Ringstar signs Mexican Olympian Misael Rodriguez to promotional contract

Misael Rodríguez

Misael Rodriguez/Photo courtesy of Getty Images

 

Promoter Richard Schaefer of Ringstar Sports has signed middleweight Misael Rodriguez – a 2016 Olympic bronze-medal winner from Mexico – to a promotional contract. Schaefer recently signed U.S. Olympian Carlos Balderas of Santa Maria.

“I’m thrilled to be adding another promising young potential superstar in Misael Rodriguez to the Ringstar lineup,” said Schaefer, the former CEO of Golden Boy Promotions who recently founded Ringstar. “This is a young man who has overcome overcome every obstacle thrown his way.

“He is mentally strong, has great skills and I expect him to have a very long, successful career.”

Rodriguez, just 22, is stoked to hook up with Ringstar.

“After I came back from the Olympics, I knew that it was time to start my professional career,” he said. “I am excited to have signed with Ringstar Sports. I have always appreciated Richard Schaefer’s approach on developing talent into boxing stars.”

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Richard Schaefer likes the notion that he was missed during his time away

Former Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, center, looks on as boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr.  and Canelo Alvarez  pose before their 2013 fight. Schaefer left Golden Boy and is now starting Ringstar.  (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Promoter Richard Schaefer, center, said he found out he was missed during his time away from boxing/Photo by Ethan Miller, Getty Images

 

Promoter Richard Schaefer has spent more than two years on the sidelines after resigning his post as CEO of Golden Boy Promotions in June 2014. He didn’t go to a lot of fights during that time, but the few he did attend contained a message he really liked.

“I went to only a handful of fights during that time, maybe five or six,” said Schaefer, who is president and founder of Ringstar Sports. “I went to Floyd (Mayweather Jr.’s) fights, I went to a couple of fights in New York. And I was sort of touched by the kind of reception I got from the fans when I came into the venue, ‘Hey, Schaefer, we need you back, we want you back. Boxing is not the same.’

“The same with fighters. Fighters said, ‘We need you to create these events you used to create and the hype and everything which goes with it.’ ”

Schaefer is back in the saddle and will be co-promoting Saturday’s card at USC’s Galen Center that will be headlined by the featherweight title fight between Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens and champion Jesus Cuellar of Argentina (on Showtime).

Ringstar will also be co-promoting the Jan. 28 featherweight championship rematch between champion Carl Frampton of Northern Ireland and Leo Santa Cruz of Lincoln Heights (on Showtime).

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Leo Santa Cruz, Carl Frampton exchange pleasantries at L.A. news conference promoting their rematch

Leo Santa Cruz

Leo Santa Cruz/Photo courtesy of Premier Boxing Champions

 

Trash-talking is part of the sweet science. Heck, it’s part of every sport. But it’s always nice when there is none because there’s nothing wrong with athletes showing some class.

Leo Santa Cruz of Lincoln Heights and Carl Frampton of Belfast, Northern Ireland on Thursday played host to a Los Angeles news conference promoting their Jan. 28 rematch at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (on Showtime). The two squared off on July 30 at Barclays Center in New York City, Frampton taking Santa Cruz’s featherweight world title via majority decision in a close, and terrific, fight.

“I think the rematch with Leo Santa Cruz is going to be an amazing fight,” Frampton said to reporters and fans outside the Los Angeles Central Public Library. “The first one is considered one of the fights of the year. I don’t think it’s going to be any different. I think we’re kicking off 2017 with a bang, and Leo is an amazing fighter.”

Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) thanked Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) for giving him the shot in July, and that he was only too happy to give him the rematch as quickly as possible.

“These are the type of fights I want to be involved in,” said Frampton, 29. “If you want people to remember you in 20 or 30 years time, when you thank boxing, you need to be thanking guys like Leo Santa Cruz. I respect him a hell of a lot, I respect him and his team.”

Santa Cruz, 28, was equally kind.

“Carl Frampton is a great fighter and you guys saw, he got the respect from you guys because he showed that he’s a great fighter, a great champion,” he said. “And I know it’s going to be a pretty even fight this time, too, a pretty close fight because we both are world champions and we both train really hard for our families, for you guys, for the fans – to give them great shows.”

Santa Cruz a couple of days earlier at a news conference in Belfast said that he’s looking forward to this training camp because for the first fight his father’s health was weighing heavily on him.

Promoter Richard Schaefer of Ringstar Spors announced at the news conference that Jose Santa Cruz’s cancer is in remission. A big round of applause followed.

Schaefer said more than half of the 13,000-plus tickets available for this were sold on the first day. They are priced $54, $104, $204, $304, $404 and $504.

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Richard Schaefer confirms his Ringstar Sports will co-promote Frampton-Santa Cruz rematch in Las Vegas

Carl Frampton celebrates his win after defeating Leo Santa Cruz in the 12 round WBA Super featherweight championship bout at Barclays Center on July 30, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. (Photo by Anthony Geathers/Getty Images)

Carl Frampton celebrates his victory over Leo Santa Cruz on July 30 in New York City/Photo by Anthony Geathers, Getty Images

 

Promoter Richard Schaefer on Wednesday confirmed that his new company – Ringstar Sports – will co-promote the Jan. 28 rematch between featherweight champion Carl Frampton of Northern Ireland and Leo Santa Cruz of Lincoln Heights at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. RingTV.com reported this on Friday.

