Kushner on boxing – Part Two

By Paul Upham: In this second instalment of a two part series, SecondsOut.com talks with promoter Cedric Kushner. Interviewed in his Uptown New York office, Kushner spoke about losing heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman to Don King, Jameel McCline, Michael Grant, his new hopes for the heavyweight division, his other world champions, Heavyweight Explosion and the future of Thunderbox.

The year 2000 was a terrible one for Cedric Kushner by any standards, after he was entangled in the IBF federal trial and placed on the witness stand to give evidence. “To be embroiled in and testifying in a criminal case is a bad scene period. It’s something that I most certainly in every respect want to put behind me,” said Kushner, who finally felt that things had turned around for him when Hasim Rahman beat Lennox Lewis in April in South Africa for the heavyweight championship.

Rahman subsequently left Kushner to join Don King leaving his former promoter to only contemplate what might have been.

“I want to move forward, I want to move productively forward and I thought that Rahman winning the championship was so significant in my professional career that not a minute goes by that I don’t think of the value of being the heavyweight champion’s promoter, that I’m determined to get there again,” said Kushner.

“Hopefully with Chris Byrd being the No.1 contender and Kirk Johnson being the No.1 contender, Chris in the IBF and Kurt in the WBA, I could have two wins, not only one.

“I ran around representing Hasim Rahman for a fortnight and I would only say, with all due respect to the folks that I dealt with, it was like dealing with new people who I had just met and was introduced to as the promoter of the heavyweight champion.

“I’m not a bitter person. My nature is not so to be bitter. I’m a forward-looker,” he added.

Through all the turmoil, has Kushner learned from any mistakes he may have made?

“I hope so, yes. I like to look forward and I don’t wish evil on people and I don’t channel energy in a negative way because it takes the same energy that it does to channel the energy in a positive way,” said Kushner.

“But I’m determined to get back to that point, because that lofty point was a euphoric two weeks for me because I saw the power of having the heavyweight champion and I could feel it. When I say I could feel it and I talk about the power, I don’t mean what it did for me as a person, I mean what it could have done for me commercially.

“This is what I have worked for 16 years to get to the point that I can have that strength and have that power to make other things happen in the world that I am so involved with.”

One recent positive for Kushner was the emergence of heavyweight Jameel “Big Time” McCline as a possible Top 10 contender, even though it was at the expense of Michael Grant, who is also contracted to Kushner.

“I’m actually talking to HBO about Jameel maybe fighting Wladimir Klitschko, maybe fighting Lance Whitaker. I’m very proud of the fact, it has been very costly for me, but it has been a wonderful vehicle and, of course, I’m referring to my series ‘Heavyweight Explosion,” said Kushner, whose heavyweight series has given opportunity to so many heavyweights including McCline.

“What ‘Heavyweight Explosion’ has given me the opportunity to do, is to provide work with regularity in matches of various degrees, varying degrees, that my matchmakers Eric Bottjer and Ron Scott-Stevens can come up with for the fighters.

“Of most significance is that if we sign a heavyweight and make a commitment we can provide him with regular work and that is how fighters improve. They don’t improve if they fight only once every six months. If you schedule them regularly every couple of months that’s how they improve. That’s how Jameel McCline has become a much, much better fighter than when he started out with CKP.”

When making the transition from concert promoter to boxing promoter, Kushner managed a boxer, “Irish” Teddy Mann.

“When I managed Teddy, I learned very quickly if there was someone who would come along and guarantee me one fight every 45 days or every 60 days, then provided he paid my fighter correctly, I’d be very happy to sign with him. I think that’s the most important thing that a manager looks for.”

As for Michael Grant, who suffered a broken ankle in losing to McCline, Kushner has not written him off and is hoping that he can come back better under the guidance of trainer Teddy Atlas.

“Michael will come back, absolutely. He is talking the right game. He won’t fight until January or February at the earliest. He still has a couple of pins in his leg. He quite severely damaged his ankle. He is such a big fellow, there’s nothing wrong with going down, but every time he goes down he injures a knee or an ankle,” said Kushner.

