Forget Chris Byrd, Virgil Hill, or Fernando Vargas. The real comeback of 2001 may have been pulled off by Everlast, a 91-year-old boxing institution that company CEO George Horowitz admits was, "a sleeping giant." And seriously, it's not too hard to root for a company that can turn curtains into boxing trunks.

Pointing to a picture of the 1971 epic between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, one of dozens of boxing pictures that adorn the walls of Everlast's midtown New York City offices, Horowitz told MaxBoxing the story of how 'Smokin' Joe contacted Everlast and asked if they could make trunks out of the curtains from his house. The brocade green trunks were made, Frazier wore them on March 8, 1971, and the rest is boxing, if not fashion history.

It's that type of story that gives boxing its lore and it shows you the part played by Everlast in that lore. Look through any old Ring magazine or boxing history book, and all you'll see is the familiar Everlast logo. It was everywhere, even on my Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier action figures from the Seventies.

But that changed a bit in recent years. Everlast could still be found in department and sporting goods stores, but within the boxing community, upstarts like Reyes and Grant were gaining a foothold among fighters and trainers.

Enter Brooklyn-born George Horowitz. Horowitz, 52, who moonlighted as GED teacher in the Brooklyn House of Detention while teaching high school Social Studies and coaching basketball and track, found himself out of work in the mid-70's due to a New York City financial crunch.

"The city went through a financial crisis, and anyone who didn't have tenure was gone," remembered Horowitz. "I somehow got involved with a company that was beginning in the apparel industry: men's and women's clothing, sportswear, and things like that. The first year I was there, in 1976, we did a million dollars. By the time I left in 1990, I was an owner of the company and we were doing 250 million dollars a year. We went overseas, we swept the warehouse, we unloaded trucks, sold, financed, designed, and I learned the business from the ground floor."

"In 1990, I was approached by Everlast to do a line of women's clothing," Horowitz continues. "I wasn't the major partner in the company, and at that point I decided it was time for me to go out on my own. So I did that, and I took the license to do Everlast women's apparel. They asked if I could do half a million dollars in the first year in a licensing situation. I ended up doing over six million. They were very happy, I was very happy, and it continued to grow from there. We ended up doing the men's clothing, swimwear and other things. When it was time for it to be sold, there was a wonderful 83-year-old gentleman, Ben Nadorf, who had owned the company since the mid-fifties as a partner of Dan Golomb (The Golomb family started Everlast in 1910). Last year, Ben was looking to sell the company and there were a lot of very large companies that were interested. But he didn't want the company broken up and he wanted someone who had passion for the sport, and that understood the brand. So we were able to work out an acquisition and we bought the company in October of 2000."

And while Horowitz made his bones in the apparel industry, lurking behind the successful businessman was a devoted boxing fan, someone well aware of the history of the Everlast name. "I have probably had a passion for boxing since I was five years old," he said. "The first real fighter I loved was Floyd Patterson. When Ingemar Johannsson knocked him out and I heard it on the radio, I was sick about it. My father used to take me to the fights throughout my childhood. We would go to the Golden Gloves at Madison Square Garden, the other fights at the Garden, and we would sit all the way up and see this little logo down there, which was the Everlast logo. So I always knew Everlast. Who would ever think that one day I would be the CEO, President, and Chairman of the company?"

But when Horowitz did take over, he found a company that had lost some of its luster in the boxing world. "It was a sleeping giant," he said. "I don 't think it was in bad shape because the name was so incredibly respected, but I don't know if we were really listening anymore. Ben had been doing such a great job for so many years, but he was getting a little older, and didn't have a lot of the help that he needed around him. It needed some more vitamins. Things had to be done. We had to go out, and other than us saying what needed to be done, we needed to ask. We needed to go into Gleason's Gym, give them our equipment to test, and ask, 'what do you guys like? What feels right and doesn't feel right?' We consulted with doctors and various people in sports. We brought in a guy like Teddy Atlas, who we asked to be a consultant. He was glad to do that because of his love for the brand. Everlast slid a little bit and lost some of its position in professional boxing, but people just welcomed us, embraced and helped us, and we're very pleased."

