Thirty Dollars and a Cut Eye

Boxing promoter J Russell Peltz fell in love with boxing when he was 12, saw his first live fight at 14, and was hooked for life. He was named Outstanding Male Journalism Graduate, Temple University, 1968, but after a short career on the sports copy desk of the Evening and Sunday Bulletin in Philadelphia, he became a boxing promoter when he couldn't land the boxing beat at the newspaper. In his more-than-half century in boxing, Peltz has promoted fights at every major venue in Philadelphia as well as most of the casinos in Atlantic City. His fights have been televised by ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO, Showtime, ESPN, USA and SportsChannel. He has promoted or co-promoted more than 30 world championship fights and his business has taken him around the world, from Beijing to Buenos Aires and from Paris to Tokyo. Peltz was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004, the Temple University School of Communications and Theatre Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.