Charles Bosecker Q&A: Matchmaking is about researching each and every fighter

This is the second installation of a two-part Q&A with 360 Promotions matchmaker Charles Bosecker, who has matched various fight cards in California and is one of the emerging young matchmakers in the business heading into the next era of boxing.

BS: Best regional fighter the fans never saw? 

Bosecker: Pedro Moreno from Sacramento. Yeah, I used to manage him. We had so many high hopes and expectations. I had him signed with Alex Camponovo over at Thompson Boxing. He was literally going to put him on a ShoBox, he was going to be a co-main event. Man. We had the stage set for him to be a star from Sacramento. Everything was good, and he couldn’t make weight. He just kept missing weight in his last three fights. That was one of my biggest disappointments, somebody that I was so high on and the biggest disappointment that I felt like at the regional level, he was going to be the next. The next big thing I started.

BS: Is Cain Sandoval, who is signed to 360 Promotions, filling the void of Moreno, given that he has the same coach, Marcus Caballero, and is an all-action fighter from Sacramento?

Bosecker: Yeah, Cain now has not just lived up to that but in my opinion, now he has surpassed that. I had high hopes for Pedro Moreno, and definitely have a lot of high hopes for working with Cain Sandoval.

BS: Who is the potential breakout fighter for 360 Promotions? 

Bosecker: Gor Yeritsyan. So you remember the last fight Gor had, right? Against Quinton Randall. You and I both know Quinton Randall is a high-level boxer. Very tough guy to deal with. Now Quinton Randall’s last fight before Gor was with Brian Norman, who is now a champion basically. if you want to compare those two fighters in fights, in my opinion, Gor did better against Quinton Randall than Norman did, right? That’s just my opinion. So that last fight was very tough. Not in the sense of being some big aggressive punch or anything like that. But boxing tough, hard to hit. Good jab, defense. I mean, just all that in one. 

To me, I got to see a lot out of Gor, not just Gor coming forward and being some monster. I got to see a lot of technical aspects of his game that I did not see in any other fight until last show and I’m saying that because when you’re looking at a fighter that has a lot of a lot of different tools in his bag, so to speak, Gor, checks those boxes off for me personally. So I’m personally I’m pretty high on Gor in the potential of what he has now. We matched him up very tough for the next month as well. We matched him up again, very tough. I think Gor is within a fight of being able to compete at a world-title kind of a level in my opinion.

BS: What would you say if your philosophy when it comes to matching fights?

Bosecker: Making good fights is what it’s all based upon. I don’t have a book, right? There’s no rhyme or reason. What path I’m going down… Why? Because I’m going down a lot of different paths based on the fighter and based on who I’m working with. There’s a lot of different variables, and there’s not a clear cut path, but the one thing that you can take away from how I match-make fights is doing my homework and research on each and every fighter and making sure that it’s going to be a great fight, on paper, for TV and for everybody else in between… While also building the fighter at the same time. My philosophy is building these fighters right, depending on what their level may or may not be.

BS: Tell us a good gym story.

Bosecker: My great gym story was how I started in boxing. That was people telling me to get the fuck out of their gym, because nobody knew me when I first started. I was handing out business cards and I was trying to match fighters and I was looking for opponents right away. And I was in downtown L.A. – not going to name any gyms – but handing out cards and just trying to make contacts, letting people know I’m booking fights. I’m trying to become a matchmaker, and then looking at me like, “Get the fuck out of my gym,” you know? 

Fast-forward to today. I can go into a gym and things are a little bit different. So that’s one of the most memorable things in my part of my story from the beginning. It is also why, in the very beginning, it was hard for me. It was challenging in the beginning. I’m not gonna lie. I got a lot of doors closed on me, early on. Thankfully, I built up a little bit of a reputation now and I have a little bit more respect, but early on, it was not easy.

BS: Do you ever look back and kind of see how far you have come?

Bosecker: All the time. I reflect a lot nowadays. I feel like I have a job to do, not just for myself and for my career, but for these fighters and for boxing. To me, I really hold this sport, this promotion near and dear. Again, not just for myself, but for the sport and for the fans. I feel like I have an obligation to do right for the fans. 

BS: Does the Hall of Fame matter to you?

Bosecker: Yeah. I want to be in the Hall of Fame and I want to be not just in the Hall of Fame, I want to be somebody that people talk about.

Here’s the thing, we were just talking about this earlier, every fighter that I ever put on the show and I’ve told Tom [Loeffler] this, if a B-side guy, if everybody doesn’t want to win that fight or doesn’t want to potentially become a world champion, I don’t want to have anything to do with them, because here’s the thing, I want everybody to shoot for the stars. Everybody that steps foot in that ring once has to have some aspirations to not just win that fight today, but win the fight tomorrow and so on and so on.

So I say that because my mindset is just that I want to be a winner. Plain and simple. I’m not here to just put on the show today. I want to be here tomorrow to make history. I want to be able to put on the best fights. I want to be a part of the biggest fights and that’s my goal. That’s why I’m here today and I feel like you know I have withstood the test of time thus far. All the shit that I’ve been through with boxing, I couldn’t even tell you. I’ve been through a lot and to withstand that and to be where I am today, it’s a blessing. So I have very high hopes and expectations for myself.

BS: You started as a UFC fan, now you are booking fights on UFC Fight Pass, any thoughts on that? 

Bosecker: You want to know what’s even crazier is I reached out to Dana White about a decade ago via social media. I told him, I wrote this whole thing. I ended up deleting it years later. I wrote, ‘Hey man, I know you come from a boxing background. I match-make boxing and if you ever get into boxing or what have you I can be your guy, your boxing matchmaker.’ 

I’m getting the chills, man. Because what’s so crazy is that full circle and here we are today and that decade later and I’m making fights under UFC Fight Pass. It’s truly an honor and I have to pinch myself sometimes to where I’m at today and where I’m going and where we’re going with this thing. It’s a reality. Persistence is key. I’ve been persistent in doing this for many years, and that’s why we’re here today.