Hayemaker Promotions
Encyclopedia
Hayemaker Promotions is a promotional company operated by former WBA heavyweight and undisputed cruiserweight champion David Haye
and boxing manager Adam Booth
. The company held their first boxing promotional event in Sheffield
on 20 September 2008.
drew comparisons with Golden Boy Promotions
when he said; "Golden Boy have taken over from Don King and Bob Arum
and they've done it by empowering the fighters, putting control back in their hands and giving them the lion's share". Giving an insight into how the new promotional outfits would actually help fighters he added "Promoting other fighters is not a money-making scheme for me, I make enough from my own fights, I don't need to take any money from six- to eight-rounders. Taking 15 or 20 grand from a British title fight doesn't mean anything to me, but that extra money means a hell of a lot to someone who's fighting for, say, 10 grand three times a year".
Since announcing the intention to set up Hayemaker, Haye and Booth signed up a number of fighters to their stable. Former WBU champion Derry Mathews
signed having previously been with Sports Network, British light-middleweight champion Ryan Rhodes
, and trainer Dave Coldwell joined as Head of Boxing.
The outfit also signed a number of up and coming young stars, including undefeated Liverpool lightweight John Watson
, Sheffield prospect Josh Wale,
and former amateur champions George Groves
and Michael Maguire
. On 27 January 2009, Hayemaker announced the signing of Olympic
heavyweight bronze medallist David Price
.
, this would include the next four David Haye
fights. The first promotion was held in Sheffield
on 20 September 2008, and broadcast 4 live bouts which included the two-time British champion Ryan Rhodes
defending his light-middleweight belt against gutsy Scotsman Jamie Coyle. The second promotion was held in London
and featured David Haye
taking on American fighter Monte '2 Gunz' Barrett
at heavyweight with Haye winning by knockout after 5 rounds.
Two more televised promotions followed before the subscription sports channel went bust in the UK on 23 June 2009. In Liverpool
the 'Mersey beatdown' saw Tony Quigley
claim the British super-middleweight title with a win over Tony Dodson
as well as marking the professional debut of David Price
. This was followed by a bill in Belfast
topped by Martin Lindsay
winning the British featherweight title against Scotland's Paul Appleby
.
The loss of the television deal meant that opportunities for boxers signed to the stable became rarer and saw fighters like Derry Mathews
and David Price
split from the promoter. Whilst others such as George Groves
signed promotional deals with other promoters whilst continuing to be managed by the company.
, Sheffield
and London's York Hall
. They featured popular local fighters such as former Sheffield United player turned boxer Curtis Woodhouse
who topped the bill at Rotherham's Consort Hotel on an intimate two fight dinner card, as well as at his former club's ground in Bramall Lane
. George Groves
topped the bill at the first Haymemaker promotion to be held at the York Hall.
David Haye
David Deron Haye is a retired English professional boxer,Haye is the former WBA heavyweight champion. He is also the former unified world cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO, and The Ring cruiserweight titles, and also the former European cruiserweight champion.- Amateur :Haye...
and boxing manager Adam Booth
Adam Booth
Adam Booth is a British boxing trainer. He is best known as the trainer of English professional boxer, and former WBA World Heavyweight Champion David Haye. Booth's father is a Turkish Cypriot and his training camp is based in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus...
. The company held their first boxing promotional event in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
on 20 September 2008.
Starting Up
On establishing the company, David HayeDavid Haye
David Deron Haye is a retired English professional boxer,Haye is the former WBA heavyweight champion. He is also the former unified world cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO, and The Ring cruiserweight titles, and also the former European cruiserweight champion.- Amateur :Haye...
drew comparisons with Golden Boy Promotions
Golden Boy Promotions
Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. is a combat sport promotional firm started by former boxer six-division world champion Oscar De La Hoya...
when he said; "Golden Boy have taken over from Don King and Bob Arum
Bob Arum
Robert "Bob" Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. He also worked for the US Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York in the tax division....
and they've done it by empowering the fighters, putting control back in their hands and giving them the lion's share". Giving an insight into how the new promotional outfits would actually help fighters he added "Promoting other fighters is not a money-making scheme for me, I make enough from my own fights, I don't need to take any money from six- to eight-rounders. Taking 15 or 20 grand from a British title fight doesn't mean anything to me, but that extra money means a hell of a lot to someone who's fighting for, say, 10 grand three times a year".
Since announcing the intention to set up Hayemaker, Haye and Booth signed up a number of fighters to their stable. Former WBU champion Derry Mathews
Derry Mathews
Derry Mathews is an English lightweight boxer and former holder of the English and WBU Featherweight titles. As an amateur he won the 2002 ABA Bantamweight championship.-Professional career:...
signed having previously been with Sports Network, British light-middleweight champion Ryan Rhodes
Ryan Rhodes
Ryan Rhodes is an English light middleweight boxer. Rhodes took up boxing at a young age, training at Brendan Ingle's gym in the Wincobank district of Sheffield.-Professional career:...
, and trainer Dave Coldwell joined as Head of Boxing.
The outfit also signed a number of up and coming young stars, including undefeated Liverpool lightweight John Watson
John Watson (boxer)
John Watson is a British lightweight boxer, based in Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. He has fought for the British lightweight title on two occasions, losing to Gavin Rees and Anthony Crolla.-Amateur career:...
, Sheffield prospect Josh Wale,
and former amateur champions George Groves
George Groves (boxer)
George William Groves is an English professional boxer. Currently managed and trained by Adam Booth and promoted by Frank Warren, he is a former amateur champion and the reigning British and Commonwealth super middleweight titleholder....
and Michael Maguire
Michael Maguire (boxer)
Michael Maguire is a British professional boxer who fights in the super bantamweight division.-Amateur career:As an amateur boxer, Maguire fought for the Kettering School of Boxing and achieved the World under-19 number one ranking at bantamweight...
