Tuscaloosa native Deon Nicholson wins WBA North American title belt
Tuscaloosa-born boxer Deon Nicholson won the WBA North American title belt with a victory over Sergio Jimenez at the Tuscaloosa River Market on Friday.
Almost 30 years ago, Skyy Boxing Promotions hosted its first boxing match in the Alberta City neighborhood of Tuscaloosa.
At that time, Jay Deas, then 26, became one of the sport’s youngest promoters and began a journey that took him first through the Southeast and then the United States. Over the years, he traveled to Beijing, China, Saudi Arabia, England and many other places to promote his boxers.
Today, Deas is best known as the promoter for former world heavyweight champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Deontay Wilder. A Tuscaloosa native, Wilder began training at Deas’ Skyy gym before rising to global stardom. Locally, Deas still hosts boxing events, and on Friday night, Deas and Skyy hosted their 100th card at a sold-out Tuscaloosa River Market.
At first he didn’t know if he would make it this far. Boxing is a tough industry, especially for smaller promoters without the support of television or casinos. For Deas, the journey actually began when he was a child. His father Tom was a boxing fan and his uncles, his mother Kathy’s brothers, were also boxers. It was the perfect environment to develop a love of the sport.
Deas’ brother Tommy, a longtime writer and editor at The Tuscaloosa News, covered boxing events for other media outlets when he was younger and recorded the fights on tape, and Jay also watched the fights.
“After a show, it’s like a concert because you have so much energy. When you’re done, you can’t sleep. So he came over and we watched the show again on VHS, reliving it all and judging it,” said Jay Deas.
In fact, it was Tommy who lured Jay into the business. Jay was a television reporter in Florida while Tommy was training a few boxers. Jay had dabbled in amateur boxing before, but ended up being mostly a sparring partner for Tommy’s boxers.
With Jay as their manager and promoter and Tommy as their trainer, the two took their chance despite knowing that time was running out to make their dream come true. For Jay, there was a simple reason for getting into the boxing business, aside from his love of boxing.
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“Because we were crazy,” Deas said. “Boxing was a family thing. My father always loved to box, my mother had brothers who boxed. My brother worked as a trainer. It was a very natural family thing.”
At first they used the old Hutchinson gym, but in 1997 they went all out and opened Skyy Gym in Northport, now known as New Era Boxing Gym. It wasn’t easy, and at times they almost had to close their doors.
Fortunes changed when Wilder arrived.
“When Deontay came, the timing was perfect,” Deas said. “If he had come right at the beginning, we probably wouldn’t have known what to do with him. If he had come five years later, I don’t know if we would still be here. The timing was just perfect, with Deontay taking us down all over the world. We knew the bad guys from the good guys, we knew how to train and how to fight.”
“You can’t stop at 99”
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In 2019, Jay Deas thought he had drawn his last card. In his role as promoter of Wilder and a number of other boxers, it was becoming increasingly difficult to come back and draw cards. Around the same time, Deas sold the gym to his partner Damarius Hill.
“Jay is like a brother from another mother. He’s been with me since the beginning. Words can’t really describe the bond we have because it’s deep. As deep as the roots of trees grow into the ground, that’s how deep it is. He’s a huge influence on me, he’s a mentor to me,” Hill said.
At some point during the COVID pandemic, Deas counted the cards he had put on and came up with 109. However, that number included fights Skyy co-hosted with other promotions. When he subtracted those, he realized he was at 99 shows.
“It’s like a fighter with 99 fights, you have to make it to the 100th,” said Deas.
“He is Alabama boxing”
Jay Deas’ legacy goes beyond the 100 shows he put on or the hundreds of boxers he helped. When the Deas brothers started their gym and promotion company in 1995, there were only a few shows in the state, mostly in the Mobile area. Today, there are shows all over the state, and the sport has its next generation to take the lead.
That was evident on Friday, when five Skyy and New Era Gym fighters and three other Alabama fighters were on the card at the event, which also served as the induction ceremony for the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame, an organization he helped found.
“Hopefully our legacy is that we played a big part in the history of boxing in the state of Alabama,” Deas said.
Deas has also helped others get started, including Brandi McCain, who runs One One Six Boxing in Gadsden. McCain is the only female promoter in the state and one of only a few in the entire country. A dinner with Deas helped her get started, and even now that she’s built her business, Deas still helps when she needs advice.
Things turned a bit on Friday, as McCain helped Deas navigate some of the changes in the sport since the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as both a supporter and promoter for two of her fighters.
“To me, he’s Alabama boxing,” McCain said, later adding, “He’s the only reason I do what I do. Jay wants to help, but if he helps you, you have to do something in return. He’s not going to hold your hand, he didn’t have to hold mine.”
“Jay is a damn good guy, he wants me to succeed. It’s really great because first of all, I’m a woman and secondly, I work in the same business as him. For me to be a part of it is great, it’s unbelievable.”
