Top Rank, Golden Boy, and Mayweather Promotions approved for federal loans

According to a report from ESPN, at least three of boxing’s leading promotional companies (Top Rank, Golden Boy, and Mayweather Promotions) have successfully applied for a federal loan program designed to help small companies deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Their requested amounts were reportedly between $350,000 and $1M to ease the burden of the economic shutdown.

Now I’m not sure what the specific criteria made these entities eligible for these federal funds, or whether or not they’re really ‘small businesses,’ but it should be noted that just because the loans were applied for doesn’t necessarily mean the firms accepted the low interest cash loans. That information isn’t readily available.

In any event, all promotional companies (as is the case with most companies in general) have felt the impact of an economic shutdown, one many companies are still trying to navigate. Top Rank has been regularly staging cards as they quickly put together a plan to stage fights as safely as possible, but they’ve all basically been low-level matchups as the absence of crowds eradicate a major revenue stream.

As things currently stand in the U.S., well, it’s still a mess so far as coronavirus is concerned, so we’ll just have to see how these promotional companies are going to fare when even hardcore boxing fans demonstrate waning interest without compelling fights to keep their attention.