OTX’s four-card run in August will conclude Friday night with a main event that’ll feature middleweight prospect Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson.
It will not be the last show the company promotes, however, because these four events have only reinforced what OTX’s executives believed before its inaugural card was streamed by DAZN on August 5. Brandon Rhodes, OTX’s general manager, and Dan Porter, CEO of OTX’s parent company, Overtime, are more convinced than ever that there is a place in boxing for OTX.
The company’s primary mission in boxing is to showcase underexposed prospects in competitive fights and tell their stories through such social media platforms as Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, on which Overtime has amassed more than 80 million followers. Rhodes estimated that the company, which typically targets Generation Z sports fans, will promote approximately double the number of shows next year that it produced this August.
Some of those cards will feature fighters who’ve already appeared on OTX cards, but Rhodes noted that OTX’s success thus far has helped initiate talks with potential partners on other fighters.
“We plan to have continuity with some of the fighters we’ve already showcased throughout our first three [shows] and our next [card] as well,” Rhodes told BoxingScene.com. “We may keep them busy on some other co-promotions as well, outside of our own schedule. So, we’re definitely planning to do more, to go much bigger and better.
“And we’re having some really exciting conversations with some big names inside and outside of boxing that may wanna partner with us in strategic ways, some conversations with the bigger promoters about collaborating on certain things. So, we have a lot of exciting opportunities in front of us, outside of just the events we’re gonna do on our own, and we’ll continue to have those conversations.”
Rhodes stressed, though, that OTX will continue to work with promoters who have appealing prospects and even some contenders under contract.
“Our message is the same – that Overtime is additive to the sport,” Rhodes said. “We’re not trying to out-compete Top Rank, we’re not trying out-compete Matchroom. We’ll work with fighters that make sense for us. Some of them we’ll sign. Some of them we’ll showcase. But we’re additive to the sport as well across just boxing in general.”
Baltimore’s Simpson (13-0, 7 KOs) will seemingly face the toughest opponent of his career in OTX’s main event Friday night at OTE Arena in Atlanta.
The 23-year-old southpaw will meet Mexican veteran Vladimir Hernandez (13-5, 6 KOs) in an eight-rounder that’ll headline a stream scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. EDT on DAZN. Hernandez upset former IBF/IBO/WBA 154-pound champ Julian Williams (28-4-1, 16 KOs, 1 NC) by split decision two fights ago, a 10-round bout that took place in October 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Simpson and Hernandez, as in all OTX fights, can earn knockout bonuses and could compete in a ninth “overtime” round if their eight-rounder results in a majority draw or a split draw. Venezuelan junior featherweight Lorenzo Parra defeated Javon Woodard Jr. by split decision because he won OTX’s first overtime round on two scorecards last Friday night at OTE Arena.
“The ideas we had around rules have been very successful,” Rhodes said. “We created the KO bonus and that’s definitely provided some action-packed fights, from start to finish. Obviously, the [smaller] 18-foot ring has provided more action. And the OT round, we had our first one last week, went just as well, if not better, than anyone could’ve imagined.”
Knockout bonuses have been particularly popular among fighters, most of whom have applauded OTX for first-class treatment before, during and after its events.
“I think [knockout bonuses] definitely impacted the styles,” Rhodes said. “It’s made the fights more fan-friendly and I think it has made it more fun for the fighters, frankly. They’re all excited to try to get the finish often in cases they may have not. But I think fighters are smart, too. At the end of the day, they’re not gonna take risks that aren’t warranted.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.