And unlike many CEO's in the business world, Horowitz is a very hands-on boss. In fact, if you've been at any fight in the New York area in the last year, you've probably seen Horowitz and the Everlast name. The company sponsored a recent safety seminar at the ESPNZone in Times Square, has outfitted the fighters in Cedric Kushner Promotions' Heavyweight Explosions, and has reintroduced itself to the local gyms. So why is Horowitz so intent on being out there with the people? "I just love it," he said. "What a great thing to be able to do what you love. I don't love everything I do, and every day we deal with lawyers, SEC issues, and those things, but for me to have the ability to be out at these fights and sit ringside is the best of both worlds. I'm enjoying it, and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I have a lot of energy so I don't mind working six or seven days a week, and I 've been traveling all over the world on business mostly for my entire life, so for me it's natural. I don't expect that I'm going to stop doing that for a long time. It is the first time in many years that Everlast is a presence at the boxing events, and all of us go to the fights. The people who work in the office go to the fights, and the factory workers in the Bronx and Missouri are invited to the fights as well. We're bringing fighters into our factories and into our offices. It's a whole different world. We're doing grass roots even though we are a big company. Hopefully I will continue to have the time to do this. One of the issues that is happening of late, because we're so out there and people are starting to recognize me, is that I don't generally go to a fight where I don't have 14 or 15 proposals from one company or another in my pocket by the time I leave the fight." He then laughs. "Occupational hazard."

Horowitz can afford to laugh, as Everlast has been, to put it mildly, a very successful venture for the Brooklynite. And what makes it more impressive to those in the boxing world is that the company's enthusiasm in jumping back into boxing isn't strictly for business reasons. In fact, very little of Everlast's income is derived from professional boxing.

"It's a very large company," said Horowitz. "It's not just professional boxing. It's international licensing and things like sports drinks, watches, apparel, and things that relate to boxing and sports. In Australia, Everlast is kind of a surf brand outside of the ring. Anything that has to do with sports, Everlast is involved with. In Italy, it's a high-level apparel brand. Here it's high-level but more athletically inspired. But there, it's even high fashion. In different places it means different things. The company makes most of its money from royalties from licensing income. It also does very well in the apparel business in the United States and around the world."

"Professional boxing is our face, and it's very, very important to us," Horowitz continues. "And we feel we're the major company in equipment, and the only company that really has the resources to do things other than just make gloves for the ring. We can help sponsor and promote. We produce all our professional equipment in the United States. We have a factory that we own in Moberley, Missouri, that's 325,000 square feet, that produces 1,500 heavy bags in the US per day. We have a factory in the Bronx that produces professional equipment, headgear and gloves and bags, and everything that you can imagine, under the strict supervision of people that have been doing this for years and years. We reached out this year and put our equipment back out into the gyms and boxing clubs, and asked them, 'what can we do to make it better?' We worked with the doctors and the ring physicians to make the gloves. Dr. Charles Melone, who is one of the premier hand surgeons in the world, told us that a glove needs to be shaped a little differently, that it needs to conform more to the hand. And we worked with him on knuckle protectors and things like that. We do the same thing with headgear and other items. We feel very responsible, and we're making an effort to make our equipment the very best in the world, which we feel it is now, and we want the fighters to be using it. And it's certainly good for our brand and our name to be back in the ring in a big way. We feel that's part of giving back. Quite honestly we make very little money, if any, on professional boxing. We make it in the other areas. But we feel it's not just giving back. It's our face, our image, and our heritage, and we feel it's the right thing to do. Over the past year we've donated lots of merchandise and equipment to youth boxing gyms around the world; places like South Africa, Central America, Mexico, throughout the United States, various areas in Europe, and we're going to continue to do that. We're working on some things for young kids in Puerto Rico to help them get better equipment, so they don't get hurt and so they can continue that great tradition of boxing that they have there."

