Boxing manager Paul Guarino isn’t a household name, but he has two fighters ranked in the top 10 of different sanctioning bodies. Not bad for the Northeasterner who has been in a wheelchair since he was 16.
Guarino manages junior middleweight Chordale Booker, ranked No. 9 by the WBO, and middleweight Ian Green, ranked No. 3 by the WBA.
Guarino serves as a marketer and agent. His start came like that of many, with a Twitter page. He branded a few slogans and shared a few topical trends that helped him create a presence. He then reached out to athletes and formed friendships and made contacts.
“I created my own company in 2011, called PG Sports,” Guarino said. “I don’t just work with boxers or MMA fighters. I work with all athletes in all different sports. Pretty much I work with an athlete in every sport besides baseball, which is always ironic to me, because I grew up a huge baseball fan.”
Guarino, from Connecticut, got to know former light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson. Dawson now trains one of his fighters, Mike Kimbel. Guarino, according to BoxRec, works with three pro boxers. His website lists boxer Tramaine Williams as his client, Anthony Taylor, Kimbo Slice Jr., as well as NHL, WNBA, NFL, NBA and MLS athletes. Guarino relates to the grind of professional sports, but especially the plight of a fighter.
“I think maybe that’s why I work in boxing. It’s a relatable thing to me, because working in sports in general is tough financially for anybody, especially when you’re starting out,” said Guarino.
“You work for free and hustle your way up, and you got to do a bunch of those things. It’s kind of like the same thing in boxing, like you’re scrapping for ticket money with small purses, and you’re trying to make that work. And then you have to still have a job. So I think that’s the thing, too. I think people in general are embarrassed to have to say they have a 9-to-5, but, like, that’s not anything to be embarrassed about. You got to provide for your family.”
Yet the elephant in the room persists. Despite Guarino’s ability to look at social media spaces and share content in engaging ways, he is the only boxing manager I have met who is wheelchair bound. He has SMA – spinal muscular atrophy – yet Guarino says one of the beauties of boxing is that it doesn’t discriminate. In this world, he is just another person.
“I was born with the disease,” Guarino said. “What’s cool about boxing is, I don’t want to be treated differently and people don’t treat me differently in boxing. As for accommodations and all that, I mean, everything is pretty good. I’ve been in a wheelchair for so long, I figure everything out. For example, when I just went to the Shakur Stevenson fight, I bought floor seats purposely because I wanted to meet people. I bought an end seat purposely, so I just sit there and I moved the seat up. At other venues I’ve done that – say, in a basketball game – and then they tell me I’m a fire hazard or I can’t or they can’t move the seat.”
Now Guarino wants to have a titleholder.
“I’ve worked with world championships before, but the feeling will be different when I actually manage one,” he said.
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