Dan Duva (7 November 1951 – 30 January 1996) was an American
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
promoter who promoted or co-promoted over 100 world championship fights through his family-run business, Main Events. Under his leadership Main Events promoted such notable champions as Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis,
Pernell Whitaker
Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, ligh ...
,
Meldrick Taylor
Meldrick Taylor (born October 19, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2002. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBF junior welterweight title from 1988 to 1990, and the WBA welterweight title ...
,
Arturo Gatti
Arturo Gatti (April 15, 1972 – July 11, 2009) was an Italian-Canadian professional boxer who competed from 1991 to 2007. A world champion in two weight classes, Gatti held the IBF junior lightweight title from 1995 to 1998, and the WBC supe ...
,
Vinny Pazienza
Vinny Paz (born Vincenzo Edward Pazienza, December 16, 1962), formerly Vinny Pazienza, is an American former professional boxer who held world titles at lightweight and light middleweight. The 2016 film ''Bleed for This'' is based on his comebac ...
,
Mark Breland
Mark Anthony Breland (born May 11, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1997, and held the WBA welterweight title twice between 1987 and 1990. He later became an actor with a wide range of movie and television ...
and many others, who were introduced to the boxing world in a monthly series of bouts televised from Ice World in
Totowa, New Jersey
Totowa (pronounced "TO-tuh-wuh" ) is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 10,844,Paterson, New Jersey, he was a son of prominent boxing trainer
Lou Duva
Louis Duva (May 28, 1922 – March 8, 2017) was a boxing trainer, manager and boxing promoter who handled nineteen world champions. The Duva family promoted boxing events in over twenty countries on six continents. Lou Duva was inducted into the ...
Leon Spinks
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
' manager came for help in 1978, Duva gladly helped him. With earnings of $500,000 ($ million today), Duva formed Main Events in April 1978, together with his father and his brother
Dino Duva
Dino Duva (born August 28, 1958 in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American boxing promoter.
Duva is the son of trainer/manager Lou Duva, and the younger brother of the late Dan Duva. The Duvas have been given the title of ''"the first family of box ...
. He married
Kathy Duva
Kathy Duva is an American boxing promoter and current CEO of Main Events, a New Jersey-based boxing promotion company. In 2019 she was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Early life
Duva graduated from Montclair State College with ...
, the current Main Events CEO. He was one of the earliest promoters to achieve financial success in the pay-per-view market. He first gained prominence in the boxing world through the 1981 promotion of the Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns welterweight championship fight, which grossed $40 million ($ million today) in pay-per-view and closed circuit revenue.
After the 1984 Olympics, Duva successfully signed many of the competitors there, which helped to establish Main Events as a premier promoter.
Duva's career ended early, when he died due to a
brain tumor
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...
in 2003.
See also
*
List of notable brain tumor patients
A brain tumor is an abnormal growth of cells within the brain or inside the skull, and can be cancerous (malignant) or non-cancerous (benign). Just over half of all primary brain tumors are malignant; the rest are benign, though they may still be ...