Dubai: Jessie Robinson, a boxing promoter on a mission to grow the sport in the UAE believes his quest will be massively boosted the day he brings former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson to the Emirates.
Robinson is currently putting together the Dubai International Boxing Championship which takes place on February 18 under the auspices of the Dubai Sports Council and set to feature UAE fighter Eisa Al Dah.
He was the man behind the first international boxing competition to be held in the Emirates in 2007.
"Boxing is a new sport here, so it's a very difficult situation we find ourselves in," said Robinson, CEO of EMD Sports Services. "When we started this business three years ago, it was just Eisa and me trying to put it all together. Now we have the support of the Dubai Sports Council."
"I want to bring the big names over here from America," added the man who has already brought one former heavyweight champion in Michael Moorer for a bout in Dubai. "And when you talk boxing and you talk big names, you talk Mike Tyson. Tyson is boxing.
"I know him personally and I plan to bring him here one day. And believe me everybody will know boxing then. That's when you will see boxing here take off like a missile."
