The business of boxing is a dirty game, you need to have both street and boardroom smarts Jay Z has both, so it makes sense he would at least see if he can make a mark in the field.
Here is the story via ESPN.
Roc Nation Sports, the agency founded by music superstar Jay Z in April 2013, quickly made its mark in athlete representation and now plans to bring its muscle to boxing as a promoter.
“There’s no question the sport of boxing needs a new player, someone who can do something different,” Michael Yormark, the president and chief of branding and strategy for parent company Roc Nation, told ESPN.com on Sunday night. “We’re energized and we’re going to make a difference. This is a huge priority to us. This is a highly serious business to us.”
They have already secured boxing promotional licenses in New York and DC, but their most important move was bringing in David Itskowitch to run the boxing side of the business. Itskowitch is well known and respected in boxing circles.
“We didn’t wake up yesterday and decide we wanted to get into the boxing business, but our first significant move was to bring Dave into the organization. This is an opportunity for us to change the game. It’s been in the works for the last six or eight months and now we are making our move. Jay Z has an incredible passion for boxing. We want to take the platform we’ve created and bring that to the boxing industry. We want to bring more money and visibility to the sport and give the boxers opportunities outside the ring.”
From 1996 to 2000, Itskowitch, 39, of New York, worked for former HBO Sports senior vice president Lou DiBella, who was responsible for programming the network’s fights. When DiBella left HBO to found his own promotional company, Itskowitch went with him and worked as his right-hand man from 2000-06.
Roc Nation plans to put on their first boxing event before the end of the year.