Sixteen Heavyweights In Mississippi

Back in 1993, promoter Trevor Wallden had an idea. 16 world class heavyweights. One night. One winner. What could possibly go wrong? John Evans investigates

- John Evans

THE journey which started on the Toughman circuit in British Columbia had culminated here, in the executive offices of Casino Magic, an entertainment complex in Biloxi on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

A few floors below, 16 heavyweight fighters sat wrapped and ready in velvet-curtained booths. The Superfights heavyweight tournament was due to begin.

Only two things were needed before months of wrangling could be forgotten and the pay-per-view extravaganza could finally get under way; a pair of signatures on a 40-page contract and a willingness to write off $550,000.

One of those signatures would belong to Trevor Wallden, a little-known boxing promoter who had got himself in too deep.

“Myself and my partner, Don Arnott, did a series up here in British Colombia called the B.C Toughman Championship. We did eight shows in eight cities in eight weeks. They were typical Toughman shows and amateur boxers were allowed to enter. They usually won. Then we had a championship with all the champions and offered a 10k prize per division,” Wallden told Boxing News. “After that we started wondering if it’d work with world class heavyweights. We decided to get the best 16 fighters we could. Four fights to win a million dollars.”

Back in 1993, the Superfight tournament was ahead of its time. With boxing politics playing an increasingly large role in the sport, the idea of parking the skulduggery to one side and settling matters in one night held plenty of appeal. Confident they had struck gold, Wallden and Arnott agreed to take the event to Casino Magic and began serious prospecting.

“We decided to see what calibre of fighters we could get. We knew we weren’t going to get the fighters we wanted like Lennox Lewis