To call Roy Englebrecht merely a fight promoter is like referring to Babe Ruth as only a baseball player, Michael Jordan simply a basketball player or Tom Brady just a quarterback.
A veteran entrepreneur of sports marketing and promotions, Englebrecht sells much more than boxing and mixed martial arts shows at the 23,000-square-foot, 1,200-seat Hangar at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa. Englebrecht accounts for every factor of the entertainment experience, including decorative logos and numbering on signs at the end of each row of comfortable, curvy seats.
“As a club fight promoter details are very important,” Englebrecht said. “You have to go that extra mile for the fans and give them a great experience. Drawing your row signs with a Sharpie and paper is good – how we do it is great. Remember you don’t get a second chance to make a great first impression.”
In December, Englebrecht will conclude his 13th year as promoter of the OC Flight Club, after 25 years hosting the “Battle in the Ballroom” at the Irvine Marriott Hotel, where bouts were staged in front of about 1,300 fans and more than 36 eventual world champions fought, including “Sugar” Shane Mosley and Johnny Tapia. In 2007, he became one of the first boxing promoters to introduce MMA fights.
Englebrecht has built a stellar reputation among fans, athletes and peers for delivering top-notch boxing and MMA events, moving both sports forward with innovation as a licensed fight promoter in California, Nevada, Washington and Texas, while being billed as “The King of Minor League Fighting.”
On Sept. 27-28, Englebrecht will be a guest speaker at a prestigious national convention at the Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa.
“I am honored to have been asked to speak at the 2023 VenuesNow Conference in (Indian Wells),” said Englebrecht, a Newport Beach resident. “Nearly 1,000 executives from most all arenas, stadiums, and convention centers in the USA will be in attendance.”
Englebrecht said he will share his knowledge of building the OC Fight Club, where fans watch six fights and sit so close to the competition, they can hear the combatants grunt, see the sweat dripping from their bodies and sometimes blood on their face. It’s the longest running club show in the history of boxing and MMA in Southern California.
The OC Fight Club is light-years from the days of smoke-filled boxing arenas with wooden chairs. The events are jazzed up with private VIP suites, a full bar, food, preferred parking, three high-definition cameras always on the action and a 40-foot wide LED HD video board with instant replay.
The bi-monthly event is billed as Southern California’s Premier Hybrid Fight Series. The next OC Flight Club event is Oct. 26. Tickets range from $55 to $65.
In addition to his work in the fight business, Englebrecht has been involved with minor league sports for four decades, including as one of the original owners of the California League Class-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. He also had ownership in the Arena Football League’s Anaheim Piranhas and the West Coast Hockey League’s Reno Rage.
He founded and operated Sportscaster Camps of America, a leading sports broadcasting training school with over 2,250 alumni. One of the camp’s first guest speakers was Ronald Reagan, who served as a radio broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs in the 1930s before becoming a movie star, California governor and U.S. President.
From 1975 through 1981, Englebrecht worked as director of promotions for the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings, and all Forum events, and helped develop “The Laker Girls” dance team.
Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.
