Presents an Interview with Promoter Bobby Hitz
Hi Bobby, on behalf of RingNews24.com and our readers, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. As well as our own, we have included questions provided by fans on the RingNews Forum.
We hope our readers enjoy the interview
Ringnews24.com: According to BoxRec you retired from actively fighting aged 26. Was there a big reason for this or was it just a decision you made to stay away before something major happened?
I didn’t realize I was that young. I was only 26? I had a succession of crazy injuries like a broken ankle in a fight, elbow surgery in another fight. I was preparing to fight Tommy Morrison and Top Rank gave me ten weeks to get ready. I was in tremendous shape. I was going to go beat up Tommy Morrison and that would be my coming out party. I had never bled in a fight ever and I got cut under my headgear in sparring and took 14 stitches. I was frustrated and I just walked away. My grandmother said to me ‘maybe someone’s trying to send you a message.’
Ringnews24.com: From your fights, who was the hardest-hitting opponent?
Being that I was a heavyweight, everybody hit hard.
Ringnews24.com: Bobby, I recall a few years ago I saw one of your broadcasts on Sports channel Chicago where you opened the show with footage of you and your assistant as you tried to plug holes on a card that simply seemed jinxed, as fighters got sick, had gained weight, couldn’t travel, all kinds of problems. There was a very humorous shot of you looking at BoxRec and shaking your head. What would be the most humorous or unusual (or odd) reason someone has given you for not being able to make a fight?
This happened recently. A guy was a secret service agent and the opponent I was trying to get for him was afraid he would seek retribution against him if he beat him. He wouldn’t fight a secret service agent in case he tried to come after him for winning. Another guy’s wife wouldn’t let him fight. You get your typical missed trains, missed buses. I had one guy weigh-in and then left in the middle of the night because he got spooked. No notice, he just cleared out and left.
Ringnews24.com: Not many people know that you were the first fighter managed by Jackie Kallen, what was that like?
At the time she was with Emanuel Steward and we were at the point where she was either going to put money behind John David Jackson and let Emanuel run things, or go out on her own and sign her own fighters. I was the first one she signed out on her own. She had a mouth on her. She was telling a guy off one time and I was getting undressed with my cup around my ankles and the guy comes and hits me for what she said! It turned into a pier-six brawl. She’d pick me up in a Ferrari and we’d go into inner city Detroit. It was comical sometimes.
Ringnews24.com: Fighting George Foreman? I understand that you went out to dinner with him AFTER the fight, is that true?
Yes. I went to dinner with him and Archie Moore. They couldn’t have been more complimentary. Archie gave me a lot of positive info. He said you lost to the hardest puncher in the heavyweight division but you got up and wanted to keep fighting. He said you got what it takes to make it in this business. Gerry Cooney and Michael Moorer were two of my favorite fighters, and before they fought Foreman, they have plenty of time to get ready and they didn’t get up. I took the fight on short notice and I got up. I was so young I didn’t even realize I was with two boxing greats. Looking back, you understand what that was. Youth is wasted on the young. I sat there with two living legends. It’d be like sitting with Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth.
Ringnews24.com: Your known in Chicago as much for being a Restaurateur as a boxing promoter, is it frustrating when you see the big name promoters NOT having to finance their operations from a separate source of revenue?
It’s not frustrating. They’ve done the work to be able to put themselves in that position. We all strive to get there. I can’t fault a guy for doing his job and being good at what he does. I’m still able to maintain a level of control by being my own guys. There’s a lot to be said for that. I can build my fighters the right way.
Ringnews24.com: What is your dream promotion? The one big one that puts you one map internationally?
Michael Jackson vs. Justin Bieber. Just kidding. Anything that involves toe-to-toe pure action I’d love to be involved in.
Ringnews24.com: What do you say to a boxer you are trying to sign?
It’s simple. If you get sick, you go to a doctor. If you get a toothache, you go to a dentist. If your car breaks down you go to a mechanic. If you want to be a boxer, would you want to go with someone who knows what you go through or some guy who carries a purse and a poodle and the only gloves he ever had on kept his hands warm in the winter? It’s easy to figure out.
Ringnews24.com: What is the most difficult part of promoting?
Getting fighters to fight each other.
Ringnews24.com: Who do you think would win between Gamboa vs. Lopez and Pacman vs. Mayweather?
Gamboa would win. Lopez had trouble with that Mtagwa kid. Gamboa didn’t. Gamboa hasn’t had trouble with anybody. Pacman would beat Mayweather. I think he’s a grittier tougher guy. Not a pretty boy. He’ll give himself in the ring. I don’t think Floyd will. When it comes down to gut check time I don’t think Floyd has it.
Ringnews24.com: What’s your favorite meal and alcoholic beverage?
I’m not a big drinker, but I like anywhere from a good Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet; I like vodka. I’ll try anything. Food, I like a nice big steak or a pizza. I like eggplant parmesan. Veal Cutlet. Chicken cutlet. There’s not much I don’t like. I’m not prejudiced toward food. I treat it all the same.
Ringnews24.com: During the 20+ years you’ve been promoting there’s been few promoters who were actually fighters themselves. How has that helped in being able to communicate with the fighters?
