Schaefer Gone: The Aftermath of Golden Boy Promotions & Boxing
By Brian Posada
Richard Schaefer's resignation as CEO of Golden Boy Promotions leaves power vacuum in the business world of boxing.
After all, Schaefer excelled as CEO with Golden Boy Promotions. Boxing experienced one of its best years in the past two decades, in large part thanks to the teamwork of De La Hoya and Schaeffer. Even with Oscar taking a leave of absence to fight drug addiction, Schaeffer’s business acumen carried the day. Golden Boy quicly became the premier powerhouse promotional company as they took their large number of fighters exclusively to Showtime, sticking it to their once business friend, HBO.
Even after first hearing the reported problems between Oscar and Schaeffer, [Steve Max - A Golden Rift?], it seemed that business success and binding legalities would save the company from splitting. Apparently, it was not enough as Schaeffer split, citing difficulties with Oscar as the main reason for leaving.
Even as great as Schaeffer as with Golden Boy, his decision to leave seems rash and fueled by ego rather than rational decision making.
For Schaefer it's a huge gamble for create a new company especially if it's with Floyd as many insiders have speculated he would. The pound for pound champion would love to have Schaeffer head his company in the right direction. As it stands, The Money Team has been nothing more than a spectacle, with no real legitimate boxers to profit from with the exception of Floyd (himself) of course.
Currently, Al Haymon acts as an adviser to The Money Team and many top ranked fighters in the world. There are reasons he cannot open his own promotional company, as it stand it would be a conflict of interest and therefore Haymon would need a numbers guy and face of a company to take his business too the next level.
It's also worth noting, leaving Golden Boy has basically alienated Schaeffer from working with the biggest promotional companies in boxing. Top Rank and Bob Arum backed by HBO will not do business with him. Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy will very likely not work together any time soon. Shaeffer is then left with working strictly with Al Haymon fighters and ride the success of Floyd's final fights as his career winds down.
Finally, Schaeffer is not exactly staying loyal to the Latino and Mexican-fan base. His move to work with Floyd Mayweather and Al Haymon begs the question, what Mexican or Hispanic fighters will they have on the roster? Aside from Leo Santacruz and maybe Matthysse, I don't see The Moneyteam, or Schaeffer having fighters that appeal to the big fan base. This is important because Mayweather's most profittable fights have come against Mexican legends such as: Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo Alvarez, and Juan Marquez. Aside from these three fights, Floyd pay-per-view numbers have been dissapointing. Schaeffer is a schrewd numbers guy who surely knows this. It will be interesting to see how he responds heading a new promotional company, when or if he does.
It's evident Schaeffer will stay in the boxing business. He seems to genuinely like the spotlight, something he probably never experienced as a Swiss banker. His goal will be to do away with the current competition using the Showtime platform as a vice to do it. His legal situation may slow the process but it is only a matter of time.
