LONDON — In 1986, Michael King’s company took a Chicago talk show host named Oprah Winfrey to international syndication. That deal worked out pretty well.
Now King has an idea to bring back boxing in America, and he has invested “tens of millions of dollars” into it without taking out a dime. His All American Heavyweights program in Carson, Calif., looks for talented college athletes who don’t get drafted into the NFL or NBA and offers them a chance to try boxing.
Only four years after he founded it, he has an Olympian in Dominic Breazeale, a former Northern Colorado quarterback who will box Wednesday in the super heavyweight division.
“A great athlete in any sport can pick up any sport faster than most people,” King said.
The NFL and NBA draft about 320 athletes a year out of a pool of 20,000 athletes. That could be fertile ground for boxing, a sport that has suffered a dearth of talent in recent years.
In 1984, the U.S. had the world’s best Olympic boxing team, but it has been in steep decline since. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it was the worst: no gold medals, no silvers, one tie for a bronze.
“It really all stems from lack of talent and lack of apprenticeship for trainers,” King said. “The pipeline is dead. … It’s not an NCAA sport, so it’s totally dependent on the Olympic program, and that NGB (the national governing body USA Boxing) does not have a lot of resources.”
King also believes recruiting talented collegiate athletes can improve the image of the sport.
“Instead of getting some thug off the street, why not tap into the greatest talent pool in the United States?” King said. “You’re talking about elite athletes who are in great shape, who are really big, who are unbelievably coordinated, and they are articulate college graduates.”
