Master of the trade

Dean Bourke has been involved in combat sports nearly all his life. For 25 years, he was immersed in taekwondo. Then, as he was exposed to the business of sports throughout Asia and the Pacific, the Australian fell in love with kickboxing, Thai-style.

Eventually, Bourke decided to make a living out of sports. A friendship with former world boxing champion Jeff Fenech led to a partnership where they marketed the Thai boxing brand Twins in Australia. Bourke met Fenech in a Sydney gym some 12 years ago and because of their common passion for the fighting arts, they became good buddies.

Bourke, 40, assisted Fenech in launching his signature boxing line and later, did the same for another Australian ring legend Kostya Tsuzu with his own KT brand. To be more knowledgeable in the business, Bourke ventured outside of Australia and on his own, learned the craft of manufacturing boxing gloves in travels to Pakistan and India where factories grind out thousands of pairs a week. His mission was to know the ins and outs of the business, from production to marketing, because he wanted to be a master of the trade.

 In time, Bourke developed a reputation as an expert in the boxing industry. He saw a huge potential of growth in Thailand and relocated to establish a distributorship with Everlast, the popular US boxing brand. But Everlast’s rigid repatriation policy which stipulates a stiff royalty fee and a percentage of each sale prompted Bourke to explore other options.

Bourke’s big career break came over a year ago when he was offered the job of boxing product manager by Thailand ’s premier sporting goods company FBT. 

“FBT is over 55 years old,” said Bourke who was in Manila recently. “It employs 7,500 people. The factory is on a one square kilometer property where some executives ride a golf buggy to go from one point to another. There are 85 people in the boxing division and we’ve got 86 sewing machines working.”

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Bourke said one of the first things he did after joining FBT was to get the boxing sewing machines on line.

“We had 106 machines but only a few were operating,” said Bourke. “Because I knew how gloves are stitched and sewn, I sat down with our sewers on the floor and showed how to do the work. Before long, we had 86 machines working.”

Bourke made sure every FTB boxing glove conformed to high-quality standards. 

“Our gloves protect the hands, give maximum comfort and are long-lasting,” he said. “We also assure a constant supply all year round. There are other brands that aren’t able to provide the goods until six months after ordering. FBT’s inventory guarantees stock in stores.”

Another thing Bourke did was to do the rounds of Thai boxing gyms and test the performance of FBT’s gloves. “I gave away our gloves to fighters and told them to wear them thin every day,” he said. “I monitored how the gloves were taking the wear and tear. After three months of constant use, the fighters knew our gloves were the best in the market.”

In the Philippines, Bourke has found a partner in Sonia Trading which distributes the full line of FBT boxing products – leather gloves in different weights and colors (gold, silver, white, blue, black and red), washable neoprene gloves for fitness training, six-ounce polyurethane gloves for kids, shin guards, ankle guards, belly pads, chest pads, kick pads, focus mitts, headgear, speedballs and others.

“We’re proud of our products,” said Bourke who now lives permanently in Bangkok with his Thai wife Supansa and their two-month-old daughter. “Other gloves don’t give the comfort we do on the fingers and knuckles because we use the one-piece injection mold which means more padding in critical points of the hand. We subject our gloves to stress tests and the results are very encouraging.”

FBT’s products are now sold all over the world and a major selling point is they’re about 25 percent cheaper than the competition on the whole without sacrificing quality.

Sonia’s Anil Buxani said FBT products are sold in unique bags which come with free wraps. The idea is to offer customers a complete package at a reasonable cost.

“We’re approaching the market in three ways,” explained Buxani. “First, on an institutional level where we’re tying up with NSAs, schools and gyms. Second, on a retail level where we’re linked up to Toby’s, Chris Sports and Sportshaus. And third, on a professional level. We’ve got FBT products for both amateur and professional use.”

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Bourke, incidentally, played a key role in arranging the Fenech-Azumah Nelson “revival” bout in Melbourne last June. Fenech, 44, scored a majority 10-round decision over Nelson, 49, in a grudge match 16 years after the Ghanaian stopped the Aussie legend before a crowd of 37,000 fans in an outdoor arena in Melbourne.

“Jeff’s original opponent was Samart Payakaroon,” disclosed Burke. “(Thai promoter) Songchai assured Samart a three million baht (P3.9 million) purse to come out of retirement to fight Jeff. All Jeff wanted was TV rights for Australia which he estimated to generate about two million Australian dollars (P76.6 million). But Samart’s wife refused to let her husband, who’s now a popular movie star, fight.”

With an open fight date, Bourke burned the lines to Ghana and convinced Nelson to fill in.

“I actually got a call from Azumah’s brother Yufi some time back asking if I could arrange a comeback fight,” said Bourke. “So it wasn’t difficult to get them to come over.”

Bourke said Max Markson promoted the fight which paid each fighter over $1 million. “I was happy for both fighters,” he went on. “But no doubt, they’ll never fight again. Jeff and I remain close friends. He’s visiting Bangkok soon and maybe, we’ll be business partners again in another venture.”