Huge Film Library available
In December, Bill Cayton, fight manager and head of Cayton Sports, Inc. made available his entire library of boxing films to the Hall of Fame. Cayton, who started buying the rights to major fights over 50 years ago, ran Big Fights, Inc. with his partner, Jim Jacobs, accumulated The two also managed the careers of such champions as Mike Tyson, Esteban De Jesus and Edwin Rosario."This is a big plus for us," says Ed Brophy, the Hall's director. "We're in the process of building an amphitheater and that's where we'll show these wonderful films of long ago. The tapes are in great condition and there are bouts among them that people have never seen before."
In 1998, Cayton sold all his films to ESPN for a reported $100 million. But he still retained the rights for the exhibition of his library in "boxing museums, boxing halls of fame, boxing gift shops, and boxing themed restaurants."
Cayton has proclaimed that all the profits of branded boxing merchandise sold at the IBHOF Gift Shop will go to fighters who have fallen on hard times and to USA amateur boxing programs.
