Боксын спортын салбарт өөрийн хүсэл мөрөөдлөө мэргэжлийн түвшинд үргэлжлүүлж буй хуучин тамирчин Жо Бреттийн түүх нь спортын ертөнцөд өөрийн байр суурийг олохын тулд хэрхэн шинэ гарц хайж болдгийн тод жишээ юм.
Жо Бретт өсвөр насандаа боксчин болохыг мөрөөдөж, сонирхогчийн түвшинд цөөнгүй тулаан хийж байсан ч мэргэжлийн түвшинд гарах боломжгүй гэдгээ ухамсарлажээ. Олон улсын улс төрийн эдийн засгийн чиглэлээр их сургууль төгсөж, төрийн бодлогын салбарт дадлага хийсэн тэрээр хожим нь PR болон боксын спортыг холбох зам руу эргэлт хийсэн байна. Тэрээр 2022 онд Лондон хотноо болсон Кларесса Шилдс болон Саванна Маршалл нарын тулаанаас эхлэн энэ салбарт идэвхтэй ажиллаж, улмаар “Black Book PR” агентлагаа байгуулжээ.
Бретт боксчин Амир Хантай хамтран 2025 оны зургаадугаар сард Африкт анхны тулаанаа зохион байгуулсан бөгөөд Гана улсын Аккра хотод болсон Эндрю Табити болон Жэйкоб Диксон нарын тулаан нь түүний ажлын чухал мөчүүдийн нэг байв. Тэрээр Нигерийн Лагос хотод болсон Майкл Маккинсон болон Сэмюэл Антуи нарын тулааны үеэр нулимс асгаруулагч хий алдагдсан хүндрэлтэй нөхцөл байдалд ч мэргэжлийн түвшинд ажиллаж, үзэгчдийн сэтгэл ханамжийг өндөр түвшинд байлгаж чадсан юм.
Бреттийн хувьд тамирчид болон хэвлэл мэдээллийнхний хооронд итгэлцлийг бий болгох нь түүний ажлын гол үндэс юм. Тэрээр тулааны долоо хоногт тамирчдын жингээ хасах үеийн ядаргааг харгалзан тэдний бэлтгэлд саад учруулахгүйгээр хэвлэлийн ажлыг зохицуулах нь хамгийн чухал гэдгийг онцолжээ.
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Sports media is littered with failed athletes and chancers; people who, while passionate about their sport, are acutely aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Boxing is no exception.
Reluctantly, they realise they’re not in the 0.1% capable of earning above minimum wage, so decide to focus on a more realistic path.
That passion for their sport, however, is something that never diminishes, so they pursue a career which, while not quite their original dream, is not too far removed from what they initially set out to do.
“When I was growing up, my dream was to be a boxer,” says Joe Brett, a former fighter who later pivoted into the world of PR.
“I had about seven unlicensed fights but, realistically, I was nowhere near good enough to turn pro and make a living.
“But boxing was always my passion. I fought a kid called Billy Jackson, who did actually turn pro. We got Fight of the Night at York Hall – I can see the trophy now. Then I remember telling my coach that I was thinking about turning pro, but I saw this micro-expression on his face and it made me rethink the whole thing.”
While sports media is, indeed, filled to the brim with chancers, Brett is one of those rare failed athletes that boasts actual qualifications.
Perhaps most impressively, he achieved a first-class honours degree in international political economy, before becoming one of 800 applicants to land a highly sought-after internship in public policy.
“My first job was doing government affairs for Airbnb,” he explains. “We would be writing 50-page documents about tourism tax, so it was heavy work, but I got chatting with the PR/comms team and felt their work was more my speed.
“So, I started doing PR for corporate companies, entertainment and music, but the main goal was to combine my passions for PR and boxing.”
The boxing dream then finally materialised.
It involved more paperwork and logistical planning than he had originally hoped for but, even so, there were a few ‘pinch me’ moments when Brett experienced his first fight week.
“There was an opportunity to work for an agency that had just signed Boxxer as a client,” he recalls. “There were more lucrative opportunities on the table, but I couldn’t turn down a chance to work in boxing.
“The first event I worked on was Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall [at London’s O2 in 2022]. Everything was going great – we’d just done an open workout on the River Thames – but then we all heard that the Queen had died.
“So, the show was pushed back and it actually landed on my birthday, but I was just really happy to be there.”
While loving his work for the PR agency, where Ben Shalom’s Boxxer was one of several clients, Brett had always hoped to eventually run his own business.
The opportunity to do so then came in the form of Black Book PR, a global agency offering services to athletes, promoters and corporate brands.
This allowed Brett to build relationships with other key figures, including Amir Khan, who took a gamble and promoted his first African boxing show in June 2025.
At the time, it seemed promoters and PRs were more focused on the heavy investment from Saudi Arabia, whereas Khan and Brett saw value in exploring new territories.
One happened to be Ghana, where AK Promotions staged an event, headlined by Andrew Tabiti vs Jacob Dickson, at Accra’s Bukom Boxing Arena.
“Going to Ghana for the first time was incredible,” says Brett, who considers Khan not only a client but a close friend.
“I was the only PR to work on African boxing for quite a while, so I felt proud to publicise it.
“The show was really chaotic. It started three hours late and I was stressing out, trying to get things sorted, but then I just soaked it all in and tried to enjoy myself.
“There were about 4,000 people in the arena and 5,000 outside, all trying to watch this undercard fight between two cruiserweights. Then it started raining but the cruisers just kept fighting, even though they were getting soaked.
“One of them knocks the other down and, as he’s hit the canvas, the water just splashes up in the air. I don’t think that moment could ever be replicated.”
AK Promotions continues to stage events in West Africa, most recently promoting a show that involved two Brits – Michael McKinson and Samuel Antwi – in Lagos, Nigeria.
Other than dealing with the odd logistical issue, Brett’s job seemed relatively plain sailing until fight night, when a cloud of tear gas suddenly infiltrated the arena just as Newcastle’s Joe Laws was preparing to make his ring walk.
But even then, Brett could not begrudge the thousands of fans that attended partly on account of his PR nous.
“This was an indoor event [in May], but thousands of people turned up,” he says, accepting this as an ongoing theme of African boxing events.
“It was like being a victim of my own success, as it showed the event had been promoted so well.
“Some people got into the compound and, during all the commotion, there was some tear gas that worked its way into the venue – along with a lot of people, to be fair.
“But everyone just came to have a good time. While it was overcrowded, it created one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever seen.”
Away from the chaos of fight night, Brett is primarily tasked with managing engagements between fighters and journalists.
This is not always straightforward, though, as the role balances exposing fighters to the media while not interfering with their training.
“As public interest in the event peaks [during fight week], the fighter’s energy level usually dips,” Brett admits, “because they’re focused on making weight.
“Ideally, by the time we get to a weigh-in, everyone’s happy – you, as a journalist, have spoken to everyone you wanted to speak to.
“With fighters, you want to build trust. If I say an interview’s going to be 10 minutes, and it’s an hour, I’ve lost their trust straight away.
“But I also need to build trust with the media so that, if they attend an event I’m working on, they know they’re going to get good access.”
While not quite fulfilling his boyhood dream, it does appear that Brett secured the next best thing and, at just 28 years old, opportunities for himself and Black Book PR are plentiful – at least more so than had he continued plugging away on the unlicensed circuit.
