"WWE Raw" this wasn't.

It was barely 8 a.m. on a recent weekday, and the atmosphere inside a gilded conference room at the state Capitol was decidedly buttoned-down. Buzzing BlackBerries largely went ignored by onlookers as the Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities committee considered legislation to tighten the regulatory ropes on boxing, wrestling and martial arts in Georgia.

Elissa Eubanks/AJC (ENLARGE)

Preston Haliburton remains close with his father, Richard Haliburton. The two want to make sure the boxer's win-loss record keeps that zero on the end.

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No one appeared to listen as closely to the discussion of Senate Bill 413 — or to fill out his dark business suit quite so powerfully — as a strapping blond fellow seated in the second-to-last row.

For Preston Haliburton, this moment was all about the family business.

And the other family business.

Haliburton is an undefeated professional boxer, with five of his eight wins as a cruiserweight coming by knockout. The 30-year-old Buckhead resident is also a lawyer with a growing practice, and vice president of Preston Group Inc., a government relations firm founded by Julianna McConnell, his lobbyist mother.

"I understand two worlds," Haliburton says, an understatement for someone whose mother once painted Al Gore's name on his face for a campaign rally and whose first bout, arranged by his boxing coach father, came against a fellow 5-year-old. (Richard Haliburton swears his son was actually 3.)

It's an ecletic résumé, even under the Gold Dome, where the legislator voting to raise your taxes one month might be the undertaker burying your grandmother the next. Throw in a little "Lights, camera, action!" (Haliburton had a small role in the film "We Are Marshall.") And consider "Ring of Redemption" (the comeback bout he's planning for paroled murderer Bennie Heard, once the nation's top amateur light-heavyweight). Is it any wonder that Haliburton frequently feels pulled in different directions?

"I can't eat," he groaned quietly during an evening reception for legislators thrown by Georgia's Electric Membership Corporations last month. All around the Georgia Freight Depot, guests bellied up to the bar or piled their plates high with gourmet goodies. Haliburton, who'd dashed in from a day spent at a trial, had a bout scheduled at the end of the week in Charleston. His ideal fighting weight is 200 pounds, but he said he was weighing in about 211.

The temptation to lob punchlines at the multitasker with a mean right can prove irresistible: "I tell him, 'You can put 'em in an ambulance, and then chase it," cracks Pierre, a mono-named comedian and actor ("How to Be a Player") who sometimes works out alongside Haliburton at the Atlanta Art of Boxing Center on Spring Street.

But to others, the University of Georgia grad is just someone they've come to know as having one foot planted firmly in the boxing ring and one in the political/legislative arena.

One afternoon early in the General Assembly session, Haliburton swapped handshakes and chitchat throughout the Capitol, smiling whenever he was greeted with a hearty "For certain!" It's a reference to his ring handle: Preston "Knockout for Certain" Haliburton.

At the Freight Depot reception several weeks later, lobbyist McConnell introduced her son to the vice chairman of the House Appropriations committee as "a lawyer and a professional boxer."

Rep. John Heard (R-Lawrenceville) paused a beat, then smiled bemusedly.

"Well," he drawled, "I guess there's a certain rhyme and reason to that."

There is, if you consider Haliburton's roots.

Dad Richard Haliburton grew up street boxing in Atlanta's West End. Preston was raised around fighters in his dad's Carrollton gym, and "little kids naturally want to imitate the older boys," said Richard, who worked Evander Holyfield's corner when the heavyweight champ was still an amateur.

Family roots

McConnell thinks boxing connected with her son on a deeper level, appealing to his democratic (with a small "d") roots.

"He saw that it was a way up for anyone," said McConnell, who's divorced from Richard Haliburton but vividly recalls when they drove less fortunate boxers to matches or lent them money for a hamburger afterwards.

The other family business also was calling.

"I [dragged] him around from the time he was small, working on political campaigns," said a laughing McConnell, who was a delegate to the 1992 and '96 Democratic conventions and serves as vice chair of the Georgia Commission on Women.

"I guess he grew up thinking this is what all young people do — they work on campaigns and hand out fliers. But I always wanted [my children] to realize the importance of being involved in politics and of voting."

Message received. Haliburton grew up on legendary House Speaker Tom Murphy's home turf in Bremen and worked on his final campaign in 2002. Later, he started a student legislative caucus to give Georgia State's law school "more of a presence" under the Gold Dome.

Among those taking notice was then-state Rep. Vernon Jones. As Jones went on to become DeKalb County CEO and observed Haliburton in the ring, he became even more impressed with his boxers-and-legal-briefs storyline.

"He's a hell of a fighter, and outside the ring, he's a promoter," said Jones, who clearly means that as a compliment.

Jones had Haliburton address a recent county commission meeting, because, he said, "He hasn't forgotten his roots. He got an education and is a great legal mind, but he always shoots straight with you."

Still, it can be a challenge managing everything in the arsenal. One week after the Freight Depot reception, Haliburton was at the Atlanta Art of Boxing Center, trading punches with his father during a ring session. The fight in Charleston had fallen through when his opponent pulled out. "They hear it's a white lawyer out of Atlanta and can't wait to fight me — until they look up my record!" Preston said.

A new plan called for Preston to fight in Memphis at the end of the week, then head to California soon afterward to take that state's bar exam. (A few days later he'd put off taking the bar exam until July.)

Why California? Well, he likes the idea of moving his law practice and boxing career there eventually, and he wouldn't mind doing some more acting. He's a fan of Ronald Reagan (a onetime actor and athlete) and of John Edwards (a big-time lawyer and Southern populist), and he hasn't ruled out the idea of running for national political office someday.

"He doesn't want to put all his eggs in one basket," Richard Haliburton said during a break in what he wryly termed "our version of quality time" at the gym. While father might occasionally nudge son to consider narrowing his focus a bit, he doesn't push. "I think he thinks, 'Maybe I'll land that great case, that great part in a movie or that great fight.'"

Politics more elusive

In fact, Haliburton didn't register as a lobbyist for this legislative session. Instead, he decided to devote more of his time to practicing law and boxing, which was preferable to politics in at least one key way.

"In boxing, you know who your opponent is," Haliburton explained. "And if you work the hardest, the best man usually wins. In politics, your opponent may not even be who you think it is."

Senate Bill 413 wasn't an opponent, so much as something worth keeping a watchful eye on. From what Haliburton could tell from his observations and conversations around the Capitol, the bill didn't appear intended to "overregulate" boxing so much as clarify existing portions of Georgia Code pertaining to pro wrestling and martial arts.

But a lot could still happen as it worked its way through the General Assembly, something Haliburton emphasized as he exited the meeting room a little past 9 a.m. He'd have to hustle to get to the gym, then make it out to Gwinnett for an appointment in Recorders Court.

As always, he'd have to keep a close eye on the Capitol. Two weeks later, Haliburton was still monitoring SB 413's progress now that it had passed the full Senate and a House committee was having its go at it.

"I definitely understand the system down there," Haliburton said. "More than most boxers, anyway."

After all, it's his business.

Both of them.