To help get the word out, Everlast has also brought spokesmen like Atlas, Sugar Ray Leonard, Shane Mosley, and Fres Oquendo aboard to help develop and promote products. "They are quality people who are well spoken, who are champions, who are respectful and who have a great image for boxing," said Horowitz. "I have an obligation to Everlast to connect us with the right people. We're working with a lot of the former Olympic boxers and we don't really want to necessarily be connected with the guys who are thugs. There are guys who have a background where they had problems and have grown into good people. We would love to be connected with them, because a second chance is something everyone should have, and that's what boxing is about. But guys who are doing the wrong thing now, hitting a fighter after a fight without a glove on and with no mouthpiece, we don't want to be connected with that."

According to Horowitz, they couldn't find a better representative than Mosley, the current welterweight king, and one of boxing's best. "We work closely with Shane Mosley," he said. "We're helping him and he's really helping us. Who better to ask how a glove feels, a shoe feels, or how a speedbag moves than who I think is the best pound for pound fighter. There are some great fighters out there, but he's amazing. I've actually been in the ring and sparred a little bit with him, which was a thrill of a lifetime. He didn't hit me in the head only because I think that there were so many fists flying toward my head that I didn't see any of them. He's a great person and a great fighter."

"Shane comes in here, he'll go to the factory, and he'll work with us and tell us what feels right, where he thinks padding should be reduced or increased a little," Horowitz continues. "Obviously, we can't just go by what he says. We also have to check with the technical people on the materials, the hand doctors, and the commissions to make sure everything is right. But we take his advice because who knows better what it's like to be in the ring than a great fighter? Teddy will tell us the same thing, about how the glove should close, different levels of padding, how it should feel, how it should protect the hand. We'll give him all kinds of gloves and he' ll go into his gym or another gym and have fighters test it and give their input. Then he'll come back and he'll speak with our glove people and with us. We've done those things and we'll continue to do those things, not only with gloves, but with shoes, pads, headgear, cups, and all the equipment that we make."

Oquendo, the rising heavyweight contender, may seem like a surprise choice to some, especially in the company of Mosley and Leonard, but to the CEO, the move was a no-brainer. "With Fres Oquendo, we would be ridiculous to not recognize that the Latino community is giant, and such a big supporter of our industry," said Horowitz. "It's a community that buys a lot of product and is very important to anyone that is in business. We reached out to Fres because we have people who are looking for good fighters and good people. We spoke to Papa Trinidad, and luckily we hooked up with Fres. Joe Guzman has been working very closely with him, and we went down to Puerto Rico. We want to help him promote his career by doing events together and getting him out there. As soon as we hooked up with him he got moved into a fight on HBO and performed beautifully. I wasn't surprised at all, not because I think Izon isn't a fine fighter, but I love Fres' style. He's quick, he punches a lot harder than people think, and I think he could be a champion. He's a little small for the giant heavyweights now, but 225 is not tiny, and with his strength and ability he may really surprise a lot of people."

Everlast's return has surprised a lot of people as well, but not surprisingly, the company's competitors haven't been as happy about the return of the brand they perceive as the Darth Vader of the boxing equipment business. So how does it feel to be the 800-pound gorilla? "Yes, we are a big company with a great heritage, and there's nothing wrong, I guess, with being an 800-pound gorilla if you're an 800-pound gorilla," said Horowitz. "But we don't act that way and I'm certainly not an 800-pound gorilla. I come from Brooklyn, I was a high school teacher, I taught in a prison, and I certainly didn't come from money. I worked very hard for many, many years to educate myself and to be a good businessman. I'm on various boards that give back to the community, like the American Heart Association, and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. I've been to Washington, DC to lobby for physical education in all the schools."

