Town of Tonawanda native and longtime Williamsville resident Rick Glaser has been associated with professional boxing on a full time basis since 1992. As a youth he played hockey at a very high level while being captain for many of the teams he played on. He is a 1976 graduate of Kenmore West High School. His father, the late Larry Glaser, was the founding partner of the original Delaware Motors and the Northtown Automotive Companies.
“Like my father I was in the automobile business and I grew very tired of it”, remembers Glaser. “I wanted to do something I thought I could do well in and had some glamour to it. I always enjoyed boxing and I wanted to get into the business side of it. I met Mike Acri, (promoter from Erie, PA.) in 1991 and he helped me get into the boxing business and we have been best friends and have worked together ever since,” Glaser continued.
You name it and Glaser has done it in boxing, he has been and still is, a promoter, matchmaker, agent and advisor, and also has provided sponsorships for many major fight shows throughout the world. Boxing writer Tim Graham, formerly of the Buffalo News and currently working for ESPN.com coined the phrase, “Professional boxing businessman” in describing Glaser.
“If you can’t promote yourself, you cannot promote anybody else, you need to start with yourself”, advises Glaser. “I also believe my knowledge of the fight game is uncanny. You have the Don King’s and Bob Arum’s who know the business, and the trainers who know the sport. I know both. People don’t pay me to be an advisor for promotional companies and be in this business for 18 years by not knowing the sport and the business”. When Glaser answers a question on boxing you will get a brutally honest response. “I am a very forthright, up front type of guy”, explains Glaser. Sometimes those forthright answers rub people the wrong way, but Glaser “tells it like it is, like it or not”.
Glaser has worked with 36 current champions, former champions and number one contenders in 18 years. He worked for former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, matchmaking his fights on the old weekly Tuesday Night Fight series on the USA network. He has been employed by Roy Jones, and is currently working with legendary promoter Don King.
There is a little known fact about Glaser. He is the only person from Buffalo since the days of Jack Singer in the 1940’s who makes his living exclusively from the business of professional boxing. Rick Glaser is a real throwback to the good old days of professional boxing.