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Roy Englebrecht has been fighting boxing's bad image-bloody ears, fixed fights and nasty scandals-for years.
The Newport Beach boxing promoter is behind the real estate industry's annual fund-raiser, Night at the Fights, and the Battle in the Ballroom series at the Irvine Marriott.
Now Englebrecht wants to teach the business of boxing to aspiring promoters.
"I want to create as many competitors as I can," he said. "If a guy does a bad job promoting in Anaheim, it affects me."
Promoter School
Starting next month, Englebrecht plans to bring a slew of boxing names to Orange County for a three-day course he's calling Fight Promoter University.
Some of the speakers confirmed are Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Bruce Trampler, head matchmaker for Top Rank, one of the largest boxing promotion companies, and Jackie Kallen, founder of Galaxy Boxing, which manages boxers.
Students are set to get hands-on training by helping out at Battle in the Ballroom.
Boxing's bad reputation is part perception, part earned, according to Englebrecht. Beyond all that, it can be a profitable business, he said.
A middle-tier promoter can make $15,000 gross profit on an event, he said. Or they could lose $35,000 or more.
Englebrecht does about 14 shows a year and could do as many as 18 this year, including one at Table Mountain Casino in Fresno and possibly a few in Las Vegas.
Minus the Don King hair, Englebrecht is plenty charismatic. He claims to never have lost money on the long-running Battle in the Ballroom series, known as "Yuppie Boxing" until he changed the name in 1991. The event combines chandeliers and sweaty boxers, selling out about 1,400 seats.
"It's a who's who of OC," Englebrecht said.
Self-described as "anal," Englebrecht is tough on his staff of about 20 people. He insists they pay attention to the smallest detail, such as putting...