. On 27 January 2009, Hayemaker announced the signing of Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
heavyweight bronze medallist David Price
David Price (boxer)
David Price is a professional British heavyweight boxer from Liverpool.-Amateur career:The 6 ' 8 Price boxed out of Salisbury ABC and in 2003 became the youngest ever A.B.A champion in the Super-Heavyweight division, he was 19 years and 272 days old...
.
Deal with Setanta
In terms of television exposure, Hayemaker signed a deal on 27 May 2008 which would see ten promotions from the company broadcast on Setanta SportsSetanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...
, this would include the next four David Haye
David Haye
David Deron Haye is a retired English professional boxer,Haye is the former WBA heavyweight champion. He is also the former unified world cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO, and The Ring cruiserweight titles, and also the former European cruiserweight champion.- Amateur :Haye...
fights. The first promotion was held in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
on 20 September 2008, and broadcast 4 live bouts which included the two-time British champion Ryan Rhodes
Ryan Rhodes
Ryan Rhodes is an English light middleweight boxer. Rhodes took up boxing at a young age, training at Brendan Ingle's gym in the Wincobank district of Sheffield.-Professional career:...
defending his light-middleweight belt against gutsy Scotsman Jamie Coyle. The second promotion was held in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and featured David Haye
David Haye
David Deron Haye is a retired English professional boxer,Haye is the former WBA heavyweight champion. He is also the former unified world cruiserweight champion, holding the WBA, WBC, WBO, and The Ring cruiserweight titles, and also the former European cruiserweight champion.- Amateur :Haye...
taking on American fighter Monte '2 Gunz' Barrett
Monte Barrett
Monte Barrett is an American professional heavyweight boxer. He was regarded by many as a tough gatekeeper and was a former WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight Champion and current WBO Asia Pacific Heavyweight and WBO Oriental Heavyweight champion...
at heavyweight with Haye winning by knockout after 5 rounds.
Two more televised promotions followed before the subscription sports channel went bust in the UK on 23 June 2009. In Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
the 'Mersey beatdown' saw Tony Quigley
Tony Quigley
Tony Quigley is an English professional boxer fighting in the super middleweight division. He is a former British champion at the weight.-Early professional career:...
claim the British super-middleweight title with a win over Tony Dodson
Tony Dodson
Tony Dodson is an English boxer who fights in the super middleweight division. He is a former holder of both the English and British super middleweight titles and has challenged for the Commonwealth title at the weight....
as well as marking the professional debut of David Price
David Price (boxer)
David Price is a professional British heavyweight boxer from Liverpool.-Amateur career:The 6 ' 8 Price boxed out of Salisbury ABC and in 2003 became the youngest ever A.B.A champion in the Super-Heavyweight division, he was 19 years and 272 days old...
. This was followed by a bill in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
topped by Martin Lindsay
Martin Lindsay (boxer)
Martin Lindsay is an Irish professional boxer from Belfast. Lindsay fights at featherweight and is a former IBF Youth featherweight title champion...
winning the British featherweight title against Scotland's Paul Appleby
Paul Appleby (boxer)
Paul Appleby, is a Scottish professional boxer who fights in the featherweight division.He is the youngest ever British featherweight champion.-Professional career:...
.
The loss of the television deal meant that opportunities for boxers signed to the stable became rarer and saw fighters like Derry Mathews
Derry Mathews
Derry Mathews is an English lightweight boxer and former holder of the English and WBU Featherweight titles. As an amateur he won the 2002 ABA Bantamweight championship.-Professional career:...
and David Price
David Price (boxer)
David Price is a professional British heavyweight boxer from Liverpool.-Amateur career:The 6 ' 8 Price boxed out of Salisbury ABC and in 2003 became the youngest ever A.B.A champion in the Super-Heavyweight division, he was 19 years and 272 days old...
split from the promoter. Whilst others such as George Groves
George Groves (boxer)
George William Groves is an English professional boxer. Currently managed and trained by Adam Booth and promoted by Frank Warren, he is a former amateur champion and the reigning British and Commonwealth super middleweight titleholder....
signed promotional deals with other promoters whilst continuing to be managed by the company.
Small hall shows
During the term of the deal with Setanta, Hayemaker also promoted a number of non-televised small hall shows in venues such as RotherhamRotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and London's York Hall
York Hall
The York Hall is a health and leisure centre and one of Britain's best known boxing venues.The venue is situated on Old Ford Road in Bethnal Green, London, England. The hall, opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200, stages boxing as well as providing a gymnasium and swimming pool.The hall is owned...
. They featured popular local fighters such as former Sheffield United player turned boxer Curtis Woodhouse
Curtis Woodhouse
Curtis Woodhouse is an English professional footballer and boxer. Woodhouse plays football as a central midfielder for Conference North outfit Eastwood Town, and competes as a light-welterweight boxer. He is the reigning International Masters light-welterweight champion...
who topped the bill at Rotherham's Consort Hotel on an intimate two fight dinner card, as well as at his former club's ground in Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane
-Cricket at the Lane:Bramall Lane opened as a cricket ground in 1855, having been leased by Michael Ellison from the Duke of Norfolk at an annual rent of £70. The site was then away from the town's industrial area, and relatively free from smoke. It was built to host the matches of local cricket...
. George Groves
George Groves (boxer)
George William Groves is an English professional boxer. Currently managed and trained by Adam Booth and promoted by Frank Warren, he is a former amateur champion and the reigning British and Commonwealth super middleweight titleholder....
topped the bill at the first Haymemaker promotion to be held at the York Hall.