American Top Team Head Boxing Coach and 1976 Olympic Gold Medal winner Howard Davis Jr. helps train some of the best mixed martial arts fighters in the world. He has been with American Top Team since its inception about six years ago in Coconut Creek, Florida.
Davis works on a regular basis with such fighters as the WEC’s Featherweight Champion Mike Brown and the UFC’s number one welterweight contender Thiago Alves. One of the sport’s greatest strikers of all-time Chuck Liddell even sought the help of Davis prior to his most recent fight against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 97 (although too little too late).
After being submerged in the sport and falling in love with MMA and it’s fighters, Howard Davis Jr. has now decided to go into the MMA promotion business with “Fight Time Promotions, LLC.” The promotion will debut fall 2009 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with their first fight card entitled “USA vs. Brazil.”
In a recent interview with PRO MMA (promma.info) Davis Jr. talked about his motivation for putting on fight cards and his ultimate goal with Fight Time Promotions, “The ultimate goal for Fight Time Promotions is to produce quality MMA shows that will place up and coming fighters in the spotlight. We are also going to be partnering up with non-profit groups that will benefit children and the less fortunate.”
According to Davis Jr., Fight Time Promotions has already received a television deal that gives opportunities for sponsors, “Right now, we’ve secured a deal with Comcast Sportsnet, which will distribute the 2-hour show to take place in Ft. Lauderdale, to 35 million households. The show is set to take place in the fall and anyone who wants more information about sponsorship opportunities can visit: www.fighttimepromotions.com. We plan on doing 8 shows during the next 18-months.”
One might think with Davis Jr.’s background he would want to put on hybrid boxing / MMA events. However, that is not the case, “No. It’s 100% MMA. It’s not a mixed bag of tricks. We looked into the whole MMA/Boxing mix, but we decided to keep it strictly to MMA.”
If one thinks there may be a conflict of interest because Davis Jr. helps train a lot of UFC fighters, there is no need to worry. Fight Time Promotions will not be trying to compete with the UFC. It will mainly be a local venture, “The fighters for the Fight Time Promotions’ events will be coming from mostly Florida. We have such great talent in the Sunshine State, that we want to give those fighters a place to shine.”
To learn more about Howard Davis Jr. and Fight Time Promotions visit www.howarddavisjr.com or www.fighttimepromotions.com.
By: Jack Bratcher
I’ll be at the show!
wish we could be there…u train at ATT mike?