Poker Star Phil Ivey to Join the World of Boxing
Move over Don King, and make room for Phil Ivey. For anyone who doesn’t know, Phil Ivey is amongst the top poker players in the world. Having maintained this record for some time now, he’s ready to jump into the boxing ring, following in the footsteps of notorious Donald King. Now filling the role of sport’s promoter, Ivey organizes boxing events, sponsors boxers and other pro-players, and backs sports personalities. It’s clear that he is a master at orchestrating winning combinations.
Phil was born, Phillip Dennis Ivey Jr, on the first day of February 1976. To date, he has 10 whopping World Series Poker bracelets, a title from the World Poker Tour, and nine final World Poker Tour Tables. Known as ‘No Home Jerome,’ after winning his first three bracelets he took on the nicknames of ‘Phenom’ and the ‘Tiger Woods of Poker’. He is also known as one of the best online poker players in the world, managing to amass close to $20 million in winnings on Full Tilt Poker alone.
Currently, Phil is collaborating with Jeff Fried, a co-expert at spotting raw talent. Their agency seeks to identify the next ‘rising stars’ in the world of boxing. They have already named (and signed) Dusty Hernandez-Harrison as a sure-fire pick, a boxer who has yet to be beaten. Ivey is racking up the points, with Hernandez-Harrison’s recent win against Michael Balasi.
Phil Ivey continues to prove that he is as talented at identifying winning boxers as he is at mastering the card table. He, Jeff Fried, and their talent agency ‘All-In Entertainment,’ are supporting teenaged welterweight, Dusty Hernandez-Harrison, in the US Boxing Circuit. Moreover, Ivey has a creditable list of sports personalities he is promoting. Just look at boxing champion, Andre Ward, National Basketball Association (NBA) Hall of Famer, Isaiah Thomas,
Ty Lawson (point guard) Denver Nuggets, and sports broadcasters, James Brown and James “JB” Brown, out of the US. Source: Team Dusty Harrison on Facebook
Phil Ivey, Jeff Fried (president) and Monta Ellis (NBA guard – Dallas Mavericks) jointly founded All-In Entertainment LLC, a business that Ivey describes as a “boxing and entertainment firm representing sports and media interests, the promotion of worldwide entertainment events and orchestrating boxing events.”
While All-In Entertainment has earned much respect within the sports world, there remains a certain amount of mystery surrounding Ivey. Born in New Jersey, he now owns a property in Macao. Although he is amongst the high-profile poker stars, he appears to remain an enigma. It is also clear that Phil acknowledges his own raw talent. In a recent article in California’s U-T San Diego, Phil (now 38) admitted, “I first knew I could be good when I was 25,’ saying, “I was in Atlantic City watching a game and I told myself, I can ‘I can beat these guys.’ ” Moreover, while he enjoys betting on sports, he doesn’t view what he does is a form of gambling. It’s clear that for Phil Ivey, who has already earned renown as a poker star and a television personality, this exciting business move is bound to be a success. With almost 40 million to his name, in combined live tournament and online play, Ivey is a surefire winner at whatever move he undertakes!