He's a Banker by Day and a Boxer by Night
September 08 2017 - 9:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Christina Rexrode
There's something unusual about one of the boxers who will take
part in the HBO Boxing After Dark tripleheader this weekend: He's
also a personal banker at PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
For Antonio Nieves, that means his schedule veers from opening
checking accounts by day to throwing punches by night. On Saturday,
his televised fight will take place at the StubHub Center in the
Los Angeles area. By Wednesday morning, he plans to be back at his
desk at a branch in inner-city Cleveland.
"A lot of people think it's cool I'm able to do both things,"
the 30-year-old Mr. Nieves said. "Some guys, boxing is all they
have."
Mr. Nieves, who the World Boxing Organization ranks as No. 7 in
his weight division, describes himself on LinkedIn as a
"Banker/Boxer." He is the underdog in his upcoming fight with Naoya
Inoue, which is for the WBO championship in the 115-pound division.
His professional boxing record over 20 bouts features 17 wins --
nine by knockout -- one loss and two draws.
Fame and money in sports go to a handful of superstars,
overshadowing the lower ranks of pro athletes like Mr. Nieves who
make ends meet through workaday jobs. Mr. Nieves is unusual not for
having a day job but for the job he chose.
"Boxing is boxing, there's nothing like it in the world," said
Thomas Hauser, who worked as a Wall Street litigator before writing
the biography "Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times" and other books.
"One involves man-on-man or woman-on-woman combat under very scary
circumstances, getting in a boxing ring to do battle with somebody
who's trained in the art of hurting. And the other involves
paperwork."
Still, Mr. Nieves isn't the first pro to tread between fight
nights and fiduciary roles. Leland Hardy worked as an investment
banker at Bear Stearns during a boxing career in the 1980s and
1990s. Calvin Brock earned the alias "The Boxing Banker" because he
worked in operations at Bank of America Corp. while boxing on the
2000 Olympic team.
Mr. Hardy said that the dual roles can have benefits. "It might
help him gain some new clients, through the notoriety," said Mr.
Hardy.
Mr. Brock, though, noted how tough it is to do both. "When
you're an athlete, your whole day is part of your training," said
Mr. Brock. "When you have to go to your job, that's eight hours of
the day that you may be off your eating schedule and your resting
schedule."
A Cleveland native who works in the neighborhood where he grew
up, Mr. Nieves was the first in his family to earn a college
degree. He was involved with boxing from an early age. He even met
his future coach, Joe Delguyd, when he was a child attending a
boxing program for inner-city youth.
Mr. Nieves didn't give much thought to banking until about five
years ago, when he grew tired of selling shoes at Finish Line Inc.
and applied to PNC for a job as a part-time teller.
Being a personal banker appealed to him, he said, because of the
chance to help people. "A lot of people don't know how to manage
money," said Mr. Nieves, who is married with two young children.
"They're just getting up and going to work." The worst part of his
job, he said, is telling customers when they don't qualify for a
loan.
"I've had people cry at my desk," Mr. Nieves said. "It's
heartbreaking."
For the most part, his two worlds are separate. Mr. Nieves said
he runs about 4 miles before reporting to PNC at 8 a.m. After
leaving work around 5 p.m., he visits the boxing gym for two or
three hours.
Mr. Nieves will be paid a flat fee for Saturday's fight. He
declined to say how much it was, or how it compared to his pay as a
personal banker.
Occasionally, customers in the branch have recognized him and
asked for photos, and sometimes people at the gym will ask him
about credit cards or mortgage rates. He doesn't think his boxing
career has turned off any potential customers.
And Mr. Nieves has attracted attention among his bank
colleagues, even at the highest ranks. William Demchak, PNC's chief
executive, said he plans to watch the match from home.
Mr. Demchak said doesn't plan to bet on the fight. "I am not a
bettor," he said. "When you run a bank -- the basic notion of
making raw bets is counterintuitive to someone who takes calculated
informed risks."
One risk Mr. Demchak, who is an avid triathlete, said he would
be willing to take: a sparring match with Mr. Nieves. But that's
"only because he'd be afraid to hurt me," the CEO said.
Write to Christina Rexrode at christina.rexrode@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 08, 2017 09:14 ET (13:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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