“I’ll believe he’ll be back. He is 255lbs, he’s 6ft 7ins, a big strong fellow and I think he has got good tools and he is reasonably young and I’m optimistic that he’ll put the Jameel McCline experience behind him.

“When you talk about Michael Grant versus Lennox Lewis, what you have to talk about is the guts that he displayed. He got knocked down, he stood up. He got knocked down, he stood up. He got knocked down, he stood up. He’s a gutsy guy, a big strong guy that has got ability and has got guts. He’ll be back.”

Although best known for his promotion of heavyweights and Sugar Shane Mosley, Kushner does have other boxers on his books including IBF featherweight champion Frankie Toledo, who will be facing his mandatory challenger Manual Medina in Las Vegas on ESPN2 on November 16.

“I’ve had some substantial offers for Frankie,” said Kushner, who would consider putting Toledo in with former world champion Prince Naseem Hamed.

“I most certainly would be interested in Hamed. Frankie wanted to get rid of the mandatory, which is most probably a wise thing to do and we’ll put that behind us. Hopefully, get rid of Mr, Manuel Medina and see what offers come up. Also, Irene Pacheco is a really good IBF flyweight champion and he is going to fight November 9 against Mike Trejo in the new convention centre in San Antonio.”

As for the future, Kushner will remain one of the most active boxing promoters in the world, “We are looking to do 40 shows a year,” he said. Leading the way will be Kushner’s flagship ‘Heavyweight Explosion’ once every month.

“We have a contract for once a month with our friends over at Park Place properties who own 29 hotels. We have a contract to do one show a month on one of their Nevada properties,” said Kushner.

“It’s terrific for us to know in advance where we are going to be and very, very good for them to know six months in advance that they are going to get a fight show that they can literally start promoting six months away.”

The Thunderbox series, which Kushner is very proud of, will continue and has been rating extremely well on television.

“What we are most excited about is a show that we have been ridiculed for, a show that people have suggested that I have taken my eye off the ball and that I’m resuming my old ways, going back into the music business,” said Kushner.

“Of course, I’m referring to ‘Thunderbox’, which is the brain-child of Jim DeLorenzo my friend and partner. We have been involved with that show and invested a lot of money in it, but we are delighted that it’s turned the corner. It’s got stellar ratings, very strong national ratings and it is a syndicated show.

“There is another interest that Cedric Kushner Promotions has. There are other facets of the entertainment business. I consider myself in the entertainment business. There are great advantages to developing programming. Programming is something that becomes non-specific to one particular fighter.

“If you have a show like ‘Heavyweight Explosion’, if you develop that show to the point that someone says that they are familiar with the brand, they know what the standards are that you are going to provide and therefore they don’t have to know six months hence who’s the main event. All they have to know is ‘Heavyweight Explosion’ is going to be here six months hence and we know that we are going to get a good show and we know the promoter will provide us with that information 60 days ahead of time.”

Cedric Kushner is a well-spoken articulate man who is not just going through the motions. He has an abundance of new ideas for the sport. Not all will be successful, but is pleasing to see someone in the sport who is willing to try to capture the attention of new fans.

“I want to develop situations like that. I want to start another series with other weights. I want to promote and I want to expand and I want to work with other fighters. I want to create other opportunities for other fighters and, in so doing, create potential stars that I can capitalise on,” said Kushner.

Cedric Kushner is to be credited for the large number of boxers that he gives opportunity to through his numerous shows. The sport needs boxers and fans to survive, but without promoters, where would we be?

“I think I’ve been very good to my fighters. I quite frankly don’t think that any fighters have any reason not to like me or not to appreciate what we have done for them. I refer to no names mentioned just across the board, I think we have done a good job for our fighters and I think we have had their interest at heart,” said Kushner.

“I have had some thrilling moments being involved in the fight game and I am very blessed to have embarked in a very difficult sport, having made some progress as I say and fortunate enough to find myself at ringside to most of the important fights that I want to be at. I consider myself a very lucky guy.”


Paul Upham
Contributing Editor