You may have seen many of the same headlines covering boxing’s heavyweight king in numerous media outlets last week during the launch of Ed Pereira’s new iVisitBoxing (iVB) brand: “Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder will play in front of a record crowd in San Francisco on July 11.” However, according to Pereira himself, this news is clearly incorrect.
When asked on Tuesday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” if Usyk vs. Wilder was a target for iVB’s July 11 event, Pereira confirmed, “wrong.”
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“We did talk to Usyk’s team a while ago and had a very productive conversation with them. There was no agreement. We’ve seen everything blow up because of it.”
Pereira told Uncrowned that while iVB does hope to break the attendance record for a U.S. boxing event – the 1941 Tony Zale vs. Billy Pryor fight in Milwaukee set a record of 135,132 spectators – the fights and boxing matches at iVB’s potential record-breaking outdoor boxing event in San Francisco on July 11 have yet to be determined.
iVB held a launch event in San Francisco on Friday to officially confirm its entry into boxing. Pereira said the company plans to host at least 12 events in 2026, which will be “big,” “special” and “iconic.” The first of these events is scheduled for April and will be announced at a press conference in February, he said.
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Pereira also announced a partnership with YouTube to host the events. Pereira said iVB’s programs will be broadcast on the YouTube platform, with some programs free and others requiring pay-per-view. iVB intends to use YouTube to promote its pay-per-view advertising to the platform’s 2.5 billion user base, as well as leverage other technology benefits, including viewing by content creators, which are also used on the DAZN platform.
Most major boxing events currently taking place are funded by Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority through Riyadh Season or Turki al-Arasheh’s “The Ring.” However, rather than entering boxing with the help of wealthy backers, iVB will rely on alternative funding to stage its events.
“The way we look at it is we’re really building it on three key pillars,” Pereira said. “The first pillar is sponsorship. One of the key things we are looking at is bringing in corporate sponsors. We are lucky to be able to work with [corporate sponsors] Many of the partners we work with in football and rugby see a natural connection between football and boxing – the audience is the same.
“The big football brands haven’t been associated with boxing. If you look at the sponsors that are supporting boxing at the moment, they’re not your big blue-chip companies. For us, it’s about bringing these guys into boxing and they’re going to do the heavy lifting.
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“The second party is through partners,” Pereira continued. “For us, [it’s] Looking for partners in the experience area. Rather than just hosting a boxing event, we actually created a fan experience village, created a food court and a food village, and we had local California food vendors come in here. They also come with quite a bit of baggage when it comes to investing. You have to find an experience village that has about 20-30 different companies that all support it and be a part of it.
“Third, it’s YouTube. We’re really excited about this deal with YouTube, and [the July 11 card] It will be a pay-per-view event. The cards we hope to launch will be high-level and will be a pay-per-view event. Pay-per-view and related ticket sales, that’s where the money comes from. “
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Pereira has first-hand experience of being part of the Riyadh season and ‘The Ring’ events. His sports marketing company is responsible for the logistics of several Alalshikh events, including this year’s Times Square card in May. Pereira said his work at that event prompted several cities to contact him about hosting a similar event, including San Francisco, where iVB will be heading to in July.
“We have to overcome two problems [for July]Pereira said. “The first problem is that there is no card big enough to draw 150,000 [fans] In America but I will say this – I think the concept is that we are creating a festival. Festivals in our city including music, experience zones, boxing. Boxing is its center and core, but it’s not its only appeal.
“We like to call it a cross between Coachella and the World Boxing Championship. That’s essentially what we have to do.”
The current U.S. indoor boxing attendance record is 73,126, set by Matchroom’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for his 2021 unification fight with Billy Joe Saunders. Pereira hopes to attract almost double the audience with paid tickets and free spectators.
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“We are looking at about 50% [paying fans and 50% free entry],” Pereira clarified.
“[With 70,000 paid tickets,] You still have a stadium full of revenue. …I think we said free for most people – I think over 50% of people will be free. There will be paid admission, it will just be pro-rated. “
