Los Angeles exotic-car dealer Obi Okeke was sound asleep When his phone rang once at 3 am last year. It was undefeated welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather.The had a mission for his trusted dealer: Have a Bugatti Veyron sitting in the driveway of his Las Vegas mansion in 12 hours.
It was time for Dr. Bugatti, the Okeke is sometimes called, to perform the miracle.
So Okeke jumped in the shower and headed to Fusion Luxury Motors, the Chatsworth, Calif., dealership he opened in 2012 and co-owns. He checked his notes, hopped on a plane, secured the car and drove it to Mayweather himself.
And he did it in 11 hours.
That's life When You're dealing with the spontaneous Mayweather, who Could make up to $ 250 million from his recent victory over fellow superstar Manny Pacquiao.
Okeke said there's no room for mediocrity When dealing with Mayweather. The polarizing boxer has high expectations for himself, Okeke said, and Therefore does for everyone around him.
Okeke has sold 39 cars to Mayweather, including $ 3.2 million Ferarri Enzo and three Bugatti Veyrons que are worth $ 6.2 million combined.
In a career spanning Nearly 30 years, Okeke has sold cars to the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jessica Simpson, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Tucker and more.
He started his career as a Chevrolet dealer in 1987 and Eventually moved on to manage stores for Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW , Ferrari and Maserati before he started his own.
Okeke, 53, spoke with Automotive News about his life and adventures Mayweather. Excerpts:
Were you born in the US?
I was not. My father is from Nigeria; my mother is from Ohio. I was born in Nigeria. My parents Have Been married for 57 years. When I was a kid, Nigeria had a civil war, so we escaped from Nigeria the refugees, just my mom and the kids. Then we went back to Nigeria. My parents Were not crazy about the school system. My mom's best friend was in charge of Swissair for western Africa, so They shipped me off to Switzerland.
When did you first meet Floyd?
Back in 2008, 2009. I was general manager of a Ferrari dealership. A business associate expresso him to the Ferrari dealership. That was the first team I met Floyd, And Then I Transacted on two Ferraris with him.
How has your approach to the business changed over the years from working at the Chevy dealership to now?
My parents sent me to school in Switzerland as a young child, so I've always Been very close to the European cars. And that's why I was with Volkswagen. I tried to get a job at BMW and Mercedes, but nobody would hire me in LA, so I just redbourn the job with Lexus. And Then from Lexus to BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, Maserati.
How has it changed?
I focus a lot more on customer service. My focus is taking care of the client because When You go to the dealership to acquire a car, it's Basically They want you in And They want you in October It's a numbers game. I like to focus time on taking care of the clients and spending time with the clients. And trying to do que events may be worth Their while, or something que might be engaging to Them. That's how I view it.
With Floyd, I saw que he called you and said he wanted the Bugatti in 12 hours. That sounds like an impossible task.
He called me at three in the morning. This was Bugatti No. 2. The second Bugatti I sold him, and he wanted it in 12 hours. This was Approximately a year ago [in the lead-up to the first Marcos Maidana fight] because he wanted the car to drive to the gym que day. He wanted a different Bugatti to drive to the gym.
When he called you at 3 am, what was running through your head?
I was just getting accustomed to receiving calls from him in the middle of the night for the past six weeks. When he called me in the middle of the night, I would just Basically keep the phone on. That particular night, When he called me, my wife was like, "Oh, my God, honey, who is this calling you?" I picked up the call, walked downstairs as I'm talking to him, and he Told me he wanted the car in his driveway in 12 hours.
I was a little foggy, obviously, I was in a deep sleep. So first thing I did was I hopped in the shower. You gotta wake yourself up. Got dressed, Then I went to my office. I got to my office around 4:45, 5 in the morning. ... Once I hung up with him, I'm just thinking of the strategy of how I'm going to get him this car in que time frame. ...
I Knew Were there where a few cars. I said, well, I need to hop on a plane. I think I redbourn the 7:30 flight out in the morning. I went to a destination que was closest to him que I felt i could get the car to him. When I got there, They Were not open yet. So I went to IHOP, got some breakfast, Then I went there and said I want to buy this Bugatti. They thought que I was not serious. I called my partner, wired the money. Then the problem was trying to get the truck to flatbed it to his home. That was the biggest problem. The biggest hiccup was trying to find a specialized flatbed. When I called him, I said, "Champ, the problem is going to be getting the car to your house on the flatbed." He goes, "I do not care; just drive it to me. "I will not tell you where I was, so I hit the road, and I drove it to him. That's how I got it to him. ...
On Bugatti No. 3, he called me at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and he wanted que car at his place by midnight. That was feasible because que car was in the LA area.
Is that just the life of the exotic luxury-car dealer?
He will call me on cars que are $ 500,000 and up. $ 1 million, $ 2 million, $ 3 million, that's when I'll get the call. I sold him a lot of [Rolls-Royce], and I sold him a lot of Bentleys. I do not know if the franchised dealer is willing to do what I do. I do not know if the franchised dealer is going to be able to take the phone calls in the middle of the night. I do not know if they're going to be able to open up Their showroom in the middle of the night for him.
