Money THEN vs Money NOW

[HomicideHenry]

Sorta like when Roy Jones said that for $100 million dollars he'd fight Mike Tyson. Unheard of money, especially going just one way, considering Tyson-Lewis was I think $35 million dollars in total, the lions share being $17.2 million for the winner.

That kind of money simply didn't exist in boxing at that time. It wouldn't be until the 2010s that that kind of money started rolling around in boxing, mostly as a collective whole.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Have you seen Psycho?

Marian stole $40k.. we did a piece on this in school. The kids at school were like 'is that it? That all she stole?'.. but at the time (1960).. that was a lot of money.

Now days we here people doing fraud amounting to hundreds of thousands and millions..

[HomicideHenry]

Have you seen Psycho?

Marian stole $40k.. we did a piece on this in school. The kids at school were like 'is that it? That all she stole?'.. but at the time (1960).. that was a lot of money.

Now days we here people doing fraud amounting to hundreds of thousands and millions..

One of my favorite movies. Though I think personally the character of Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train, was far more psychotic and compelling than Norman Bates.

[Kalan]

If Conor McGregor actually fought a few boxing matches and gained some experience in the sport and looked really good... His fight with Mayweather could easily have done a Billion... That was the most hyped fight in the history of Boxing.

I remember the "Snake River Canyon Motorcycle Jump." .... That's what you call a hype job... Knievel climbed into a cheap homemade rocket with wheels fastened to it... The rocket could barely lift off the ground.

He would have gone a lot father if he just jumped off the canyon wall and opened a paraglider.

[HomicideHenry]

If Conor McGregor actually fought a few boxing matches and gained some experience in the sport and looked really good... His fight with Mayweather could easily have done a Billion... That was the most hyped fight in the history of Boxing.

I remember the "Snake River Canyon Motorcycle Jump." .... That's what you call a hype job... Knievel climbed into a cheap homemade rocket with wheels fastened to it... The rocket could barely lift off the ground.

He would have gone a lot father if he just jumped off the canyon wall and opened a paraglider.

The parachute came out too soon. Which is why it didn't go nowhere. It was a mechanical failure which nearly killed Knievel because he suffered from a "red out" where all the gforce pushed the blood from his eyes, nose, ears, etc.

[Kalan]

Hmmm... Guys in Saturn V didn't suffer blackouts when they took off for the moon... They accelerated to 17,000 mph.

How can you possibly suffer from a redout in a rocket that accelerates to 90 mph, fizzles out quickly, and parachutes you over a canyon wall??? ... That cheap rocket didn't have the oomph to get Knievel anywhere.

[HomicideHenry]

Hmmm... Guys in Saturn V didn't suffer blackouts when they took off for the moon... They accelerated to 17,000 mph.

How can you possibly suffer from a redout in a rocket that accelerates to 90 mph, fizzles out quickly, and parachutes you over a canyon wall??? ... That cheap rocket didn't have the oomph to get Knievel anywhere.

Rockets build up to speed. As do cars traveling at the speed of sound. Knievel reached the apex speed the rocket could travel, then the parachute came out, causing him to stop immediately, and causing the red out.

[HomicideHenry]

Anyways..... Let's go all the way back to James Figg... 270 fights, only losing one to Ned Sutton (which would be avenged twice over) he's regarded as the first real champion of note.

From what I can gather, Figg won £40 in 1725 in essentially a Tag-Team mixed- gender contest against Ned Sutton. Figg's partner was a woman known as "Long Meg", and Sutton's partner is unknown to History.

Tag-Team bouts and Women's bouts were just as popular as the standard men's bouts in those times. Especially when you consider People were spending a guinea to watch the contests, which was a whole days wage in those times.

Figg, from what I read, was the first man to win £200 in a prizefight. Whether that's true or not will always be speculative. But, let's say that he made the £200 the same year as the Sutton matches (he fought him three other times as well) which were between 1724-1727, because after all these were his most documented, therefore most fanfare, therefore more money.

£200 in 1750 (the furthest I can go back on the inflation calculator) says that it's the equivalent of nearly £42,000 today. I can only figure that it'd have to be in the £75,000 range for 1724.

£75,000 equates to $103,000.

[Kalan]

Hmmm... Guys in Saturn V didn't suffer blackouts when they took off for the moon... They accelerated to 17,000 mph.

How can you possibly suffer from a redout in a rocket that accelerates to 90 mph, fizzles out quickly, and parachutes you over a canyon wall??? ... That cheap rocket didn't have the oomph to get Knievel anywhere.

