Britain's 1st million pound purse

[Thundercat]

Hi everyone,

Just wandering if you could settle a pub dispute, I haven't got a clue with the answer!

Q. Who was the first british boxer to receive a 1 million pound purse?

Any help will be much appreciated!

[DG.]

Hi everyone,

Just wandering if you could settle a pub dispute, I haven't got a clue with the answer!

Q. Who was the first british boxer to receive a 1 million pound purse?

Any help will be much appreciated!

Was it Nigel Benn?

[southpaw7]

just a guess but i would go for frank bruuuuuuuuuuuuuunooooooooooooo

prob the fact the moneys big in the heavys and i know he became a millionare !

[MecnunK]

Benn got a million in I think 2nd of the Benn vs Eubank fights but I am not sure it was a first..

[bennie]

Bruno picked up a guaranteed purse of $3.6 million for fighting Tyson in February 1989.

[Old bones Ian]

Didn't Honeyghan get a million for his fight against Starling?

[coghaugen11]

Bruno against Tyson

First IN Britain was Benn against Eubank (1990 reported, 1993 facted)

[boxingchat]

Frank Bruno got the first £1M purse for a British Boxer. Benn did not see £1M until the Eubank Rematch. Eubank received £1M before he did. Benn's purse was hyped up for the original 1990 fight. It was less than £500k in reality. Lennox Lewis was the first £5M purse against Tucker in 1993. Naz and Lewis have earned the most in the UK by a long way.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Calzaghe must be up there by now surely. He's had big purses for Manfredo, Kessler, Hopkins, and now Jones. Naz made 17 million didn't he?

Calzaghe cannot be that far behind now.

[TerribleTerry]

Calzaghe must be up there by now surely. He's had big purses for Manfredo, Kessler, Hopkins, and now Jones. Naz made 17 million didn't he?

Calzaghe cannot be that far behind now.

I would be surprised if Calzaghe's combined purses came to much more that £10/12 m as a maximum.

[jamesmcdonnell]

There must have been about 10 or so purses of about 200-400,000 as well, that adds up to over 5 million alone.

The guy's been WBO champ for 10 year, and although some weren't big fights there were some decent paydays.

[Twinkle Toes]

Didn't Calzaghe get a fair wedge for fighting Veit away from home - I recall reading something in the region of 1.6million.

His career earnings must be well above 10 million?

[Old bones Ian]

Naz's career earnings have been estimated at anywhere between 15 and 30 million quid.

I'd say that Calzaghe must be up around the 15million mark.
Hatton can't be far off that as well.

[DavidPayne]

From memory Calzaghe got some curious amount like £760,000 for fighting Veit away. WHich is why they took the fight, easy money. Was never bothered about mandatories other than that.....

[My Name Is Earl]

Fwankie quoted as saying Calzaghe has earned over 16 million. This is before the RJJ bout.

On another subject, he also reckons Joe pulled out of 12 fights for one reason or another.

[the konformist]

Naz and Lewis have earned the most in the UK by a long way.

Hatton, surely, has had to make more than Naz did.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

Lennox Lewis for his pro debut - got something like 2 million didn't he?

[coneye]

Cannot see Hatton close to Naz, Lewiss without a doubt would have to dwarf everyone else i would think

[boxingchat]

Calzaghes earned well over £20M easily now. Naz went over the £50M mark.

[sharpei_louis]

Hatton will have done loads - he's been on more PPV as a recent trend and if he had a cut of rights vs PBF then he'll have made more from that fight that Naz's first 15-20 put together. Combine his massive attendances and british PPV ratings, Hatton IMO will be #2 UK but very close to Lewis.

[twenty six]

I wonder how much Calzaghe's divorce cost.
He might need another wedge to sort that lot out.

[Chambers2]

Surely Hatton has got to have earnt close to what Naz and Lewis did, didn't Ricky earn about £8-10m for the Mayweather fight? alot of it thru his UK PPV money. I'd have thought he'd have earnt about £25-30m in total

[Chambers2]

Naz went over the £50M mark.

Nice

[dondada]

From memory Calzaghe got some curious amount like £760,000 for fighting Veit away. WHich is why they took the fight, easy money. Was never bothered about mandatories other than that.....

I doubt this - though am quite content if proven wrong. I thought the whole reason Joe deigned to go away was because of the huge purse on offer - £2m?

[states]

I seem to recall the winning Purse bid was about 1.5 mill, with Calzaghe getting the lion's share as Champ. I still have no idea why Veit's team were so confident.

EDIT: It was $1.75 million: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article430706.ece