When I speak to them I can completely relate. It’s not just business to me. I understand where they’re coming from. If I say something to them, they usually get it. A lot of times though, it hinders me because I tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. In this business, you need to blow smoke up a guy’s ass sometimes and I’m not real good at doing that. It takes a lot to climb those three steps. Boxing is a tough job. I’m not going to bullshit somebody into thinking they’re something they’re not. There’s no shame in walking away from this sport. How many doctors live on your street? How many lawyers? How many boxers? We’re a select breed.
Ringnews24.com: Along those lines, we see more and more ex-fighters getting into the Promotional end of things now, guys like a Ricky Hatton, who seem to jump right into it and then don’t enjoy the success right off the bat (at least not so far) they might expect, what is the biggest misconception a fighter might have about promoting? Other than it’s harder than they think obviously.
They think the promoters make all the money, but we’re the last ones to get paid at this level. Once they have to go into their own pockets and realize what this entails. I’d love it if they jumped in with their own money. No big TV contract, no sponsorship deal. Come in the hard way like I did. It’s not as easy as it looks. The biggest misconception is that we’re getting rich and our time is not worth anything. All the politicking and maneuvering is taken for granted. It has no value to them.
Ringnews24.com: You actually got James Toney into boxing when you were still fighting yourself in Detroit, and were with him when he upset Michael Nunn for the Middleweight Title just two years later.
I didn’t start James Toney. I introduced him to Jackie. He had had three pro fights when he came into our gym. His manager had just been killed. He was training and you could tell the kid was into it. All he ever talked about was fighting. One day he saw the interaction between Jackie and I and he liked it, so I said maybe you could join our stable? He said he’d like that. I said Jackie, I think this kid could be good, you should sign him. That’s what happened.
Ringnews24.com: What did you see in James that made you know he’d be a success?
There’s a certain way a fighter carries himself. Watching Thomas Hearns and Dennis Andries and Milton McCrory and Jimmy Paul and guys like that, you got to see an aura around them. James had it too. I can have a conversation with a fighter and I can tell within thirty seconds if he has it or not. Some guys will say all the things they should say, but I can also tell when they don’t mean it and aren’t doing it. It took me a while to understand what all that meant, but then I got it.
Ringnews24.com: If you hadn’t become a promoter, then in what other capacity could you have seen yourself
in boxing?
I’d probably still be fighting. Boxing is all I ever really knew or wanted to do. Not a day goes by I don’ miss being in the ring. There is nothing like being in the ring. I don’t care how many shows I’ve done or how much money I’ve made, there’s nothing like climbing those three steps. Otherwise I would have been a rock star.
Ringnews24.com: So many promoters are concerned simply with television today, having been a promoter that largely survived without it (and more importantly not depended on it) does it make you feel as though you’re a “Real Promoter” (in the old fashioned sense) whereas as the others are not?
Absolutely. I know I have contemporaries who do everything on TV and they’ll tell me they’re amazed by what I do. They don’t know how I do it. Quite frankly it’s all I know. Not to say they don’t work hard, their work is hard in a different capacity: more negotiating and deal making. I’m more grass roots. I’m ok being a farm system for guys like that. They need guys like me like my dear friend Tony Montana said: “you need people like me.”
Ringnews24.com: The Ali Act was legislation that was put in place to protect fighters from Promoters, but you’ve been the victim of some fighters that weren’t bound by the same code of conduct in return, most notably O’Neil Bell and Fres Oquendo. How frustrating is that to have people not see that loyalty is a two-way street but only one side of the street is protected?
Very frustrating but most people only believe what they read. That act was put in place because of Don King. Everybody equated Don’s practices as being unethical. There’s no one shrewder than him. It was drafted by people who have no idea of the workings of this business. Who would ever sign a fighter for a year? The way it’s structured is so one-sided it’s almost like the fighters never fuck us. Nothing protects us from the fighters. I would venture to guess there are more victimized promoters than the other way around. Here’s the bottom line a good promoter has a good solid contract with minimums in place, etc., etc. The code of conduct is built into the contract. I can speak for my behalf, I have fighters whose minimums were $3500 and I would end up paying them twenty five or thirty thousand. I am very ethical. I sometimes give till it hurts. I believe a good deal is when everybody is happy. Where is O’Neil Bell now? Who? I’m the one who put him in the position he got to. He’s a greedy person who fucked himself.
Ringnews24.com: You’re currently handling the Amidu Brothers, Yakubu who’s 17-2 with the two losses being to current World Champ Ricky Burns and a razor-thin decision to Ali Funeka, and undefeated Abdullai, who’s now the lead sparring partner in preparing Manny Pacquaio for Shane Mosley. Can you talk about both for us?
They both come from a great pedigree. They have tremendous amateur backgrounds and credible pro records to this point. Those kids have the ability to go all the way because they want to. I will do everything in my power to get them to the Promised Land and open the door for them. They are hungry have heart and have desire. Those are the key ingredients to having a successful career and those two have it.
Ringnews24.com: Being from Illinois originally, I recall those days when ESPN used to visit Northwest Indiana all the time, I know you’re doing shows now at the new facility in Hammond, the Horseshoe Casino, which I understand is a great place to see a fight, can you describe the venue for us?
It’s like Las Vegas in the Midwest. It’s a first-class operation and a first-class room. It’s like nothing else in the Midwest. It’s really an intimate, luxurious setting. You really have to see it. It’s like fighting in a big Vegas casino for a big time title.
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