Who is Al Haymon?
A HARVARD University graduate with a degree in economics and an MBA, Haymon is not your ordinary fight-racket huckster.
Before he became a force in boxing, he was a successful R&B concert promoter who segued into television production before finally settling in as an adviser to world-class welterweight Vernon Forrest and, most lucratively, to Floyd Mayweather. After engineering a buyout for Mayweather that freed him from Top Rank in 2006, Haymon began to make inroads in an industry famous for having few barriers to entry.
When Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya combined to shatter pay-per-view records in 2007, Haymon had all the leverage he needed to disrupt the boxing status quo. Before long, Haymon seemed to have an unusual amount of sway at HBO, where his clients regularly received coveted slots and outsized paychecks. But in 2013, HBO split with Haymon when the rebel adviser began taking fighters built up on the channel over to rival Showtime. By then, Haymon was already drafting his plans for a league. Now, less than two years later, Haymon is spearheading one of the most daring schemes boxing has ever seen.
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