Boxing Promoters Burchfield, Cappiello Join Forces

Longtime New England boxing promoters, Jimmy Burchfield and Rich Cappiello, have joined forces and pooled their resources under Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment and Sports, Inc. (CES) banner.

Burchfield, operating out of Providence (RI) for the past quarter-century, and the Brockton (MA)-based Cappiello have been the two most dominant boxing promoters in New England for the past 15 years.

“Rich has a great talent for evaluating, signing and moving prospects,” Burchfield said. “Fighter development will be one of his primary responsibilities and he’ll help strengthen CES in many ways. You don’t know how this boxing business works unless you’ve done it and you’ve paid your dues. Rich has done all of that for years. He knows what it takes. We both believe in this move. Rich has developed a lot of valuable relationships that will help CES.

“We want to expand our market to include Philadelphia, New Jersey, parts of New York, and all of New England. The bottom line is filling up arenas.=2 0To do so, we must give fans more value for their entertainment dollar, which is more important than ever in these trying times. Pooling our resources like this makes so much sense. Everybody involved in CES is supporting this move because it strengthens our position.

“What we’re doing is a good example of what was discussed at the recent Boxing Promoters Association. We want to be one of the strongest promoters in the country and, to do that, we have to work with each other. We already have a strong team and it’s even stronger now with the addition of Rich Cappiello. You can’t buy his experience in this business.”

Cappiello, who also owns a gym in Brockton, wanted to go in another direction. “In today’s bad economic times,” he said, “working together makes a lot of sense. It makes both of us stronger. I’m confident that this will be a permanent relationship. I talked about doing this with some other promoters, but I know that Jimmy was the best fit. We competed, as promoters, but there were no vendettas. I’m a New Englander and I feel better working with somebody who has worked here for so long and I can meet with by just driving a few miles.

“The economics of boxing are so different today that it’s become difficult to survive. Other guys are coming into New England but, working together, we will be able to dominate this area. For me, it’s basically a merger, but it’s still CES. I just want to build champions and I can be much more effective doing that this way. We’ve discussed this for a while, not just once or twice.

“I still have about 15 fighters under contract, including some good young talent that will eventually fight for CES. I see myself doing different things for CES. I’ll be concentrating on things such as fighter development instead of being involved with all aspects of running the business. It’s going to be a process, but we’re going to make a good team.”

For more information about CES, its 2009 schedule or fighters, go online to www.cesboxing.com or call 401.724.2253.