When the hugely respected publication Boxing News revealed their power list of the sport’s most influential people a few days ago, our interest was piqued.
This is an incredible game, one where often the politics and deal making outside of the ring claim as many column inches as the punches thrown inside the ropes.
Promoters are often personalities just as big as the fighters (yes, you Eddie Hearn) while those sanctioning bodies also have a massive say on who fights who each year.
The fight game has never been as exciting as it is now, with the big fights we’ve craved for so long at last being made. So what about the personalities behind the headlines?
Last week we told you that Saudi General Entertainment Authority Chairman Turki Alalshikh – the man behind all that huge investment in the sport right now – is top at #1. And that Queensberry Promotions chief Frank Warren (#4) is ahead of his great rival Hearn (#5).
But that is only a small part of the story, what about the rest of the list and where do the major fighters land – including British heavyweight behemoths Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Here it is, the Boxing News Power list in full….”
Boxing News Power list in full
50: Andrey Ryabinsky (promoter of light-heavyweight king Dmitry Bivol)
49: George Rose (Australian promoter)
48: Kim Sumbler (Executive Director of the New York State Athletic Commission)
47: Jeff Mullen (Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission)
46: Lee Eaton (manager)
45: Luis DeCubas Jr (manager)
44: Bruce Trampler (revered longtime Top Rank matchmaker)
43: Francis Ngannou (former UFC heavyweight king, now pro boxer)
42: Mike Tyson (former world heavyweight champion)
41: Eric Gomez (President of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions)
40: Robert Smith (General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control)
39: Margaret Goodman (Founder and Chair of anti-doping agency VADA)
38: Katie Taylor (Irish star who has been undisputed champion in two weight classes)
37: Amanda Serrano (Puerto Rican superstar who is another trailblazer for women’s boxing)
36: Umar Kremlev (President of the International Boxing Association)
35: Boris van der Vorst (Head of the breakaway World Boxing)
24: Gilberto Mendoza Jr (President of the World Boxing Association)
33: Daryl Peoples (President of the International Boxing Federation)
32: Francisco Varcarcel (President of the World Boxing Organization)
31: Alex Krassyuk (head of K2 Promotions and promoter of Oleksandr Usyk)
30: Leonard Ellerbe (CEO of Mayweather Promotions)
29: The Sauerlands (promoters behind that Wasserman/Channel 5 broadcast deal)
28: Ryan Garcia (US star who is a major PPV attraction globally)
27: Jake Paul (YouTuber who has made himself a huge deal in boxing too)
26: Eddy Reynoso (Manager and trainer of P4P superstar ‘Canelo’ Alvarez)
25: Gervonta Davis (Exciting US star with incredible knockout power)
24: Mauricio Sulaiman (President of the World Boxing Council)
23: Todd Duboef (President of Top Rank)
22: Naoya Inoue (Japanese superstar who features high on most P4P lists)
21: Oleksandr Usyk (Olympic champion and now world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight)
20: Andrew Georgiou (the man behind boxing on TNT Sports)
19: Frank Smith (CEO of Matchroom Boxing)
18: Ben Shalom (CEO of Boxxer)
17: Tyson Fury (World heavyweight champion)
16: Anthony Joshua (Two-time world heavyweight champion)
15: Akihiko Honda (Hall of Fame promoter and the man behind Inoue’s rise to the top)
14: Floyd Mayweather Jr (former P4P king and now founder of Mayweather Promotions)
13: Jonathan Licht (MD of Sky Sports)
12: George Warren (CEO of Queensberry Promotions)
11: Shay Segev (CEO of streaming platform DAZN)
10: Spencer Brown (Manager of Tyson Fury)
9: Oscar De La Hoya (former PPV megastar and now founder of Golden Boy Promotions)
8: Egis Klimas (Manager of Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko)
7: Burke Magnus (President of Content at ESPN)
6: Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (Mexican P4P superstar and PPV behemoth)
5: Eddie Hearn (Supremo of Matchroom Boxing)
4: Frank Warren (Hall of Fame promoter and head of Queensberry Promotions)
3: Al Haymon (head of Premier Boxing Champions)
2: Bob Arum (Hall of Fame promoter and head of Top Rank)
1: Turki Alalshikh (Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority)
