Errol Spence Jr. turned down Golden Boy’s $2.5 million offer to fight Miguel Cotto

[Ruthless-RKO]

IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. could’ve fought Miguel Cotto in December, but Spence opted not to take a multi-fight deal with Golden Boy Promotions.

Spence, who is a promotional free agent, elected to go with the Peterson fight as set up by adviser Al Haymon rather than accept an offer to sign with Golden Boy Promotions, which promoted his first 15 fights and has been after him. Golden Boy offered him $2.5 million to challenge junior middleweight world titleholder Miguel Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) on Dec. 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York in an HBO fight Cotto has said will be his final bout. Spence turned down the deal that would have also included a longer-term promotional agreement with Golden Boy and an exclusive contract with HBO, according to sources with knowledge of the offer.

However, according to one of the sources, Spence was promised $3.5 million by Haymon for his next fight to stay with him. Spence didn't get into the specifics of the offer but said he was indeed offered a deal by Golden Boy and simply was not interested.

"The offer was made from Golden Boy. I mean, everybody's been trying to get me if you're a promoter since I turned pro. And I just declined," Spence said. "I don't want a promoter right now. I feel like I'm starting my own promotional company, probably later next year and do my own thing. I'm already fighting on network [television], I'm already the main event, and I'm already getting great money. So I don't see what a promoter can offer me."

It’s certainly an interesting nugget that Spence was an option and that Errol is looking to self-promote instead of go to Oscar De La Hoya’s promotion. If given the option to fight Cotto or Peterson, Cotto is the bigger name, but Spence evidently went for the better payday (and presumably to stay at welterweight, as opposed to moving up to 154).

[Ruthless-RKO]

It's just like the Mikey Garcia deal.. It's clearly not the money, Spence just doesn't want to get tied down with a promoter. Everything he said is true. He is already making decent money and has networks behind him. A promoter wouldn't be beneficial for him.

[gilgamesh]

Yeah. Spence will clearly be better off only fighting once a year

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yeah. Spence will clearly be better off only fighting once a year

No doubt, with Golden Boy he could fight twice!

[gilgamesh]

Yeah. Spence will clearly be better off only fighting once a year

No doubt, with Golden Boy he could fight twice!

That's 2x as many as his current situation. Which is an improvement.

Hopefully he gets something meaningful in 2018. He's definitely a hell of a talent that deserves more exposure.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yeah. Spence will clearly be better off only fighting once a year

No doubt, with Golden Boy he could fight twice!

That's 2x as many as his current situation. Which is an improvement.

Hopefully he gets something meaningful in 2018. He's definitely a hell of a talent that deserves more exposure.

[boxing_rocks]

Can a Haymon fighter even work with GB ?

[NateJR]

Spence is doing the right thing, being with Haymon leads to Thurman. Spence might make better money under GB, but I think sticking with Haymon is the better career choice and better opportunity to land big fights. Although a fight with Cotto at 154 would be intriguing.

[Ossyrules]

I think on balance it’s better being with a promoter, a good promoter. It can close doors to certain fights but i think free agents have it tough. Especially a young fighter like spence

[Enlightened-One]

I think on balance it’s better being with a promoter, a good promoter. It can close doors to certain fights but i think free agents have it tough. Especially a young fighter like spence

I read an article by Stephen "Breadman" Edwards a fortnight ago, where he claimed that the “reason why so many fighters were operating without a promoter” was because they “were making more money on the license fees because promoters were not taking those big cuts of the monies.” That's the reason why the PBC roster is so big, because those fighters allow Haymon to guide their careers, whilst not having to deduct promotional costs from their paydays.

GBP offered the same deal to Mikey Garcia, where (like Spence Jr.) he also rejected a potential multi-million dollar deal to fight Miguel Cotto on December 2 - because the agreement included committing himself to a multi-fight promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions.

He said that GBP couldn’t guarantee opponents and that De La Hoya disclosed far bigger numbers to the media about the alleged deal than the actual numbers formally communicated to him during their negotiations.

There are two sides to every story and De La Hoya has a proven track record of embellishing the facts to suit his preferred narrative.

[Ricky_]

what an idiot. I defies belief fighters are still signing with Haymon. Do they aspire to the type of career Adonis Stevenson has had?

He should sign with Top Rank.

[caldo2025]

Time will certainly tell if ESJr was right or wrong to go at it alone. So far i'd say that he's "winning" because he does have a strap early in his career and fighting now for millions of dollars. But how much bigger would he be right now with a promoter? He would definitely be carrying a bigger name right now IMO.

[Enlightened-One]

what an idiot. I defies belief fighters are still signing with Haymon. Do they aspire to the type of career Adonis Stevenson has had?

Golden Boy Promotions are committed to showcasing their elite talent exclusively on HBO.

As already proven by GBP’s lawsuit that was dismissed earlier on this year, GBP and HBO were both legally proven to be very reluctant work with Al Haymon, unless mega-bucks is involved. It seems that HBO’s stance may have softened slightly since then…

If you review both The RING and ESPN’s welterweight divisional rankings, 60% of the fighters are signed with Al Haymon, despite most of them not being contractually-tied to a promoter (so they make more money on license fees):
• Keith Thurman
• Errol Spence Jr.
• Shawn Porter
• Danny Garcia
• Lamont Peterson
• Jessie Vargas

Out of the other four fighters, only Lucas Matthysse is with GBP, with the remainder either being unable to compete on HBO or their promoter has close ties with Haymon:
• Kell Brook - Matchroom, but Eddie Hearn has close affiliations with Haymon... and has/does promote several fighters advised/managed by the PBC chief
• Jeff Horn – Is tied to an immediate rematch clause to face Pacquiao, so can't commit himself to signing a multi-fight deal with GBP/HBO. He’ll likely face Terence Crawford if the Filipino legend does not take the rematch
• Manny Pacquiao - Top Rank, so can't compete on HBO, but he can face Haymon fighters

Terence Crawford will inevitably become a welterweight in the very near future, which will almost certainly result in Lucas Matthysse being ejected from both of ESPN’s and also The RING’s welterweight rankings. He's with Top Rank, so he is in precisely the same situation as his stablemate, Manny Pacquiao.

Bob Arum has stated several times that PBC fighters are overpaid, which means that Top Rank are unlikely to reward Spence Jr. with the type of paydays that he currently receives, especially after that promoter deducts the license fees.

So I don’t see any reason for Spence Jr. to sign with GBP or Top Rank.

If you’re a welterweight and you generally earn more money being included as part of Haymon’s stable, which means that it also opens doors to facing every single of the biggest names in the 147lbs weight class, then why on earth would you consider being in that position “idiotic”?

[BAD INTENTIONS]

How stupid for Spence.
Go to 154 and destroy and retire Cotto.
That would have made him a legitimate boxing celebrity with a successful PPV.
Cotto/Spence retirement match would do good numbers.

After destroying the badly faded Cotto in memorable fashion,
Spence would be in line for Canelo. He could call him out at 156.
He could also go back down and work out a Crawford deal much easier (GBP + TR + ESPN)

He could have done his 2 GBP fights in 2018 because ...
Thurman basically indicated he won't be fighting Spence until very late 2018.
So instead we get Lamont Peterson, and whatever bums PBC can drum up until Thurman feels recovered.

It's actually a bad business decision for the PBC as Spence could have built his celebrity much more outside the brand,
and then made the Thurman fight even more of an attraction.