Richard Schaefer announces return to boxing promotion

Richard Schaefer’s comeback in boxing promotion was long expected as a route for him to handle being the public face of reclusive fight manager Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.

Yet, when Schaefer announced Wednesday that he was back in the promotional game with his new Ringstar Sports being licensed in California, New York and Texas, he spoke as if he was stepping back into the sport unattached.

“I’m going to start looking for the best people possible – established fighters, Olympic prospects, matchmakers, publicity people,” said Schaefer, adding he has no arrangements with any fighter.

“I’ll under-promise and over-deliver.”

Schaefer, the former chief executive of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, split with De La Hoya in 2014 after the former champion fighter came to believe Schaefer’s closeness with Haymon was damaging Golden Boy.

A settlement was struck in early 2015 that barred Schaefer from boxing promotion for several months, and Golden Boy later sued Haymon, claiming with his boosted stable of 200 fighters and several network deals, he was seeking to monopolize the sport.

Haymon kept several of his top fighters, including unbeaten welterweight champions Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman, unbeaten featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz and unbeaten heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder as part of the original settlement with Golden Boy.

Since then, Haymon has retained promoters such as Sherman Oaks-based Ten Goose Boxing’s Tom Brown for fights in Las Vegas and the West Coast, and New York’s Lou DiBella for East Coast bouts including Saturday’s Thurman-Shawn Porter welterweight title fight at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on CBS in prime time.

Some of Schaefer’s former Golden Boy staff have continued working closely with him in Las Vegas in anticipation of the Ringstar Sports debut. Schaefer said his company’s license application in Nevada is pending.

While Schaefer said his strong friendships with Haymon and Floyd Mayweather Jr. – who runs Mayweather Promotions in Las Vegas – could spawn some coordinated future promotions, he said his immediate focus is on finding available veterans and young talent that can be unearthed at the Summer Games in Brazil to fight exclusively under the Ringstar banner.

He said he also wants to arrange his own television deals, separate from any other promoter’s.

Inevitably, his tight bond with Haymon is the most compelling thing to watch.

PBC’s television ratings have been abysmal in spots.

While DiBella and Brown have done a solid job handling the onslaught of PBC fights, many of which could be aided by Haymon having a firmer handle on the importance of promoting a specific fighter’s narrative and more coordinated matchmaking done to effectively set up more compelling bouts, such as Thurman-Porter.

When Haymon’s fighters were at Golden Boy with Schaefer, champions like Santa Cruz and Garcia were chided for involvement in soft-touch bouts.

“I’m back!” Schaefer said Wednesday.

Whether that means more of the same or something bolder remains to be seen.