One of only five boxers in history to defeat the great Muhammad Ali now has a hand (or shall we say, “fist”) in a Saratoga Springs–based business. International Boxing Hall of Famer and former WBC heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, along with three other boxing-related investors, has bought into Saratoga’s award-winning One With Life (OWL) Organic Tequila.
The company, which was founded by Lisa Elovich, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney and boxing promoter, will now be co-owned by Holmes, along with Teofimo Lopez, the current unified lightweight world champion and the youngest four-belt champion in the history of boxing; Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, a lightweight Hall of Famer; and Maureen Shea Carranza, known as “The Real Million Dollar Baby” for her work as the sparring partner for actor Hilary Swank, who prepped with the boxer in advance of her Oscar-winning performance in 2005’s Million Dollar Baby (Carranza is also a WBC and IFBA Featherweight Champion).
Co-owner Elovich is excited about mixing the sport of boxing with her seven-year-old tequila brand. “Both boxing and tequila are sexy, exciting and have a passionate fanbase,” she says. “If you aren’t fully engaged in the present, whether in life or in the ring, you can get punched in the face figuratively…or quite literally, if you’re a boxer. My new business partners understand the One With Life philosophy better than anybody, as you don’t become a champion by losing focus and getting knocked out.”
Says Holmes of his new venture: “OWL Tequila reminds me of me. A powerful combination that’s going to knock out the competition. That’s why I’m part of the team. Together, we cannot be beat. And I should know, I fought and beat some of the greatest of all time.”
Launched in 2015 and headquartered in Saratoga, OWL is an organic, sustainably-farmed tequila, the area’s only one. Besides New York, it is currently on sale in Ohio, Georgia and Florida.
