London Prize—Small Glove Boxing

Hi Everyone,

First post. I am the owner of London Prize, a new combat sports promotion that we are currently launching. The sport is called Small Glove Boxing, and it relies mostly on traditional boxing rules with two key changes:

1. Smaller and lighter gloves with one uniform glove weight across all weight classes. We've created a glove that weighs about 6 ounces.
2. Shorter duration of matches: 5-round non-title and 7-round title matches

Additionally, our goal is to present a different model than what is currently being offered in professional boxing. We not only want London Prize to be the premier promotional company showcasing small glove boxing, but we want to function as an exclusive sports league as well, where only our own contracted fighters compete against each other. We envision one championship belt per weight class, which means one sanctioning body. The federal Ali Act is a hurdle to that, but that's a whole other conversation.

We feel strongly that we will create something more dynamic, more exciting, and more entertaining for fight fans, especially boxing fans. We feel confident that we will bridge the gap among fans, and fighters, who want something more out of boxing but are turned off by the nature of bareknuckle, for example. We also feel that there is very large segment of fighters who come from a boxing background who would love to get into something new and exciting, but are not interested in bareknuckle fighting because of the risks of broken hands and/or the severity of facial lacerations after just one fight.

Our aim is to maintain the elite level of fighting that traditional boxing offers, as well as the class and respect that is inherent to the sport. Right now we are seeing a lot of development in combat sports, with the arrival of bareknuckle, the evolving relationship between promoters and providers, specifically streaming platforms, and more.

However, with all the hype around bareknuckle fighting, it's not really anything new, as you all know. Yes, it has never been sanctioned by a state athletic commission in the US in the modern era, but it's been in the UK (legally, but not recognized by the BBBofC) for a long time. There is a huge question that is not being answered, and bareknuckle is not answering that question, and in my opinion it never will. We feel strongly that London Prize will offer the next true innovation in combat sports with Small Glove Boxing.

We are currently in active discussions with various US state athletic commissions, and we have one on board right now who is willing to sanction an event. It is an uphill battle convincing athletic commissions that this is just as safe, if not safer, than mma or traditional boxing. If you don't already know, most commissions do not have the authority to adopt or amend current rules and regulations because glove weight is usually written into the state statute. So, needless to say it's very difficult to get things done in a sport that is overseen by the government.

That being said, we are moving forward step-by-step because we are passionate about this concept and we want to offer something unique and innovative, especially with respect to professional boxing, and the time is now. There is such a huge pool of talent out there, and we want to provide them with the opportunity to make a name for themselves in a growing organization that has a lot of potential to become mainstream.

We partnered with one of the best glove makers in the world to come up with a unique design that will be safe for fighters and meet commission standards. We are extremely excited about this glove, to say the least.

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Boxing is not going away, we get it. There will always be boxing. We're not trying to convince anyone that boxing is dead and it needs to change, or wildly claim that this is the "new era" of fighting or whatever. We simply want to offer something that isn't currently being offered, and hopefully people will enjoy it. I've been a boxing practitioner since I could walk. I grew up with a heavy bag in my basement and a speed bag in my bedroom (what parent allows that?!). I was never a fighter though. I never stepped in the ring for whatever reason. But, I wanted to combing my entrepreneurial spirit with my love of combat sports, specifically boxing. I've been working on this for almost three years now, and I recognized early that this has the potential to be popular. For example, remember when everyone was talking about the glove weight change for the Mayweather/McGregor fight? The NSAC broke their own rule and allowed them to use 8-ounce gloves when they should've only been allowed to use 10. Everyone started speculating on what would happen if they fought in even smaller gloves or mma gloves, and so on. That moment only reinforced my ambition to launch London Prize.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce the concept to everyone. Hopefully I didn't break any forum rules with this post - I'm not really selling or advertising for a specific product, so hopefully this is ok. I apologize in advance if this post does not abide by the rules, and if it must be removed, so be it.

Thanks for listening everyone,
Franco

 

Thank you for the comments. I appreciate your interest!