hate even in some quarters. Cameras pushed in his face looking for clickbait, Shalom has had to learn on the job in many ways. The Boxxer/Sky relationship has upset the usual normality, competition breeds many things. But it wasn’t anything Shalom wasn’t expecting:

“I know from working in boxing before that the sport has become a resentful and vicious place. Sometimes that can filter down from who is running this sport. I feel strongly about trying to set an example and not get drawn into it. But ultimately we prepared for it. There is a lot of backstabbing and jealousy. We are young guys coming into this industry, we are resilient and we won’t be told what to do. We believe in doing the right thing. But naturally, when you shake up a sport there will be a backlash that will come with some resentment. But there are a lot of good people. A lot of managers and trainers that are so grateful there is a new option for them. They are so grateful that we are delivering and they don’t have to pander to just one person. Before some fighters had no option but to suck it up.”

It is the beginning of the journey for Shalom. Still a few years from his thirties, any grey premature hairs not yet showing, the ambitions show no sign of relenting. With a stable of Olympians who will develop further, and a quest to get more established names on his roster, Shalom is looking ahead to another year of progress:

“I’d like to see Adam Azim become one of the biggest names in boxing, Ben Whittaker also. I’d also like to think the next 12 months will see more and more fighters that want to be with us. We feel we are the number one place for fighters now. We feel that if you asked a fighter without contractual commitments where they wanted to box, they would say Boxxer. So over the next 12 months, hopefully, we will see the best and biggest stars in British boxing on Sky and develop the future stars. We have seen a lot of fighters retiring and we have to make sure we have got those stars for the future.”

Shalom lives and breathes boxing, the evidence of another long night still evident. Signs of tiredness are clearly visible with the new day only a few hours old. Another long day ahead of him. Shalom has sacrificed much for his love of the sport. In previous interviews, Shalom cited poor rewards for fighters as some of his reasons for entering a sport that is often a law to itself, and already he has changed many things in that regard. Shalom borrowed £10,000 to get his promoter’s licence five years ago. An early TV deal with Channel 5’s 5Spike and BT Sport got the show on the road before the game-changing deal with Sky last year.

There were in truth some elements of naivety in the beginning, but Shalom is now very firmly established at the top end of the sport. Passionate about the world he has entered, a desire to change many aspects of it. Many of his fighters will feel he is doing exactly that.