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K2 Promotions:
Building On A Solid Foundation; Tom Loeffler Speaks On The
Quick Rise To The Top
By Will "The Thrill" Trillo
They have only been in existence since 2003, but already
K2 Promotions has shown they have what it takes to be
one of the big shakers and movers in the world of
professional boxing! Before they could celebrate their
first anniversary, they were already promoting The WBC
version of the Heavyweight Championship of the World!
It's not a secret that the biggest names to come out of
the company are brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko,
who are the inspiration of the companies name, K2.
Last Saturday K2 staged it's first pay per view card,
and saw it's own, Vitali Klitschko retain his WBC
Heavyweight Title!
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The managing director of K2
promotions, and the person who tends to the day
to day operations is Tom Loeffler. The
multi-lingual director has put together a fine
team at his Los Angeles based business and we at
Pound4Pound.com were honored to be given the go
ahead to chat with Tom, only days after one of
the biggest weekends in the Promotion Companies
short career. |
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Just to recap the weekend inside the ring, Vitali was
overwhelming in the ring, showing some moves we have not
seen from the big man before, and the rest of the card had
it's share of exciting moments, so I guess it's safe to say
that both Vitali and K2 are looking for big things in 2005!
Yes, you know a lot of people thought that Danny under
performed in the ring, but Danny is very dangerous, and
it was a matter of Vitali raising his game to another
level, and it mad it look like a one sided fight! But I
know that Danny trained very hard for this fight, he
came ready to fight!
You have taken your company to the top in just one
year! How did you become so fortunate to get to the
place that you are in today?
This is K2's second fight, the first one is when Vitali
won the Championship at the Staple Center, and there was
some unique challenges in both shows, and Los Angeles is
a very difficult market to promote a fight in. It's so
spread out, the people at The Staple Center are great to
work with, but you have to keep the fighters in an
outside hotel, and then all the different logistics with
meals and transportation, it was a very challenging
show. And then you have the show in Las Vegas, it was
pay per view and you have more televised fights, but it
was easier, everyone is staying at the Hotel, eating
there, the press conference was there and the weigh in
was there, it just made everything a whole lot easier!
How did it feel for you as the promoter, to look out
into the crowd and see Don King and Bob Arum amongst
those in attendance?
Bob Arum was there as part of the show, we had worked
out a deal with his company, we payed a licensing fee to
put on Miguel Cotto and Carlos Hernandez, and a lot of
people complimented us on the undercard we were able to
assemble.
And Don King was there because he recognizes that Vitali
is clearly the best heavyweight out there, and he came
with Chris Byrd and Hasim Rahman, 2 of his fighters that
he has under contract, and they want to challenge
Vitali! Vitali has more value than all the fighters he
had on that show in New York, put together! And that's
why you see Don King there, it was good to see both Don
and Bob there! And although they were there for
different reasons, the fact is we were putting the show
on and the two biggest promoters were there at the
arena!
Now I know it seems that K2 is sort of an overnight
sensation, but the fact of the matter is you have been
involved in boxing for some 15 years now, and I will go
ahead ans assume that those 14 years plus laid the
groundwork and set a foundation for where you are at
now!
Definitely! I learned a lot over the last 15 years, I
managed a lot of fighters, Kevin Kelley, Shane Mosely
and James Toney!
You and James seem to have a special relationship, I
see that at times he is somewhat antagonistic, but then
you can see that he likes and respects you a lot!
James has got 2 sides, and one is his business side,
which I understand. He wants to get a big fight with
Vitali and fight for the Heavyweight Championship. But
James and I have always had a close personal
relationship, and I like him a lot! We go back almost 8
years with James, yes it is a special relationship with
him! I have also worked with female fighter Lucia
Rijker.
A lot of the success we have now is built on that
experience, but more importantly is the relationships I
have developed. You can't really assemble a team with
people you trust, and who in turn, trust you, unless you
have a good relationship with them! Boxing is built on
trust and fortunately, I have established a good
reputation in the industry. When I call a fighter or his
manager and tell them what I am going to do, they know
they can trust me, and that is what I value the most, is
my reputation in boxing and the fact that I have been
able to differentiate myself from the other promoters in
the boxing game!
So how did you first get involved in boxing?
I never really followed the sport outside of Muhammad
Ali, and a close friend of mine from school was
representing Ali as a client and he wanted to expand his
sport business. So I came in as a partner and started
signing active athletes like Kevin Kelley and Oba Carr.
And no one knew much about boxing so I focused on that,
the athletic commissions, contracts and other things
involved with management. I got Oba his biggest payday
against Oscar De La Hoya, and we got Kevin Kelley a
title shot against Goya Vargas, so we were proud to make
an impact in the sport!
As the New Year is upon us, what can we expect to see
from K2, the Klitschko brothers, and everything else
with your team?
You can expect Vitali to continue his dominance of the
Heavyweight Division, and we look forward to his brother
Wladimir getting back into a position to challenge for a
World Title and become a Champion. And in addition to
that we are looking to sign other fighters, but we are
not going to go crazy and sign a bunch of fighters at
once, but we are going to develop fighters and develop
the company by signing quality fighters as they become
available. We just want to make sure to build this
business on a solid foundation!
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