Steven Lott
(January 17, 1950-November 6, 2021)
Las Vegas Boxing Hall of Fame founder and board of director and boxing historian icon Steven Lott died peacefully in his sleep on November 6, 2021 surrounded by his loved ones at a Las Vegas Hospital.
As a teenager, Steve won three National Handball Championships. His success caught the attention of the late Jim Jacobs, who became his mentor. Jacobs, an obsessive collector of old fight films, was arguably the best handball player of all time.
Steve Lott was executive producer at the Big Fights, Inc., and assistant manager of ten fighters, including five world champions.
Over a thirty-year span at Big Fights, Inc., Steve produced films on: Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Roberto Duran, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, and almost every other legendary fighter. Steve’s film credits include the documentaries, “Muhammad Ali – Skill, Brain and Guts,” “Sugar Ray Robinson – Pound for Pound,” “Grudge Fights,” “Mike Tyson – Inside Story,” and “Greatest One Punch Knockouts.” When Big Fights was sold to ESPN in 1998 for $73 million dollars, Steve supervised the three-year process of transferring and cataloging thousands of reels of original films and tapes from the Big Fights library into a digital ESPN database.
Steve was assistant manager and camp coordinator for world boxing champions Edwin Rosario and Wilfred Benitez, managing training schedules, fight media, medicals, sparring, travel, and appearances. Steve’s role expanded with other fighters including: Tommy Morrison, Jeremy Williams, Michael Grant, Vinny Pazienza and Mike Tyson.
Mike Tyson shared Steve’s apartment in New York City from 1985-1987. During that time, in addition to overseeing all Mike’s prefight obligations, Steve was responsible for coordinating Mike’s TV appearances including: commercial shoots for Pepsi-Cola, Nintendo Video, Kodak Film, as well as spokesperson roles for the New York City Police Department, FBI and DEA.
Steve owned the rights to one of the world’s largest libraries of unique boxing video and photos and licensed them to documentary film production companies, as well as for publication.
Steve developed the new Boxing Hall of Fame Las Vegas website and other social media. Steve’s dedication to new media postings generated 785,000 Facebook “likes” – more than any other sports hall of fame in the world. The Boxing Hall of Fame YouTube channel has in excess of 400,000 subscribers and more than 80 million views. Steve also posted on LinkedIn, google+, pinterest, and tumbler.
Steve built relationships with leading members of the boxing press, as well as trainers, boxers, referees, promoters, and celebrities. He appeared in many boxing documentaries and TV specials as well as Larry King Live.
May He Rest in Peace!