Camille Estephan: From sparring stockbroker to promotional powerbroker

Camille Estephan’s journey to becoming the premier promoter in Canada began, appropriately enough, in a boxing gym.

Estephan grew up in Lebanon where, he told BoxingScene recently, “my father – and in fact the whole family on my father’s side – boxed.” But he had to put pugilism to one side when he emigrated to Canada as a teenager in 1986.

“You have to have priorities,” he explained. “And when I arrived as an immigrant, the gym was not a priority. I had to study, I had to work.” 

He became a stockbroker – an extremely successful one, in fact – and made himself a rich man. But after a couple of decades accumulating wealth, he wanted to focus on developing his health.  

“I wanted to get back in shape, so I went back to the gym,” he said. “I trained for a couple of months and wanted to spar.” A natural heavyweight, he found very few appropriately sized sparring partners. Worse, he said, “I chose the wrong guy. We did two, three rounds, and afterward I understood that I should remain a stockbroker.” 

His sparring partner was also an immigrant, from Haiti, and his name was Bermane Stiverne.

“At that time [in 2007], he was an up-and-comer, he was 12-0 with 12 knockouts. He was a very, very big talent, but unfortunately, at that point in time, his career was not very well organized. In fact, in his next fight, he lost to a journeyman [Demetrice King, who entered his July 2007 meeting with Stiverne with a record of 11-15] just because he was out of shape and unorganized.”

At first, said Estephan, the boxer was unsure what to make of the stockbroker.

“He was a little intrigued because I came in in a suit; he didn’t know what I was or who I was, but he could tell I could fight,” Estephan said. “I mean, obviously not at his level. It was more a case of me trying to get back in shape. And I didn’t know who he was at the time, either. But we talked and became friends. And I wanted to help him out. So I ended up becoming his manager.”

Within four years, Estephan had moved into boxing promotion, with Stiverne, then 18-1-1, featuring on a card at Montreal’s Corona Theatre in November 2010 along with Dierry Jean, a talented junior welterweight who would go on to challenge Terence Crawford for the world title. That was the first of 86 cards that Estephan’s Eye of the Tiger Management has so far promoted; the 87th will be at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City on Saturday, headlined by super middleweight action between unbeaten and highly touted contender Christian Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs) and Sergey Derevyanchenko.

“Christian is truly a professional athlete. Every single thing he does, he thinks about his career first,” Estephan said. “He’s very, very talented. He’s super-hard-working. He always wants to do more. And Derevyanchenko is probably the best 15-5 fighter ever, and he’s probably the best fighter right now never to have won a world title. He lost to [Gennady] Golovkin, he lost to [Jermell] Charlo, he lost to [Jaime] Munguia, he lost to [Daniel] Jacobs – but I think Charlo is the only guy who really beat him. He should have won some of these fights. So we are not looking past him. But I think with a big win, if he beats Derevyanchenko with an exclamation point, [Mbilli] becomes the primary contender at 168.”

The card also features several of Estephan’s brightest stars, including heavyweight contender Arslanbek Makhmudov and super middleweight prospect Osleys Iglesias, who is 11-0 with 10 KOs and will be taking a step up when he meets veteran Sena Agbeko (28-3, 22 KOs).

Estephan is at least as effusive in his praise for the Germany-based Cuban Iglesias as he is for the French-born Mbilli.

“As a promoter, you’ve never really, truly objective,” he said. “But Iglesias is a true monster. I think he’s just like [Artur] Beterbiev and Mbilli; I think he’s the next one that will crush the competition. Literally, Iglesias is the best fighter we ever signed, I believe.”

Iglesias isn’t the only prospect about whom Estephan enthuses. He is similarly high on Jhon Orobio, a Colombian-born lightweight with a record of 10-0 (9 KOs), who will be fighting on an Eye of the Tiger show in Montreal on Sept. 5. 

“He moved to Montreal, so he’s here with us now,” said Estephan. “He has a great story. Basically, when he started, he didn’t even have shoes to fight in. He had to be given shoes in the amateurs. This kid is super-special. These two will make sure that Quebec will be at the top of the boxing scene for the next decade.” 

Anyone who has covered or attended a show in Quebec, and particularly Montreal, can attest to the fact that it boasts some of the best, most hardcore fans in the sport. Estephan offers by way of illustration a supporting bout to Beterbiev’s stoppage of Callum Smith in January, which saw bantamweight titlist Jason Moloney outpoint Saul Sanchez over 12 rounds. 

“The fight was a really good fight, very technical, very offensive,” he recalled. “It was fireworks. People were into the fight. Every round, every good shot, they stood up. They gave a standing ovation for the guys. They don’t know them. They have never seen them. They just appreciated a really good fight. So this is the fan base we have.” 

Quebec fans, Estephan continued, “want guys that are real. You know, there’s a specific type of personality that people like here. They like the guys that are going to be putting their heart out there. They like to have people that are going to try and become part of the melting pot. They want people to adopt the Quebec culture, Quebec language, try and become part of society here, and the fighters that do that are, you know, in for a nice ride, because if they’re any good, the fans will back them up.”

To that end, Eye of the Tiger scouts fighters with specific skill sets, under the watchful eye of trainer Marc Ramsay, who now works exclusively with Estephan and his company and who acts as a de facto “general manager,” in Estephan’s parlance.

“We want guys that are entertaining,” Estephan said. “We want punchers that are offensive, that have good technique, who will put on a show and be entertaining. And Marc is, in my eyes, one of the best in the world, if not the best, at identifying a talent that could become a good pro and bringing them along.”

It has been, in the grand scheme of things, a swift progression from sparring stockbroker to promotional powerbroker, and Estephan admits that, at times, moving from the world of business to the dark underbelly of boxing has been eye-opening and disconcerting.

“I was beside myself at first,” he acknowledged. “I could not believe the things that I was hearing and seeing. I knew the boxing side of things, because I was a boxer as a kid, and I knew the sport, I knew the technique, I knew who’s a good boxer and who’s not. But I had no idea what the business is about. So I hired a lawyer in New York. He had been involved in developing contracts for the big networks and, basically, I spent a whole day with him. We spent 10 hours together. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner, and he told me everything about where the revenues are, what the expenses are, what the business is like, what boxing politics are about. So I took a crash course, and on I went. But I couldn’t believe the way the fighters sometimes were treated. The whole sport needed, I believe, more serious promoters. But I think things are changing. Partly, that’s because more networks are involved now. I mean, unfortunately we lost HBO, but things are evolving: The whole streaming world, the way content is consumed, is so different. So there are bigger pools of potential, there are vocal pools of potential fans around the world, and that’s making the sport bigger.”

After 13 years in the business, and with his 100th card on the not-too-distant horizon, Estephan insists he is still enjoying himself.

“Very, very much,” he said. “It’s only getting better. I never get used to my fighters losing. I don’t sleep when they lose. But we have some great talents. We have 22 fighters that are signed with us that are very talented. And I think we’ll be at the summit of boxing in the next five to 10 years with the fighters we have.”

Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcasted about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.