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Recently, SaddoBoxing had a chance to speak with the President of 8 Count Productions, Dominic Pesoli. 8 Count Productions is rapidly becoming a Chicago area staple when it comes to exciting shows and displaying hot prospects. They’ll be putting on their third fight card of the month tonight at Cicero Stadium in Chicago and things seem to just get busier.
SaddoBoxing: How did you get into boxing promoting?
Dominic Pesoli: “Well, I have been around the sport pretty much my whole life. I started boxing when I was 13 years old as an amateur. Competed for eight years. What started me as a boxer was Rocky.
“As far a promoting, I always had a passion for the sport, I loved it. In 1995, I was putting on an event for charity. It was to help raise some money for kids with cancer. I did a celebrity boxing event where I had Danny Bonaduce, who at the time a radio disc jockey at the Loop FM here in Chicago.
“He fought a local sportscaster with NBC channel 5, John Kelly, who is now with ‘Extra’, the entertainment show. So, I had those two guys fight each other and on the undercard, I put on a lot of my students who I was training at the time. I put this event on and raised about $50,000 for the charity and had a really good time doing it.
“So I said, ‘you know what, you know boxing is my passion, I had a really good promoting this event, maybe I should do boxing promoting?’ That’s what started it. Then, in 1997, that’s when I formed 8 Count Productions.”
SB: Tell us about your April 20 show entitled “Judgment Day”.
DP: “Well, this is our third show in three weeks. This one I am co-promoting with Golden Boy Promotions. Oscar has Abner Mares, his rising young bantamweight prospect, headlining the show. In the co-main event, we have Jonathan Oquendo, who is another one of his prospects. Two young kids who are very talented, very exciting fighters, one is Mexican the other one is Puerto Rican.
“This works well with our Latin audience that we promote to. Then we got the off TV special attraction. The fight is going to be 12 round NABO light heavyweight title between a local kid Mike Nevitt, who is undefeated, against Otis Griffin who was on The Next Great Champ. So we have 7 fights on this card Friday and all of them look to be matched appropriately. I am expecting some good action.”
SB: Typically, how are the gates for your shows?
DP: “I kind of found my niche with the Latin market. If you are putting on entertaining fights, people will come. If you are putting on bad fights, then your events are not well attended. I think my matchmaker Jerry Alfano does an incredible job with putting on competitive matches and I think that has been a key element of our success. It’s a team effort, Bernie does his job with the publicity and Jerry does his job with making the matches and I handle all the other headaches.”
SB: As a promoter, do you feel that boxing is waning in popularity as a sport with the ticket buying public?
DP: “Again, I think it all depends on what you are doing. I think what is going to help boxing is this Oscar De La Hoya fight with Mayweather. Because, here you have two great warriors putting it on the line and this is what the people want to see. I think boxing suffered some blows by some of the stuff that has gone on in the past.
“It doesn’t help the sport when you have bad judging or fighters who cannot make weight fighting for a world title. Those types of things hurt the sport, but I also think that, I feel in my heart, that it will continue to go back up on the upswing. I think it all really depends on what is out there. You have this great match up with Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, it’s these types of fights that are going to help keep the sport alive.
“If we don’t get matches like that on the high level or even competitive match ups on a smaller level, like myself…I am more of a mid-level promoter. If I was putting on A-side versus B-side, you know, what promoters did for so many years in this business, I think we would pretty much see the end of it. Promoters like myself have to continue to encourage their fighters to take a step up and not be so protective. Guys today, if they have one or two losses, it’s ok; years ago it wasn’t.”
SB: Do you feel that it is the promoter’s responsibility to cultivate new boxing fans?
DP: “I tend to agree with you.You know, the UFC is doing tremendous numbers but I also think at some point they are going to have get more innovative with UFC because people are going to get tired of seeing the same guys fighting the same guys. That’s what is going on there. They don’t have enough talent in that sport. Right now, it’s ok because it’s new, but eventually it’s going to get old.
“To me, that is defiantly a younger audience but it’s also a different audience. You don’t see a lot of Latin people following the UFC. It’s really a white populated demographic. Again, it all depends on the quality of the event you are putting on and promoters really have to get behind what they are doing and market the shows. I do a lot of grassroots marketing where I go out and hang posters myself and meet people.”
SB: You mentioned the May 5 fight with De La Hoya and Mayweather but you have a fighter, Jose Hernandez, on that undercard, versus Rocky Juarez. What are your thoughts on the fight?
DP: “I think it’s going to be a war. I don’t see the fight going the distance. I just think that Jose’s style and Rocky’s style, they are just two people who stand right there and slug it out. I think it is a great opportunity for Jose. Jose has a tremendous heart and he displayed that in the Escalante fight.
“Same thing with the Litzau fight, he was down on the scorecards and basically the commentators had him pretty much done then BAM! The one thing I can say about Jose is that he can hit. I think someone is going to be knocked out in that fight. I don’t see it going the distance. Hopefully my guy prevails, which would be wonderful.”
SB: In that light, who are some or the more marquee names under your banner?
DP: “I have a light heavyweight prospect out of Tallahassee, FL named Tavoris Cloud. He is kind of like a throwback fighter, very exciting, he’s a total puncher. He’s going to be headlining a show for us on May 11. I also have a kid, a young Puerto Rican kid out of Milwaukee, WI, who is undefeated, named Mike Gonzalez. He’s another exciting, in your face type of fighter.
“Let’s see…I recently signed two Polish kids and a Russian Olympian. Victor Polyakov, who I really like his style a lot. He knows how to work the angles but also can punch. You know, I have signed quite a few guys in the last few years.”
SB: What does the rest of 2007 hold in store for 8 Count Productions?
DP: “Well, last year I did about 20 shows. This year, I’m on the same path to do either just as many if not more. This is the last one of this month, I have one in May, I may have two in June, one in July, and possibly three in August with the David Diaz/Erik Morales fight that we will be co-promoting with Top Rank. A busy, busy year.”