Schaefer is the former CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. He recently founded Ringstar, and his first order of business will be to co-promote the Dec. 10 fight between another featherweight champion – Jesus Cuellar of Argentina – and Abner Mares of Hawaiian Gardens at USC’s Galen Center (on Showtime).

Frampton took Santa Cruz’s belt via majority decision in July.

 

 

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What will settlement with Richard Schaefer mean for Golden Boy Promotions?

Oscar De La Hoya/Photo by Associated Press

 

Now that Golden Boy Promotions and former CEO Richard Schaefer have reached a settlement, it will be interesting to see how Golden Boy and president Oscar De La Hoya react.

We say that because as part of the settlement, De La Hoya agreed to sever ties with several Al Haymon fighters who were being promoted by Golden Boy, but were not under promotional contract to De La Hoya’s company. Among them – according to several publications – reportedly are Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana and heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder. According to ESPN.com, Wilder’s challenge to heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne on Saturday figures to be Wilder’s last under the Golden Boy banner.

According to reports, Schaefer will still have to sit out an unspecified amount of time before he can promote again because he was under contract to Golden Boy through 2018. A source told ESPN.com it could be one to two years.

Schaefer had resigned in June after a long run as the company CEO. He was eventually taken to arbitration by De La Hoya for $50 million. There was no exact word on the monetary part of the settlement, but ESPN.com reported that Schaefer may have to give up his roughly eight percent stock in Golden Boy, which apparently also will receive millions of dollars.

Indeed, how Golden Boy marches on from here will be interesting to see. De La Hoya is supposedly cool with the settlement, so that’s good. But several of the solid fighters he’s been using to add punch to his cards, are gone.

Time will tell.

 

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Richard Schaefer resigns as CEO of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions

To the surprise of probably no one, Richard Schaefer – CEO of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions – on Monday afternoon handed in his resignation after some 12
years with the company that was founded in 2002.

“After more than 10 years with Golden Boy, it is time to move on to the next chapter of my career,” Schaefer said in a statement. “This decision has required a great
deal of personal reflection, but ultimately I concluded that I have no choice but to leave. I have succeeded in banking and I have succeeded in boxing, and I look forward to the next opportunity. I am proud to remain a shareholder (in Golden Boy), so I have a strong interest in the continued success of the company. I am proud of what we have accomplished at Golden Boy, but I now look forward to new challenges.”
Schaefer has been De La Hoya’s right-hand man, and then some. The financial brains of the outfit, the former Swiss banker helped build De La Hoya’s company into a monster in the industry, taking a back seat to virtually no one.

Along the way quite a bit of animosity materialized between De La Hoya’s former promoter – Bob Arum of Top Rank Inc. – and De La Hoya and Schaefer. The ongoing beef resulted in what boxing insiders referred to as “The Cold War” as the companies refused to do business with each other.

When De La Hoya recently got out of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for the second time, he went on record as saying he wanted to patch things up with Arum
and again begin doing fights with Arum’s high-powered company.

By this time Schaefer had gone on record as saying he would never do business with Arum ever again. Schaefer would not say much on top of the statement during a telephone interview with this newspaper shortly after he resigned. He did provide some hints.

“I can’t really say anything on the advice of my attorneys,” he said, when asked about his main reason for leaving. “I’m just going to leave it at this; the statement pretty much says all it needs to say.”

Schaefer was asked if, because his attorneys advised him not to talk, that means there is impending litigation.

“No, not necessarily,” he said. “I just gave my resignation today; I don’t have all the answers.”

Schaefer, however, did say something that intimated De La Hoya’s change of heart toward Arum was part of why he left.

“I’m sure guys involved in boxing saw what was going on and probably figured out that sooner or later something like that was going to happen,” Schaefer said.

De La Hoya, as of late Monday afternoon, had yet to issue a response to Schaefer’s departure. De La Hoya, of East Los Angeles, will be inducted into the International
Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday in Canastota, N.Y.

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Richard Schaefer won’t comment on rumors of discord with Oscar De La Hoya

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, on Friday morning said he would not address in any way, shape or form the rumors that he and his boss, Oscar De La Hoya, are on the outs.

Some of the gossip has gone so far as to suggest that Schaefer was about to either resign or be pushed out of the company he has helped grow into a monster.
“I’m actually trying to get to the bottom of those rumors as well, and the sources,” Schaefer said via telephone. “I am not going to comment on it. I’ve never really been one to comment on rumors, and I’m not going to start now.”

 

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A lot goes into selecting Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s next opponent

We should find out soon who Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s next opponent will be, but it was interesting to find out this week about the way he thinks as he is going through the process of making that choice.

According to Richard Schaefer, a lot more goes into it than just selecting the fighter.

“Floyd is the kind of fighter who fights anyone,” said Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which helps Mayweather promote his fights. “He is obviously ultimately deciding who he’s going to fight. But at the same time, he is frankly more interested in the marketing and creating the entire atmosphere and positioning of his fight week and fight night to basically make this, as it has been the past few years, without any question the event to be at. Like the Super Bowl of boxing.
“He just likes to create these big nights where you have cards which are top-to-bottom loaded, and he gets very much invovled in that.”

Mayweather, 36, is 45-0 with 26 knockouts. In his most recent bout, he won a majority decision over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Sept. 14 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. That was the fight where judge C.J. Ross scored the fight even, making hers one of the worst scorecards of the past 50 years, or since yours truly began watching boxing as a kid.

 

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