CEDRIC KUSHNER
Presents.....
-GOTHAM BOXING-
in Association with RONNIE "THE ROTTWEILER" KERNER
For Tickets Call 212-755-1944
Cedric Kushner is a native of South Africa, but his roots are firmly entrenched in New York City, having lived on Manhattan's Upper West Side for decades while establishing new and exciting boxing venues throughout the Big Apple in recent years. So, Kushner's newly-established fight company is appropriately dubbed Gotham Boxing, which was officially launched on April 25, 2006.
While the affable South African has a new venture, it is simply a fresh vine in venerable, fertile soil that has been cultivated with thirty years of success and experience on United States shores.
Over the past decade alone, while previously promoting under the CKP banner, Cedric was the first boxing impressario to promote a fight card at the famed Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center on Eighth Avenue at West 34th Street, and has also hosted
fight nights at such innovative sites as the Apollo Theatre, Paradise Theatre, Jacob Javits Center, Roseland Ballroom and Radio City Music Hall, becoming a fixture on the Big Apple sports circuit.
Of course, Kushner also made his mark with promotions at New York's Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden, and the Theatre at the Garden. Specializing but not limited to heavyweights, Kushner has promoted such top flight pugilists as heavyweight world champion Hasim Rahman, welterweight titlist Shane Mosley, 130-pound champion Joel Casamayor, and heavyweight contenders including Shannon Briggs, Jameel McCline, David Tua and Michael Grant, just to name a few.
Kushner has promoted or co-promoted many outstanding battles televised on such prime boxing networks as HBO, Showtime, ESPN/2 Friday Night Fights, Fox, Telemundo and InDemand, as well as his own television network. The list of prize fights includes: De La Hoya-Mosley, Lewis-Rahman, W. Klitshcko-Mercer, Briggs-McCline, Tua-Moorer, the innovative Fistful of Dollars, and a bevy of others.
Kushner was a heavyweight himself, tipping the scales at nearly 400 pounds, but now weighs in at a svelte 217, thanks to great determination and diet, stomach surgery, and regular exercise walking his beloved dog and pal Spike several times daily in Manhattan's Central Park.
Cedric Kushner's original promotional company was formed in 1974 and quickly earned international attention through Kushner's accomplishments as a rock'n roll impresario. His inaugural promotion was with the band Steppenwolf, but Kushner became a force to be reckoned with in the music industry when he befriended a then relatively unknown band by the name of Fleetwood Mac. Kushner's timing was perfect. Fleetwood Mac's next album was "Rumors," which sold more than 20 million copies world wide, and established the band an immensely popular concert attraction.
Kushner's relationship with the group propelled the young promoter into the upper echelon of worldwide concert promoting as evidenced by Fleetwood Mac's performances at soldout venues as Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden and the Nassau (N.Y.) Coliseum. Throughout the rest of the seventies and into the eighties, Kushner promoted musical groups of legendary proportions, including Joni Mitchell, Bob Segar, the Doobie Brothers, Journey and The Rolling Stones.
But late in 1984, after nearly a decade at the pinnacle of his profession, Kushner began looking for new challenges, new worlds to conquer, and his passion for the sport of boxing took hold. No sport is more akin to rock ?n roll than boxing; the two demanding and highly competitive fields are similar in energy, excitement and the opportunity for the intelligent and innovative individual to make it to the top through hard work and imagination.
Kushner's first foray into boxing was as manager of a journeyman middleweight. But after several months of dealing with the day-to-day management chores, Kushner believed he would be better served channeling his energies and acumen into the business side of boxing, and, thus decided to become a promoter.
Starting in 1984 and for some 20 years thereafter, Cedric Kushner's company became one of boxing's largest and most influential promotional organizations. Cedric Kushner has promoted more than 30 world champions and has presented more than 300 world title fights in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and Africa. These efforts had Kushner recognized as "Promoter of the Year" numerous times from both international boxing organizations and major print and electronic media outlets. He has partnered up with Ronnie "The Rottweiler" Kerner (Pro Heaveyweight Boxer/Reality T.V. & Movie)in -GOTHAM BOXING-. Kerner is seving as a protégé to Kushner. Kerner feels blessed to have Kushner mentoring & showing him the "ropes" of the boxing business. Gotham Boxing holds co-exclusive rights, with Kerner, to "Rottweiler" boxing, T.V. & movie. This will bring Kushner into the T.V. & movie business as well. Ronnie "The Rottweiler" Kerner is managed by BYG-LLC Management.
Kushner has effectively developed world champions, while also building an international foundation unrivaled by any of his American counterparts, particularly in televised boxing. At its zenith, his television network was seen in 100 countries, making it the leading international outlet in viewers and households world wide.
The story of Kushner's background is well known. Not all that many years ago, he was a young man from South Africa with determination, ambition and, most importantly, a dream. He arrived in the United States with just $400 in his pocket and a resume of jobs that included deckhand on an oceanic freighter; pool cleaner in Miami Beach, Fla.; messenger in New York City; Ferris wheel operator in Asbury Park, N.J.; and a few more other less-desirable positions.
However, the always-focused and -motivated Kushner strived to realize his dream. That perseverance paid off, and today he is, once more, at the apex of his chosen endeavor. With his unbridled enthusiasm, unerring sense of talent and unmatched work ethic for which he is renown, his place as one of his profession's premiere promoter is secure. That same determination and savvy is sure to result in the ultimate success of the new promotional company Gotham Boxing.www.gothamboxing.com
www.ronnietherottweiler.com
