Unified World Champion Boxer receives O-1 visa
We are elated to announce that we successfully petitioned for a O-1 visa, for none other than star boxer Mr. Santos Saul Álvarez Barragan.
Managing Member of the firm, Sherrod Seward successfully presented the petition proving eligibility on many counts for the O-1 visa, as a World Class Boxer to USCIS. He provided as many documents as possible for each of the criteria satisfied by the athlete. The highly compelling evidence presented resulted in yet another successful petition.
The Athlete
Mr. Álvarez Barragan is one of the world’s most renowned boxers. A Mexican national, he has become a leading boxing champion over a career spanning more than 15 years. Starting his professional career very early – when he was just 15 years old, Mr. Álvarez Barragan is currently the best fighter in the world in his weight class. He has an exceptional track record of 54 wins, 2 draws and just 1 loss in 57 fights.
Mr. Álvarez Barragan has won multiple world championships in four weight classes, and is currently a Unified Super Middleweight World Champion, having won multiple celebrated titles. He is ranked as the world’s best active boxer by multiple ranking portals and sites. He has achieved much national and international recognition and fandom for his extraordinary career.
The Petitioner
SDS Sports Agency was founded by Sherrod Seward, an award-winning international businessman, sports attorney, and industry professional, in North Carolina in 2020. SDS Sports Agency is a talent management company that focuses on the needs of niche sports and entertainment professionals. SDS Sports Agency helps maximize the branding potential of its clients in the United States by providing access. SDS Sports Agency works with international talent agents and entertainment related companies to market athletes and sports professionals that are renowned internationally. SDS Sports Agency clients routinely have their competitions and engagements viewed all over the world through well-established media networks. SDS Sports Agency prides itself on facilitating to clients the opportunity to be successful in the United States and looks forward to continuing to grow while serving the needs of the world’s best talent.
Sherrod Seward, the founder of SDS Sports Agency, has a vast history in international sports business and marketing. Sherrod learned the sports management/marketing business through mixed martial arts. His international management career began through independent research with one of the best sports law attorneys in the nation and co-managing/consulting with the area’s best athlete such as Brian Rogers (Bellator Middleweight), Jessica Eye (#2 Flyweight in the world), Stipe Miocic (former UFC World Champion), and many others. Sherrod has also served as a liaison between mixed martial arts and corporate America as the Corporate Partnership Director for North American Allied Fight Series and a business consultant for many promotions all across the nation. In his role as Corporate Partnerships Director, he facilitated sponsorship activations in new markets, VIP experiences at events, negotiated broadcast agreements, and much more.
The O-1 Petition
We demonstrated that SDS Sports Agency, the petitioner, would like to extend the O-1 status upon Mr. Álvarez Barragan, whom they consider to be an exceptionally talented boxer. Our petition reflected the world-class excellence of the beneficiary.
We put forth that American fighters that are highly ranked require other highly ranked fighters to compete against in order to improve their own world standings. Very few American fighters are ranked high and thus are not afforded the opportunity to move up in the world rankings unless they are granted the opportunity to compete against international talent.
To establish the Mr. Álvarez Barragan’s claim for the Extraordinary Ability visa, we can prove his eligibility in one of two ways. The first is evidence of a one-time achievement, that is, a major internationally-recognized award.
Major internationally-recognized awards
We established that the beneficiary could claim that he is entitled to the O-1A immigrant visa through this route, for the following accomplishments:
Unified World Champion and the Number One Ranked Fighter in the World
A unified champion is one who holds two or more of the major sanctioning titles:
International Boxing Federation
World Boxing Association
World Boxing Council
World Boxing Organization
Mr. Álvarez Barragan has won each of these titles, in his exception career which has seen numerous stunning highs. We provided a list of these championships along with details of what makes a Unified Champion. We explained that being a unified champion is one of the highest boxing honors. We also shared details of Mr. Álvarez Barragan being ranked the Best Boxer in the world by multiple ranking systems and sites.
The second way to establish the athlete’s claim for the Extraordinary Ability visa is to provide evidence of meeting at least 3 out of 10 requirements. We established an iron-clad case for the beneficiary by providing evidence for 5 requirements:
Internationally-recognised Awards
We proved that the beneficiary is a person of extraordinary ability in the field of boxing by showcasing the major championships he has won. Mr. Álvarez Barragan is such a consummate champion that he has won all major championships across in four weight classes. He is the Unified World Champion, having won many major titles. The petition included complete details of his bout history; we brought forth and highlighted all his major championship wins:
WBA (Super), The Ring, WBC Super Middleweight Titles
WBA (Unified) and The Ring Light Middleweight Titles
IBF Middleweight Title
WBO Light Heavyweight Title
WBA (Regular) Super Middleweight Title
WBA (Super), WBC, and IBF Middleweight Titles
WBO Light Middleweight Title
The Ring and WBC Middleweight Titles
WBA Fedecentro Welterweight Title
NABF Welterweight Title
WBO Latino Welterweight Title
WBC Youth Welterweight Title
WBC Silver Light Middleweight Title
WBC Light Middleweight Title
We proved that only top-class champions have won such a combination of championships since the beginning of modern boxing. The criteria for rankings and championships for the sanctioning bodies and the histories of past winners were included with this petition.
