“BOXING brings every element of society together,” says Ed Pereira, CEO of iVisit Boxing. “It’s a community sport. We engage with communities at every level, from the ground up. We’re taking boxing back to the community.”
iVisit Boxing is an arm of iVisit Media, a leading global marketing services and live events company with a quarter-century track record. Headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, iVisit might not be a name that is instantly recognisable to boxing fans – but their events certainly will be.
First, there was Ring Of Fire, the initial encounter between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury in Riyadh on May 18, 2024. iVisit was also behind Terence Crawford vs Israel Madrimov on August 3 last year, which marked Riyadh Season’s first overseas foray – a hugely competitive six-fight Los Angeles card that also featured an Eminem concert.
A similar format was followed in London on September 21 when Riyadh Season’s Wembley Edition enticed 98,128 fans into the ancestral home of British sport to witness not only Daniel Dubois’ sensational upset of Anthony Joshua but also an exciting undercard and a performance by Liam Gallagher.
And then, this past May 2, came the most audacious experiment of all: placing a boxing ring slap-bang in New York’s Times Square, where the superstar likes of Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez competed.
“We delivered against all odds,” says Pereira. “I had to get permits from 43 agencies. I realised it was getting serious when I was talking to Homeland Security, the NYPD [New York Police Department], FDNY [Fire Department of New York].”
While that event was for a client – Riyadh Season – making it happen has given iVisit confidence to pursue their own grand ideas.
Whereas before the business model was for a promoter to come to iVisit with a concept and ask them to put it together, now it is iVisit coming up with concepts that they will invite promoters to be a part of.
Now in the works is Battle Of The Bay, an open-air boxing event in San Francisco which Pereira hopes will break the sport’s live attendance record.
“The San Francisco Mayor’s office is keen on doing what we did in New York, but on a much bigger scale,” says Pereira.
“We’re looking to have 150,000 people outside the Civic Center Plaza. We want to break the record set in Juneau Park, Milwaukee [where 135,000 people turned up for Tony Zale vs Billy Pryor on August 16, 1941].
“The ring is going to be front and centre in front of City Hall, bringing some amazing visuals. We’re going to have music, a fan engagement village, a fantastic food offering, different zones – like a Glastonbury vibe – and tickets will be really affordable.”
iVisit Boxing was officially unveiled in Cardiff last Saturday (August 23), with a free-to-attend Family Day where unified WBC, WBA and IBF welterweight champion Lauren Price was on hand for photos and autographs with fans.
“We’re all about bringing in people who love boxing, and giving them access,” says Pereira.
And in launching iVisit Boxing in the Welsh capital, the company went full circle.
“Our first client was WRU [Welsh Rugby Union],” says Pereira. “They’ve been with us for 25 years. Rugby was our big introduction to the sports world. Working with WRU gave us the grounding we later took into boxing. Rugby in Wales is a kind of religion – that community engagement, that passion from the ground up, is very similar in boxing.
“We worked on the Six Nations, the World Cup, the Autumn Invitationals – big, stadium-filling events. From there, we moved into football and worked closely with Liverpool, Everton, [Manchester] United and City. That cemented a lot of what we learned in rugby. Then we got involved in cricket and other sports.
“Because of that, we were approached by His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] to help market Fury-Usyk I. We brought everything we’d learned from 25 years in rugby and football and cricket. It was like an arrival.”
And now that iVisit Boxing has arrived, and is plotting its own mega event in San Francisco, what does the future hold?
“After San Francisco, it will be New York, Detroit, Boston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles,” says Pereira. “We picked them because they’re traditional, old-school fight towns.
“You’re going to watch great boxing but also be entertained. It will offer value for money and a sense of uniqueness – something for the history books.
“We want to be a purveyor of ‘I was there’ moments.”
This article is an advertorial from iVisit Boxing, which has organised some of the biggest events and concepts in sport, while always keeping a sense of community at its core.
iVisit Boxing redefines the fusion of sports and entertainment both in the U.K. and internationally. Learn more here: https://www.ivisitboxing.com/about
