In celebration of the inauguration of the WBC Charities, Hublot created 12 unique timepieces, dedicated and signed by each legendary boxer. The 12 watches were auctioned off at the gala dinner raising a total of $1,000,000 for the fund.
The Swiss luxury watch brand, Hublot and the World Boxing Council, co-hosted an exciting evening to honor 12 of boxing’s most admired champions, including Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lennox Lewis, Jeff Fenech, Larry Holmes, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran, Azumah Nelson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar De La Hoya and George Foreman, at the world famous Bellagio hotel.
The day kicked off with a formal press conference for select media, moderated by top boxing broadcaster, Bob Sheridan and WBC President, Jose Sulaiman, to welcome and introduce the legendary boxers. Hublot CEO, Ricardo Guadalupe, spoke about the partnership between Hublot and the WBC and presented the world-class boxers with their individual Hublot King Power WBC timepiece, in celebration of the inauguration of the WBC Charities. Each fighter addressed the crowd and graciously thanked the WBC and Hublot for starting up the pension fund to help battle the needs of their constituents.
The evening’s gala event began with a red carpet and cocktail reception for 300 guests who were treated to champagne and hors’ d’oeuvres from the dedicated Hublot bar. Following cocktails, attendees were seated for the formal dinner, where top boxing announcer, Michael Buffer, led the live auction with international auctioneers, Bonhams. Renowned auctioneer and Chief Operating Officer at Bonhams, Malcolm Barber, did a great job building up excitement around the live auction and the 12 winning bidders received their watch from the fighter himself on the staged ring.
Overall, it was a very successful evening as Hublot and the WBC were able to raise One Million USD, all of which will go to support the charitable initiative of the World Boxing Council, including the retired boxer’s pension and emergency fund in over 40 countries around the world.
