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Famous MMA gym Blackhouse branching out into boxing

Blackhouse Boxing's Roy Tapia fights Erik Ruiz on Friday at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. (Gene Blevins/Golden Boy Promotions)

Ed Soares knows a thing or two about the fight game.

Primarily known as the bald-headed, soft-spoken manager/guru behind former UFC champions Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Soares is also a successful gym owner and fight promoter.

In 2006, Soares formed the fight gym, Blackhouse MMA, in Brazil. Then, in late 2009, he moved the operation to Southern California along with his stable of champions. The gym has been a fixture on the MMA scene ever since.

Soares also serves as president of Resurrection Fighting Alliance, which airs on AXS TV and has created a pipeline for fighters to get to the UFC. Among those who have graduated from RFA to the UFC are unbeaten prospects Johnny Case (4-0 in the UFC) and Mirsad Bektic (3-0).

Long established as one of MMA’s top minds, Soares has now turned his attention to boxing.

Blackhouse has created a boxing division that has five fighters under contract. Soares has high hopes for Roy Tapia, an unbeaten super bantamweight who is signed with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

Tapia (11-0-2, 6 KOs) will meet Erik Ruiz Friday at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas in an eight-rounder.

“Roy Tapia is really the first guy we are pushing, and the first guy we are working with,” Soares told Yahoo Sports. “He’s all action and he has a huge heart. He came to us and was very humble. He had talent and he was just the kind of kid you knew would be a pleasure to work with.”

The idea for Blackhouse Boxing blossomed as a result of Soares’ friendship with Cesear Garcia, who has spent years in the boxing industry.

“I told Ed I would like to make a difference in these kids’ lives,” Garcia said. “I wanted to use their expertise in management, their lawyer and the legal aspects. So, I asked, ‘Hey, why not branch Blackhouse out into boxing?’ We started talking, and the rest is history.”

Soares describes Tapia as a fighter with the mentality of Nick Diaz, the high-output, mean-mugging UFC fan favorite, “because he will fight anyone, anytime,” and carries an aggressive, technical approach.

Led by Soares, Blackhouse has done a remarkable job of grooming young MMA talent. Garcia believed Tapia had a style Soares would like and reached out to see if he'd like to try his hand at boxing.

Soares said if they’re successful with Tapia, Blackhouse will move more aggressively into boxing.

“We didn’t want to come in there and think, ‘Oh we’re going to change boxing,' ” Soares said. “We’re not going to go in there and change something that has worked for 100 years. We just want to go in there and do good, do it a little bit better and help some kids to get to where they need to go. When I started this, I didn’t do it for the money. I did it because I really enjoyed helping kids.

“As soon as you lose that sort of essence to it, it takes the fun out of it. Yes, I’ve made a great living managing fighters. But it’s not all about the money, because you have to enjoy doing it; you’re basically on-call 24-hours a day. But, it’s like that old saying goes: If you do what you love, you’ll never end up working another day in your life.”

As a successful MMA promoter, Soares doesn’t rule out one day promoting boxing, but said his primary focus is making Blackhouse more than just an MMA gym.

Garcia runs the boxing division, as Soares learns the business. Soares hopes to leverage his name in the MMA to create additional interest in his boxers.

“Everybody kind of knows us from the Blackhouse name because of our gym,” Soares said. “Mixed martial arts has a big following, so a part of it is wanting to promote Blackhouse and Roy to those fans. We’re just trying to utilize the relationship and drop the borders.

“What we’re doing, is trying to take some business models and approaches that have worked in other sports and bring them into boxing. And we have a great team behind us.”

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<p><strong>Ryan McKinnell</strong> is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports Cagewriter blog. Have a tip? <a href="mailto: MMACagewriter@yahoo.com">Email him</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanmckinnell/" target="_blank">follow him on Twitter!</a></p>