Rankings
Mr. Álvarez Barragan is ranked number one out of all of the fighters in his weight class in the entire world. Multiple official rankings were included with the petition, including Boxrec - the most widely recognized unified ranking system in boxing.
BoxRec is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional boxers. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every professional boxer and boxing match from the instigation of the Queensberry Rules up to the present times.
Memberships in prestigious organizations
To strengthen the petition, we proved that the athlete is part of teams which require outstanding achievements of their members. Through his world championships, Mr. Álvarez Barragan is part of the following sanctioning bodies:
International Boxing Federation (IBF)
The International Boxing Federation was officially formed in April 1977. At first, it was treated as a regional sanctioning body aligned with the United States Boxing Association. Then in 1983, the IBF was recognized as a major sanctioning body.
World Boxing Association (WBA)
The World Boxing Association, the oldest of the four major sanctioning bodies, was formed in 1962. The WBA has two championships: a "Regular" and a "Super" titleholder. If a fighter has a WBA title, but then wins either the IBF, WBC or WBO belt, they get moved up to WBA "Super" champion. The "Regular" title then becomes vacant for two contenders to compete for.
World Boxing Council (WBC)
Many boxers regard the World Boxing Council as the most prestigious championship belt in the sport. The WBC came into existence one year after the WBA in 1963. The WBC has held some of the most high-profile fights in the history of boxing, including the first Wilder vs. Fury bout and soon-to-be Wilder vs. Fury 2. When you're the WBC champion in any weight class, many pundits consider that individual to be the premier fighter in their respective division.
World Boxing Organization (WBO)
The World Boxing Organization is the youngest sanctioning body of the four major titles. The WBO came into existence in 1988. However, it wasn't fully recognized as a major world title until 2004, when it got the final blessing from the WBC. Like the WBC, a champion has to defend the title once a year. The WBO handbook says it rates its fights by the quality of competition, frequency of competition, positive television exposure, good relationship within the WBO community and no drug-related problems.
Along with the above, we included details of the mandatory challengers to become champions in each of the above bodies. The supporting evidence helped prove the excellence required to be a member of these teams.
Internationally-recognised publications
As one of the best boxers in the world today, Mr. Álvarez Barragan has been featured extensively in well-known publications across the world. The firm shared several award-winning publications featuring him and his pathbreaking journey. This includes articles from ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports.
ESPN’s Digital properties include ESPN.com, the world’s leading online sports service; espnW, the network’s initiative serving female sports fans; the ESPN App, WatchESPN and ESPN3, the groundbreaking 24/7 live sports broadband network, and ESPN Fantasy Sports, which includes the No. 1 fantasy football game. ESPN Digital properties also include ESPN Digital Audio, Interactive Games and other emerging digital media properties including fivethirtyeight.com, Nate Silver’s site exploring analytics across sports, politics and economics. Throughout the year, ESPN was No. 1 in the digital sports category for all key metrics, averaging 118.6 million unique users per month across the globe, its largest total ever and up +6 percent over 2016.
The exalted reputation of media platforms covering Mr. Álvarez Barragan helped demonstrate that he is a much sought-after boxing star who is known and respected all over the world.
Performances in a leading or critical role for organizations with a distinguished reputation
We explained that Mr. Álvarez Barragan has been the leading champion in almost all of the major sanctioning bodies in the sport. His bouts with the top boxing bodies - International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, and World Boxing Organization - have been displayed on the biggest stages and broadcasts. They have been broadcast on popular online sites and television, including on ESPN, SKY SPORTS, and DAZN. They have also been confirmed through independent media coverage from all over the world. We provided supporting documents for each of these to establish that Mr. Álvarez Barragan has performed in a critical role for leading boxing organizations.
Commands high remuneration for services
The petition included conclusive evidence that the athlete has commanded a high salary or other significantly high remuneration for services, in relation to others in the field.
We shared several articles that described the normal wages of boxers in the year to be around $35,000. Mr. Álvarez Barragan has a $300,000,000 Million contract for his next 11 fights with DAZN. We explained that this made him one of the highest paid athletes in the world.
All the above vouched for the fact that Mr. Álvarez Barragan is indeed immensely talented and that he dominates the world boxing stage today. Our clear, independent, and persuasive evidence of Mr. Álvarez Barragan’s extraordinary ability proved that he meets multiple criteria and qualifies for the O-1A visa.
We, therefore, successfully demonstrated that he is unambiguously qualified to be classified as a O-1 athlete of Extraordinary Ability.
For more information on how we help support professional athletes and coaches with O-1 and P-1 visas, please contact our offices at 310-209-8545.