By: Frank W. Gillespie
OSDB Sports
Amer Abdallah was on his way to Tyson Ranch in Southern California when he was contacted about doing this interview. Abdallah is the CEO of Badou Jack Promotions, and a former WKA Cruiserweight World Champion. Abdallah and his boxer Badou had been invited to be guests on “Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson,” and they were on their way to connect with Iron Mike to catch up and record the podcast.
“I’ve known Mike about 10 years now, and it’s always amazing when I get to spend time with him. He’s got a power and an energy to him, and no one else is quite like him.”, Abdallah told OSDB Sports recently.
Tyson, Abdallah, and Jack are brothers in Islam, and are also connected through the fraternity of the fight game. This common ground forms the bedrock of what has grown into a unique and powerful relationship.
Who is Amer Abdallah? The 43-year-old Jordanian-American was born in the Bronx, N.Y. in 1977, but spent his formative years in Lockport, N.Y. before relocating to Las Vegas in 2017. Abdallah eats, breathes, sweats, and bleeds boxing. The magic of the fight game gripped Abdallah when he was eight years old, and it has never let him go.
Abdallah began his love affair with hand-to-hand combat at the Seishin Kan Karate school in Lockport, N.Y., under the tutelage of Ryokichi Katano. It was at Seishin that Amer built a foundation of discipline and precise muscle memory through repetition.
“The Seishin Kan Karate school in Lockport was a serious dojo. Old school. It taught real discipline. You’d get whacked with bamboo on the legs or back side sometimes,” Abdallah told OSDB Sports recently. “It took me six-and-a-half years to get my black belt, not necessarily the same process that all karate students go through these days. Some people can get online certifications and have a black belt within a year or two now. Seishin is where I met Desmond Price, and he took me under his wing and helped me to convert what I had learned into a full-contact sport (kickboxing), which is what I was really gravitating toward.”
Abdallah went on to win the gold medal for karate at the 1992 Junior Olympics, and his relationship with Price set him on the path that led to a successful professional kickboxing career. By the time Amer hung up his gloves and retired in 2018 at the age of 41, he had compiled an 18-0 record (10 knockouts). Abdallah went out on top, having held the WKA Cruiserweight World Championship belt for more than two years before vacating the title upon retirement.
To Abdallah’s credit, he served as his own promoter for almost the entirety of his professional kickboxing career. Only Abdallah’s pro debut was promoted by someone other than himself. Abdallah founded Lace Up Promotions in 1999, and he balanced every facet of his own fight career up until his retirement. Over the years, several promising business opportunities emerged, and he began to shift gears. While he was in the middle of defending his title against Nathan McCarthy, Abdallah decided to focus on the promotion/ management side of the boxing business full-time.
“During what turned out to be my last fight, I found myself looking into the crowd, which I never do, and I had lost that laser focus,” he recalled. “I think that I only had like four sparring sessions in the training camp leading up to that fight, and I wasn’t locked in like usual. I still won the fight pretty easily, but I realized it was time for a change.
“I was the first fighter to ever promote myself, and had been promoting and managing other fighters for a while by then, so the transition to that side of the business was natural for me. I’ve worked every level of the boxing business, so I have a pretty complete picture,” he said. “I’ve owned a gym, I’ve trained and coached fighters, I’ve fought myself, and I’ve managed and promoted other fighters as well. When I started out promoting myself as a kickboxer, I would make the matches, book the venue, handle the press and advertising, sell the tickets, pick up the rental van from Enterprise or UHaul or wherever, bring everything over, set up and number the seats, make sure it was all running smoothly, and then go fight my opponent after all that was done.”.
Abdallah manages Swedish-born boxer Badou Jack, who TKO’d Dervin Colina in the fourth-round of their undercard bout for the Mayweather/ Paul PPV event on June 6.
Jack, a former two-division world boxing champion, was slated to fight the current light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal on that card. Unfortunately, Pascal tested positive for four banned substances about a week before the bout. There was legitimate frustration in Badou Jack’s camp, but Abdallah and his team scrambled to find a replacement fighter.
“Badou is a very humble, down to Earth guy. He works extremely hard, and doesn’t expect anything to be handed to him,” Abdallah said. “Badou was straight robbed in the title fight vs Pascal, and it was probably the worst call I’ve ever seen. If you look at footage toward the end of the fight, our corner was celebrating and in Pascal’s corner it was like a funeral. Everyone knew that Badou won that fight, but that’s not the way it went.
“Then we had to wait over 18 months for retribution due to COVID-19 and other things, and then Pascal tested dirty for FOUR banned substances about a week away from the fight. What can I say? We were frustrated, but we moved forward.”
So, what’s next for Badou? Abdallah tells OSDB Sports there are a couple of potential fights on the horizon for “Jack the Ripper” toward the end of this year, and that he may move up to cruiserweight.
“Nothing concrete right now, but Badou has a possible opportunity in the Fall and another in late December,” he said. “Moving Badou up to cruiserweight is definitely something that we’re considering, and in a lot of ways it makes perfect sense. It’s absolutely on the table.
Since meeting in 2018 at the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, Abdallah and Badou have become tight
“Badou and I met in the Mayweather gym out here,” Abdallah said. “I was still fighting then, and we ran into each other a lot while training. We got along great, and Badou and I talked quite a bit about the Islamic faith. Before long, he asked if I would consider representing him, and I told him that I would be honored. The rest is history.”
In addition to managing Badou’s boxing career, Abdallah partnered with Jack to create Ripper Nutrition in 2018. Ripper Nutrition offers an innovative sports supplement line, tried and tested by a long list of champions and exceptional athletes.
However, the true beauty of this company lies in its commitment to philanthropy. Generous portions of Ripper Nutrition’s proceeds go directly to the Badou Jack Foundation, which strives to help underprivileged, undernourished, displaced, and abused children across the globe.
“My boxing fights are nothing compared to the fights these children have every day.”, Badou states on www.badoujackfoundation.org. Abdallah and Jack have made a tremendous impact through their charitable endeavors, touching lives in Jordan, Syria, and Jack’s native Gambia. Both Amer and Badou realize that children are the future, and they are reminded of that fact daily when looking into their own daughters’ eyes.
When he isn’t flying around the world promoting fights and the welfare of neglected children, Abdallah spends as much time as possible with family and close friends.
Earlier this year, Abdallah’s father passed away, and the loss has put the priceless nature of time into a clearer perspective than usual.
Abdallah’s father was a Colonel in the Jordanian Armed Forces, a successful entrepreneur, a family man, and a devout Muslim. I had the pleasure of meeting the Colonel about 15 years ago, and he struck me as intense, intelligent, and kind. There was a special aura surrounding him.
“My father set a different standard, and I’ve spent my life chasing it. Chasing him. There’s been a huge void since his passing, but he will live on through me forever.”, Abdallah said.
Abdallah and his wife live in Las Vegas with their three daughters, living life to the fullest. The diversity of his experience in the fight game has enabled Abdallah to become a true boxing aficionado, and he’s not done yet. Amer Abdallah belongs in boxing’s proverbial trenches, giving his fighters and disadvantaged children a fighting chance.
