Phil Ivey has seen and done it all in the poker world – nine WSOP bracelets, $21m in live tournament winnings, $16m in online cash game winnings and more untold riches in the live cash games that he calls home. But now the legendary Ivey has decided to branch out into a new, unexpected world – professional boxing.
Ivey is the co-founder of a new boxing and entertainment company called All In Entertainment that already has a number of high-profile clients in the American sports world. One of them, undefeated boxer Dusty Hernandez Harrison, fought on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights at the weekend and Ivey was there to rail his new golden ticket to a unanimous decision victory on the California fight card. Ivey was interviewed on the ESPN2 broadcast.
Ivey’s love of American sports has been no secret to followers of his career. He is almost as famous for his enormous sports betting exploits as he is for his success at the poker table. Ivey was reported to have bet – and lost – $2m on the 2010 American Football Superbowl, while a cryptic tweet after this year’s Superbowl showed Ivey and friends celebrating the Denver Bronco’s win with the message, “Guess it’s going to be a happy flight to Australia.”
Other star clients attached to All In Entertainment include basketball legend Isiah Thomas and Denver Nuggets star Ty Lawson.
Ivey’s detour into boxing may have been unexpected but there have been examples of poker players lacing up the gloves in the past. Here are some of the best…
Liv Boeree
At the 2009 WSOP Liv Boeree took on PokerNews host Melissa Castello in a charity boxing match. The UK poker golden girl took a unanimous decision win. Here’s a preview of the fight (ignore Liv’s UltimateBet patch, it was a long time ago…) where you can see that Ms Boeree means business!
Lex Veldhuis
Best buddies Lex Veldhuis and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier decided to settle their non-differences with a 2011 kickboxing match (OK, it’s not boxing but is similar!) in Marbella, Spain. Bets and support from the poker community came flying in….as did a right head kick from Veldhuis that knocked ElkY spark out Mirco Cro Cop-style! OUCH!
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