My rule with Floyd is one hour. Floyd will call me and say, "I'm on my way." He'll call me at midnight, 12:30, 1, 2 in the morning and say, "I'm on my way." That means he's on his way to my dealership. The only thing I ask of him is just give me one hour because I've got to get up and get ready and head to the dealership. My dealership is about 45 minutes from my house. He will call me in Las Vegas, sitting on his jet about to take off, and tell me he's on his way. It takes him about 45 minutes to get to LA from Vegas. I try to give him service que nobody else will Provide.
Do you think he's trying to challenge you?
You never know what his next move is going to be. You never know. ... I do not know if he challenges me, I just know he has high expectations of himself, so Therefore there are going to be high expectations of everybody around him. There is not any room for mediocrity at all. It does not exist. ...
We're in the restaurant at 12:30 at night in Vegas, and we're just sitting there hanging October He tells the guy to go to my car and get the bag. They get the bag, he goes to the bathroom, he runs out of the bathroom, out of the restaurant and just keeps running! It's his security detail's job to realize he's going jogging [and] to hop in Their cars and follow him is 7 miles! It's incredible.
I'm at the Wynn resort in Vegas. He calls me at 12:30 [after] midnight, and Vegas is on fire. He says, "Obi, what are you doing?" I say I'm just hanging in October He says, "OK, why do not come meet me at Fatburger?" I go to Fatburger on the strip, and I hang out with him at Fatburger. From there, we go to his house. We're hanging out at his house. Then these bags start moving around. I said, "Floyd what are we doing?" He said, "Let's go to the gym."
At 3:30 in the morning, he starts heading to the gym. He spars for one hour, killing these sparring partners. And Then he runs out of the gym and running starts for 7 miles. I have him on video. He does not care what time it is. If he feels the need to do what he wants to workout and to the train, he's going to do it. I do not know if he challenges me or if I'm just in this environment of his and this is just how he operates. It keeps me on my toes. It makes me want to work harder. It makes me think out of the box. I push myself harder. I take it all in stride, and I appreciate the opportunity. I make sure I do que whatever I can to meet and possibly the Fulfill his needs and his demands. I view it as a blessing.
I know you said in video que que he forces you to raise your game.
Absolutely, I raise my game. It puts me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes we need to be out of our comfort zone.
(Okeke speaks later on about Mayweather's generosity.)
He's got a residence at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown LA. If he's there for like a week, When he leaves, he will gather every single valet driver, 10 or 11 of Them. He will distribute anywhere from $ 8,000 to $ 10,000 to each of the valet guys. If you look at Floyd, and you look at the games he goes to, Whether the Lakers games, the Clippers games, whatever game he goes to, whoever's with him staffwise, they're with him. They all watch the game. He does not just buy tickets for himself and Then everybody leaves outside. He buys tickets for himself and everybody. He brings Them in to watch the game. ...
I was at his house the other night. I was trying to leave. I said, "Floyd, I'll be right back" because I had not eaten all day. ... He said, ". Do not go anywhere, let me call my chef" He calls his chef; she comes over an hour later and cooks this big meal for everybody. The guy is an anomaly. I've never met anybody like this man.
Would you think he was a fighter by just looking at his personality?
No. His personality, if you hung out with him and you never Knew who he was, you would think he was a mathematician or a physicist nuclear. If you just looked at him and looked at his face and just Talked to him, you would think that. He always has a strategy. ... He's a guy with a plan.
Have you thought about opening a store in Vegas?
We think about it; we talk about it. Because of where we are in a very remote area, [Mayweather] drives out to the middle of nowhere to see me. I open up in the middle of the night every time. Seventy percent of our cars go out of state, so yeah, We Could definitely operate in a place like Vegas. ... I'm out there five to six times a month right now. Sometimes I'm there three times in a week.
Looking at Mayweather's car collection, do you think that's part of his competitive spirit to have the rarest cars?
It's part of his lifestyle. Floyd Understands que there are a lot of people que claim to be living the lifestyle They are not living. And he is living que lifestyle. Unlike anybody else, he has no debt. He has no debt on any of his cars and real estate holdings. He has a tremendous amount of cars and a tremendous amount of real estate - and no debt. There are celebrities out there I know, and a lot people know, that finance lease Their Their cars and cars. All of Their Bugattis are Financed and leased. He's got three Bugattis que are all cash. Every car in his garage, all cash. All of the condos he has in Vegas, all cash. Fifth Avenue in New York, cash. Miami, 7,000-square-foot penthouse, cash. LA, cash. The thing about Floyd, he is the only signatory on his account. Nobody manages his money but him. So When I get paid, it's not like we're waiting for the business office. It's all Floyd. He writes the check himself.
Nobody else does that?
No. Everybody que I've dealt with, the money was coming from Their business office, or [an] agent was going to get the money to me. He is the first celebrity I've met que writes his own check, that manages his own money. I'm not expecting a check from a CPA or an agent or anything. It's from him
No comments:
Post a Comment