By Ridge Yusuf
Along with fellow co-owner, Bobby Sarnevesht, Ryan Kavanaugh already revolutionized the social media world with his music-based social network, Triller, but he’s not done changing things up. This time, his focus lands on the boxing world with the creation of Triller Fight Club. Ryan Kavanaugh designed Fight Club to meet the interests of 17-to-27-year-olds, this special club organizes big events that combine music and combat sports. As co-founder, Snoop Dogg helps hype this exceptional collaboration, although the sheer brilliance truly speaks for itself.
A Desire to Shake Up the Boxing World
At best, the traditional boxing world speaks to the millennial generation and older, leaving Gen Z without a connection to the scene. In order to change all that, Ryan Kavanaugh and his crew dreamed up Triller Fight Club.
Their first bout brought Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. together in front of over one million viewers. On top of that, YouTuber Jake Paul and NBA star Nate Robinson went head to head in their own fight. In between all the battling, musical performances by French Montana, Lil Wayne, and Wiz Khalifa kept everyone well entertained.
Through that smart combo, their event was a hit with their target demographic, leaving tradition at the door. Instead of simply talking about boxing online, viewers tuned in for the full duration of the fight, and then kept checking back for more events to come.
Big Fight Scrapped After Numerous Delays
With the huge success of the first fight, it just made sense to start planning Triller Fight Club’s second event. Unfortunately, a series of terrible circumstances derailed the plans over and over, resulting in them scrapping the fight.
Ryan Kavanaugh and Bobby Sarnevesht started their plans by putting in a $6 million bid for a fight between George Kambosos and Teofimo Lopez. Set for early June, this fight aimed to bring in big crowds. Soon after cementing their plans, they heard about the Logan Paul-Floyd Mayweather fight on June 6th. To keep that fight from overshadowing their own, they moved the second fight club event to June 19th.
Lopez came down with COVID-19 and had to quarantine soon after that, forcing them to push back the date even further. Making things even more complicated, Kambosos refused to stay in the US during the quarantine period. Then, the International Boxing Federation blocked them from moving the fight to Australia.
Even after moving the event to October 4th, they found that football, baseball, and other boxing matches would get in the way of their success. Attempts to reschedule fell short as Kambosos stopped answering, missed a flight to the US, and demanded extra pay. Needless to say, Ryan Kavanaugh and his crew scrapped the event altogether and headed back to the drawing board.
Great Things on the Horizon for Triller Fight Club
The third event for Triller Fight Club, dubbed TrillerVerz III, will occur at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. During that two-day event, viewers will get to see the newest New York boxers fight it out for the title. In between the fights, they’ll get a taste of DJ Super Cat & Friends before Big Daddy Kane and KRS-ONE have a rap battle as the grand finale.
Although it took a lot of perseverance, Ryan Kavanaugh managed to keep Triller Fight Club moving toward great success. With time, their impact is sure to change the boxing world and bring new blood to the sport.
