FPU curriculum cries out for a course in ethics

Putting a fight together ain’t easy. You have to book a venue, pick fighters, hire ring girls, set up the rooms, promote the fight, sell tickets, and deal with boxing commissions which vary from state to state. If you don’t know what you’re doing, not only will you come out in the red, but you may be facing serious fines as well.

Most fight promoters receive their training through trial and error. However, there are now classes available for aspiring promoters to receive the schooling minus the hard knocks. As the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, 38 people are currently attending classes at an Irvine, California, hotel for boxing’s own version of the M.B.A., a Master of Boxing Administration.

Attending Fight Promoter University costs $1,995. For that, an attendee receives a keynote address from HBO commentator Jim Lampley and three days of instruction, which includes hands-on experience at a club fight.

There are no classes on cheating fighters, sneaking performance enhancers to the corner, padding records, or other historically shady tactics used by promoters over the years.

“Those days are pretty much gone,” university founder Roy Englebrecht told the AP. “The people who come here want to be legitimate promoters.”

Englebrecht, a veteran club promoter, said that one of the reasons he started Fight Promoter University was to diminish the negative light cast on the business.

“Being next to used-car salesmen and attorneys isn’t fair,â€? said Englebrecht, “because some of us work extremely hard and try to do it right.â€?

For more information, go to www.fightpromoteruniversity.com.