Rockets build up to speed. As do cars traveling at the speed of sound. Knievel reached the apex speed the rocket could travel, then the parachute came out, causing him to stop immediately, and causing the red out.

He didn't stop immediately... I watched the video... He decelerated rather slowly and started dropping.. I doubt if a redout occured... The tough thing was the landing... Knievel was descending fast and didn't have proper cushioning.

Eddie Braun successfully jumped the Snake River Canyon in a similar rocket, but with less fanfare.... It was a beautiful jump but Braun was just not the top quality promoter that Knievel was... Knievel was like Tex Rickard.

Bruan's rocket went a lot faster... He reached a speed of 400 mph and went 2000 feet up... His parachute opened perfectly and the very small crowd roared as his rocket floated down about a half mile away on the far side of the canyon.... Braun spent over a million dollars building the rocket and preparing the stunt... He never recouped his investment... Evel Knievel recovered his investment many times over though his jump failed... That tells a story - it's what you say not what you do.

Other motorcycle stuntmen have jumped a lot farther and used bikes that went faster... They jumped with more precision and success... but they never drummed up as much interest.. There's only been one Evel Knievel.

[keithmoonhangover]

Stanley Ketchel earned £250,000 from boxing and spent almost all of it by the time he was killed.

[HomicideHenry]

Stanley Ketchel earned £250,000 from boxing and spent almost all of it by the time he was killed.

Ketchell is an interesting case because had he never been murdered by Walter Dipley, he potentially could have been champion for another decade because the opposition for that amount of time at Middleweight was so weak.

£250,000 pounds in 1910 is the equivalent of £27,698,418.75 today which translates to $36,000,000+ American money.

[Kalan]

Mike Tyson blew through 300 million so why not??? ..... Ketchel is lucky he didn't die from that brutal right uppercut that sheered off all his teeth... Jack Johnson plowed the sucker... Johnson was pissed from the cheap shot Ketchel delivered.

[HomicideHenry]

Mike Tyson blew through 300 million so why not??? ..... Ketchel is lucky he didn't die from that brutal right uppercut that sheered off all his teeth... Jack Johnson plowed the sucker... Johnson was pissed from the cheap shot Ketchel delivered.

Considering he was outweighed by over 30+ pounds and had no business fighting for the Heavyweight title, the double-cross was his only chance. So I don't necessarily blame him for saying, "Sure we'll spar for 20 rounds and collect the money off the fight films," only to try and take Johnson out in the 12th.

[Kalan]

I blame Ketchel.... It's a stupid move for a Middleweight to think he can take out a Heavyweight with a sucker punch.

Like Clint said..., "A man's got to know his limitations."

Just like fooling around with that farm hand's wife.... Dumb moves like that can get you killed.

[HomicideHenry]

True enough, though in that era seeing lightweights and welterweights and middleweights fighting heavyweights was quite commonplace in boxing.

Outside of Jack Johnson, the following "big men" that Ketchell fought were: Dan Porky Flynn, Sam Langford, and Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. The Langford fight occurred in 1910 when Langford was actively fighting strictly as a Heavyweight at that time, slapping around Fireman Jim Flynn and Joe Jeanette among others.

He did rather well against such competition, despite the size differentials and his amateurish style of haymakers. His toughness and power made up for it, as evident with his matches with O'Brien because he knocked him out as well as previously decisioning him when Tommy Burns in three fights couldn't stop him, and neither did Jack Johnson.

[Kalan]

Johnson wasn't trying to stop those guys.... LIke you often say....a lot of these fights were pre-arranged affairs... Boxers need to make a living and you have to make it attractive for somebody to fight you... So you agree to a distance fight.

But as soon as Ketchel tagged Johnson with that haymaker Johnson knew what was up.... I'm surprised the punch carried enough force to knock Johnson on his can... Ketchel must have been a really big hitter for a Middleweight... Can you imagine what was going through Johnson's mind realizing Ketchel was trying to double cross him???

Johnson was one of the angriest men on the planet at that moment... No wonder he ripped that uppercut so hard.

But really....you don't hit a MIddleweight that hard if you're a Heavyweight... What are you trying to do to him???

[HomicideHenry]

It was certainly overkill because Johnson himself was a rather powerful puncher when he wanted to be. Yes, Ketchell was arguably the hardest hitting middleweight of all time. Quite remarkable considering that he was the type who "trained on whiskey and whores" more than anything else.