‘Wild’ Will Tomlinson – the Bairnsdale boxing prodigy who took on the world and won – was back where it all began this week attempting to lock in his third Wildfighter promotional date.
Having turned his attention to the competitive boxing promotion market following a decorated career and short stint operating popular Melbourne gym, Tribute Boxing, Tomlinson will bring the squared circle to Bairnsdale on Saturday, October 12, with a stacked card of local talent, including rising prospects, Jason Whateley and Blake Wells.
Tomlinson has had conversations with East Gippsland Shire about hosting the event at the Bairnsdale Aquatic and Recreation Centre (BARC), where Tomlinson fought twice as a professional, most recently in 2011.
“Everything has been positive thus far, it’s all looking good at this stage,” Tomlinson said.
“It was a bit of a spinout for me, it looked a whole lot smaller than I remember. The BARC, there has obviously been some renovations, but once you get into the arena you realise it is the perfect venue for the show. It’s the perfect space. We’re hoping to get 1500 to 2000 people there.
“I’m going to try and replicate a similar layout to the Timber Yard, replicate the exact quality of world class show we have showcased in Melbourne. We do that and then we can follow it with every show whether it’s in Melbourne or in regional Victoria, places like Ballarat and Geelong.
“When I was thinking about bringing the show here, it all sounded good in my head, and then when I came back, getting amongst it again, I’m feeling a lot more positive about it.
“Even just me being here on my social media, the word is starting to get around. I’ve already been getting a lot of enquiries about ticket sales and businesses wanting to get involved.”
Tomlinson has promoted two events thus far at South Melbourne’s Timber Yard, both headlined by Whateley to sellout audiences. However he wants to reach further than the metropolitan market.
“Both at the Timber Yard have done really well, around 1000 people each time,” he said.
“It’s good to break away from all the other venues that typically have boxing to standalone and be looked at as a completely different brand.
“Part of the reason I’m coming back here to Bairnsdale, I don’t want to become stale and have the shows in the same venue, I want to keep moving through different venues in Melbourne, regional Victoria and eventually interstate – next year I’m aiming to do a show in Sydney, more here in Bairnsdale, maybe even Traralgon.
“We have some of the best fighters in Victoria – Jason, Blake, Aaron Spagnolo, Victor Ngabe – some really good boys to work with and as we tick along I’ll refine that and focus on two or three.
“It’s one fight, one show at a time at the moment.
“This year there will be four fights, next year five, maybe six – three in Melbourne, two in regional Victoria and one interstate.”
Tomlinson is embracing the transition from fighter to promoter, saying he is using his experience and the contact book full of connections to help build the Wildfighter brand.
“It’s been a different process, obviously a lot different to training and running a gym, but I’ve had a good response,” he said.
“Playing all my cards that I have built up with my own career has helped build up hype and media attention, which all helps to selling the event.
“I didn’t really have much time from retiring to going into the gyms so I didn’t really have much downtime. And then when the gyms finished up, I didn’t really have time to sit back and think, ‘what do I do now?’.
“I looked back at what I enjoyed about the gyms and that was running fight nights and events that we had with the gym brand and being the front man of forming that community in bringing people together. It made sense to get into promotion.
“I’m working with guys like Jason Whateley, Blake Wells and other good fighters from Melbourne that have the ability to go a long way.
“I’ve experienced the process, I understand the process and I want to implement that on their careers and hopefully they can have a career bigger and better than mine, that’s the aim.
“I’ve got their best interests at heart because it’s only going to benefit my business as well, so I have to make sure they get the guidance and nurturing they need to progress.”
In somewhat unchartered waters, Tomlinson is keeping his head above water. The promotional boxing industry is extremely competitive and he is working hard to ensure his promotion remains and builds as an attraction for fighters.
Part of this steady incline is increasing the broadcast power with Foxtel’s Fox Sports signing up to showcase the Bairnsdale card.
“It’s a competitive territorial market in Melbourne and in Australia, but I feel like from what I’m doing, organically I’ve attracted a lot of fighters and good talent,” Tomlinson said.
“My focus is on treating the boxers well, giving them a good service based off my own knowledge as a fighter, knowing what I would’ve wanted or needed as a fighter.
“I’m not poaching anybody or pinching someone else’s fighters, I’m focusing on doing my job well and they should want to come to me, just by creating good opportunities.
“We want to put on good quality, regular shows, good competitive match ups, attract a big physical audience to the events, a big audience through the broadcast and then focus on selected fighters and building their careers, making big fights and building their fan base and then outgrow venues like the Timber Yard.
“Bairnsdale will be a top quality event. The show will be filmed and broadcast by Fox Sports, which will create a lot of eyes on the region being a national audience. The last broadcast we did through Facebook had around 80,000 viewers, which is a lot of eyes on the product. That’s a big focus, the broadcast element.
“The ultimate goal is to build them into a pay-per-view star, that’s every promoter’s goal is to have a pay-per-view fighter because that opens up another revenue stream.
“Typically fight nights you have ticket sales, sponsors and broadcast money and broadcast money doesn’t come in until you have a pay-per- view fighter.”
Fourteen weeks out from the Bairnsdale Wildfighter event, training camps are in preparation and the large number of locals entering the ring are starting to get in shape.
“There’s not only Jason and Blake, we’ve got Max Reeves turning pro who is a red-hot prospect, Bayden Ashwood is fighting, Spud (Daniel Harrison) is fighting, Pete Jenner, Kade Alexander, Roy Siania, Clay Smith (former Western Bulldogs AFL premiership player – it’s going to be a card stacked with local talent,” Tomlinson said.
PICTURED: ‘Wild’ Will Tomlinson has remained in the boxing spotlight since retiring from fighting, turning his attention to promoting fights under the Wildfighter banner. Tomlinson is bringing his third event to Bairnsdale on October 12. (PS)
