Empowering Dreams: HAYMAKER's Trailblazing Athlete Sponsorship Journey Unveils 'Born to Fight' Documentary
“We love sports so much that we sponsored our own athlete – and we want brands to know that,” says Jay Kamath. The co-founder and chief creative officer of HAYMAKER earned his spots in the industry through his culturally impactful work for ESPN as creative director and writer at 72andSunny. It was here that he met HAYMAKER co-founder, Matt Johnson, the two bonding over their mutual sports mania. Years later, when founding their full-service creative agency, the two of them threw around the idea of putting their creative might behind a relatively unknown athlete. What came next would make history as an industry first.
In its infancy the idea took on the form of a brand design exploration and potential PR stunt but through continued creative discussions the initial concept materialised into something much more meaningful. Together, they plotted a plan to sponsor a local boxer. Connecting with Sye Williams, a filmmaker with deep experience documenting the boxing world, the project began to grow legs. Acting as middle-man, Sye put forward San Diego-based Mexican boxer, Lazaro Lorenzana, convinced he was the perfect contender for the HAYMAKER sponsorship. Jay and Matt agreed.
Amassing footage and photography over the course of several years, Lorenzana’s sporting journey began to feel increasingly more deserving of a larger storytelling format, rather than a standard boxing promo. The resulting documentary-style film, 'Born to Fight', is a culmination of the productive partnership between Jay, Sye and Lazaro’s team. Beautifully portraying the challenges facing the young boxer, the film artfully explores the sense of isolation and loneliness that accompanies the ascension to boxing stardom. Weighing in on the sponsorship, Lazaro had this to say: “In this sport, there are about 50 thousand active fighters and only a handful make it. Now, I am one of those fighters with a chance due to HAYMAKER joining my team."
Reflecting on the sponsorship so far, Jay tells LBB’s April Summers why he is driven to show the sports world that HAYMAKER cares deeply about the intersection of sports, marketing, and culture, so much so that rather than waiting for opportunities to contribute, they make their own.
LBB> This is a really interesting first-of-its-kind project for HAYMAKER and the industry at large: a direct sponsorship between agency and athlete, with no brand involvement in the middle. How did the idea for this collaboration come about?
Jay> Our original idea was to identify a local boxer, secretly do a brand design exploration for them, then just show up to their fight with posters, signage, merch, and for them to be somewhat happily confused as to where this random fandom manifested. But the more we thought about it, the more it seemed like we should find a local boxer, sponsor them ourselves, and support them in tangible ways, using our resources. Us being the brand behind the sponsorship was super exciting and felt like a different type of creative act for a creative agency.
LBB> Why did Sye Williams feel like the right filmmaker for the job?
Jay> One of our producers connected us with Sye Williams, a super talented and collaborative photographer with an abundance of knowledge and an authentic point of view in the world of boxing. When Sye heard our idea he was stoked. He told us he knew the perfect fighter and quickly connected us with Lazaro Lorenzana and his team. After a few calls, we became an official sponsor and produced our first photoshoot with Lazaro, with Sye behind the lens. These photos captured Lazaro training in Puerto Rico in HAYMAKER merch alongside Logan Paul. We gave Laz a HAYMAKER crew neck which he promptly ripped the sleeves off of and started training in.
I’ve learned a lot about boxing from collaborating with Sye, Lazaro and his team. It’s been fascinating to get an unvarnished view of what it’s like for an up and coming fighter, the struggle they face and overcome.
LBB> What did HAYMAKER set out to achieve by venturing into this kind of creative partnership with an athlete? And why is HAYMAKER best positioned for the role of creative sponsor?
Jay> The goal has always been to put more of a spotlight on Lazaro, exposing him to more notoriety in the hopes that this will draw in the attention of promoters and get him more boxing matches. We set out to do this by creating promo films that generate ticket sales and excitement for Lazaro’s fights, social assets for his channels, HAYMAKER branded trunks, designing and funding his merch production, and creating short documentary films like ‘Born to Fight’.
LBB> Stylistically, ‘Born to Fight’ is a powerful and hard-hitting(!) watch that captivates viewers from the offset. It feels more cinematic than your average pre-match promo film – what was your creative vision for this film?
Jay> We’ve been sponsoring Lazaro for several years. With each fight we’ve deployed Sye to capture photography and content, whether that’s capturing Lazaro fighting in Tijuana, training in the desert, documenting what a fighter goes through to make weight, or having him being selected to train and spar with Canelo Alvarez.
A key member of Lazaro’s team is Javier Zinzun Jr., who is Lazaro’s designer and advisor. During one of our initial conversations he talked about Lazaro first stepping into the ring at five years old and being “born to fight.” That statement stuck with us. The more we talked about it, the more it felt like a great statement for Lazaro and the connective tissue that could bring together everything we’d captured. The good and the bad of dedicating your life to something, even if you have a natural gift for it. Lazaro isn’t loud. He’s quiet. He’s humble. But his hands speak volumes. And when he’s in the ring he’s vicious. Our vision was to bring that to life by weaving together footage of Lazaro training, which captures his dominance in the ring, with narration by Mexican boxing legend Oscar Valdez.
LBB> At what point in the creative process did Oscar Valdez come aboard? And how did that happen?!
Jay> That was all Sye Williams. It speaks volumes to Sye’s connections in the boxing world and how well respected he is by fighters. One of our senior art directors, Eric Trujillo, who himself trains in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, took insight from his own experience and our time with Lazaro to pen a powerful monologue from the perspective of what it means for a fighter to be born to fight. When Sye heard the monologue he became inspired and thought Oscar Valdez would be interested in reading. When Sye was documenting Lazaro’s fight in Guadalajara he was able to get some time with Oscar Valdez and made it happen. Having a Mexican boxing legend narrate this was pretty incredible!
LBB> Tell us about your favourite scene or shot from the film?
Jay> Hearing “born to step in a ring at five years old” paired with Lazaro training with Canelo Alvarez is an incredible moment in the film.
LBB> Anything else you would like to add?
Jay> Everyone should follow and support Lazaro Lorenzana. He's on IG: official_elreyy. His next fight is 2/24 for the Campeonato Continental WBC belt. We are so proud of this sponsorship. HAYMAKER has a track record of creating great work for partners like Powerade and Seattle Kraken – come holler at us!