"We're a giant, but there's nothing wrong with being a giant," Horowitz continues. "And we're not trying to kill anyone. We have different levels of competition. Some of our competitors are giants that are much bigger than us. In apparel we compete with Nike, Adidas and Reebok. In professional boxing, which is a very small segment, the other companies that have gloves are Reyes, Grant and maybe a few others. In the retail community, other than apparel, the competition is Century and TKO. We're a very different company than what people understand. Competition is fine. That is what this country is all about. We don't apologize for who we are, we're very proud of who we are. If people don't like that or think that's appropriate, then I don't know what they're looking for. Maybe some of the people that consider themselves our competition in equipment have been taking some shots at us, so go ahead. We can all work together and be together. So I don't understand that."

So why would a fighter want to use a glove from the American Association for the Improvement of Boxing's "Manufacturer of the Year"? "We think we're the safest, we use the best materials, and we have the most experience," said Horowitz. "There's also something about putting Everlast on your hands. Hundreds, probably thousands of champions over the years have had that experience and have worn these gloves. And we still have many of the same craftsmen that made them many years ago, but they were using different formulas and materials. Now we're working with modern physicians to make the gloves better. But we always felt we had a great product."

"Feel is very important, materials are very important, and fit is very important," Horowitz continues. "The first thing a fighter wants to do is feel a glove and say, 'this glove feels really good. It feels right.' And he also needs to have the confidence that the glove has a level of safety to it. That's why we worked with Dr. Melone and boxing trainers. Of course, when they see the Everlast name, they should be confident as well."

Styles also play a part in a fighter's choice of glove, something Horowitz is well aware of. "Different styles are important to the fighters, and they feel they have an advantage over their opponent if they use a certain type of glove," he said. "We think that we have developed a glove now that has plenty of punching power, also has the proper protection, and based upon what we're hearing, conforms more to the hand. The fighters like the way it feels a lot more."

But there is one noted puncher that didn't care to use a "puncher's glove." "The glove we had prior to this one was really not considered a puncher's glove at all," said Horowitz. "And Mike Tyson has been wearing it his entire career. Why? Because Mike said that he would rather get hit with this glove. He knows that he can knock people out. He's been knocking people out with that glove for a long time. So actually Mike Tyson has been using a glove that is not considered a puncher's glove."

The fruits of Horowitz' labors can be seen on the big screen, as Everlast is prominently featured in one of Hollywood's holiday blockbusters. "With the Ali movie, Columbia Pictures came to us and said, 'we need authentic equipment based on what he wore in the sixties,'" he said. "When you see the movie, you'll see that it's basically an Everlast commercial in addition to being great, having Will Smith, and being about the greatest, Muhammad Ali. It was wonderful for us, and they really couldn't go to anyone else. That's millions of dollars worth of advertising. It's not free because it's our heritage and our brand, and we gave them the equipment. They would have paid for it, but I felt it was appropriate, and they were thrilled. I just said, put me in your other movies as well, which they are starting to do. It's a very special brand with amazing opportunities."

"It's a piece of American history," said Horowitz about the Everlast name. "Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and so many present-day guys have been involved with the brand. I felt that it had great business ability since brands have become so important. If you have a name that stands for quality and heritage, it's business 101 really. And here, available to me was one of the oldest American brands, that stands for all of these great things, that I grew up with a passion for, and that I believe, as big as it is, is incredibly underdeveloped worldwide. There was so much to be done, and so much was done in the first year. Worldwide, I would say product-wise when I took over the company, we were doing anywhere from 200 to 250 million in retail sales. We've increased that in the first year by well over another 100 million dollars, and I really believe that within the next three to four years, we'll be over a billion dollar company worldwide in retail sales and in other items, and we're well on our way to that."

"The reaction of the old-time guys and the real boxing people has been fantastic," said Horowitz. "The old-timers in boxing have really embraced us. They're very happy that we're contributing to boxing, contributing our name, dollars, equipment, and they're thrilled. They think it's great for the sport of boxing."