the sums of money that a fighter has to pay from his earnings

[apollo creed]

Ok , I have a few questions:

If a fighter is getting a purse of 2 million, how the money are paid to the fighter?

What expenses the fighter has? I mean all of them that are related to the boxing match, promotion and his training? Approximatively the sum and of course the taxes they have to pay?

If the fighter has a belt and he's paying that fee, does the fighter has some benefits like health, life or social insurances?

Are these regular decent fighters getting a share from the tickets sales, broadcasting rights, ads, the sponsorships of the event, etc or its all about being a good profile fighter with good drawing power to be in position to negotiate more?

If a fighter is getting crippled for life/badly injured into a boxing match like Prichard Colón or Stevenson and he is not a rich fighter, who would take care of him and his family?

I mean, there must be lots of fighters that are not rightfully represented by their handlers and they get literally peanuts money which is pretty sad. They get robbed, scammed, tricked and leeched of their money big time..

Some top names make obscene amounts of money but most of the regular decent fighters get poorly paid minus their expenses and taxes, which is not right and they pretty much struggle.

[Ruthless-RKO]

boxer is paid £1m purse.

lets say he pays his people, he's then left with £700k.. He pays tax on that £700 doesn't he?

[joshj909]

Would they pay tax before the coach/manager costs? Or would that be a tax free business expense?

I imagine they'd take home about 50% once everything is paid for.

[RScarf1]

Would they pay tax before the coach/manager costs? Or would that be a tax free business expense?

I imagine they'd take home about 50% once everything is paid for.

I think that the trainer and manager would have to pay tax on whatever portion of the boxer's purse is considered their income.

[Redback Rasta]

I'll throw in another variable. It will depend on what country the money is earned in.

[margaret thatcher]

obviously it varies a lot by fighter, but i knew a guy in the game who said that fighters would be lucky to take home 40 percent of the total purse

[apollo creed]

obviously it varies a lot by fighter, but i knew a guy in the game who said that fighters would be lucky to take home 40 percent of the total purse

I tend to think that too. Fighters get ripped off of their money. Now I can understand what Eubank Sr meant to say with: "The first dollar should always drop to the fighter - it should not be the broadcaster first and the fighter second."

A fighter should try to get first a very good manager and also a very good lawyer to squeeze the most money from a fight, especially if he is fighting in a main event fight.

[jaouad]

After paying tax (amount varies per state/country), your promoter, manager, trainer, people from your entourage (strength & conditioning coach/ nutritionist if you’re one of those top fighters that can afford that)and possible hospital bills you probably end up with 50% of your original purse.

Now 50% of 2/5/10/15 million ain’t bad but if you’re coming up as a contender than your not going to make much money.

You got to keep in mind it varies by each fighter. Some have a person that both is their promoter and manager so the percentage or amount being paid might be less when you have two different people fulfilling the role of manager and promoter.

[goose 5]

Back in the 70's Ali was clearing 17 cents on the dollar. I doubt any top fighter today clears anything close to 50 cents on the dollar-much like a third.

[JOEY DAWEJKO]

The fighter ALWAYS ends up with less than half. Depending on who you have. (Manager, trainer, cut man, strength & conditioning, training camp expenses, whatever else you need to pay) and then you pay taxes on whatever’s left. So 35-40% of original purse sounds about right. And if your a fighter who don’t have those payouts, your not making to much anyway. I’m talking from experience.

[apollo creed]

After paying tax (amount varies per state/country), your promoter, manager, trainer, people from your entourage (strength & conditioning coach/ nutritionist if you’re one of those top fighters that can afford that)and possible hospital bills you probably end up with 50% of your original purse.

Now 50% of 2/5/10/15 million ain’t bad but if you’re coming up as a contender than your not going to make much money.

You got to keep in mind it varies by each fighter. Some have a person that both is their promoter and manager so the percentage or amount being paid might be less when you have two different people fulfilling the role of manager and promoter.

Also there are other expenses like sparring partners, diners, training outside of the city on high altitude , accommodations, transportation, physiotherapist, sports massage therapist, sports psychiatrist, cut man, doctor, etc, etc

I think when a fighter is starting to make more than 10 M's + other extra earnings per fight then he is truly starting to make real good money.

[apollo creed]

Back in the 70's Ali was clearing 17 cents on the dollar. I doubt any top fighter today clears anything close to 50 cents on the dollar-much like a third.

yup.

[apollo creed]

The fighter ALWAYS ends up with less than half. Depending on who you have. (Manager, trainer, cut man, strength & conditioning, training camp expenses, whatever else you need to pay) and then you pay taxes on whatever’s left. So 35-40% of original purse sounds about right. And if your a fighter who don’t have those payouts, your not making to much anyway. I’m talking from experience.

true. there so many expenses for the poor fighter and he gets ripped off big time

Floyd was a brilliant business genius doing his promoting stuff. He did very well like flawless business moves to get as much money and even him was ripped off in the first part of his career.

[apollo creed]

So what would be the right-wise steps for a talented non-US amateur fighter (world amateur boxing medalist/olympic boxing medalist ) that wants to be a pro and fight in US/Canada ?

What he should try to avoid to not get screwed and what he should try to get for his own good?

[jaouad]

After paying tax (amount varies per state/country), your promoter, manager, trainer, people from your entourage (strength & conditioning coach/ nutritionist if you’re one of those top fighters that can afford that)and possible hospital bills you probably end up with 50% of your original purse.

Now 50% of 2/5/10/15 million ain’t bad but if you’re coming up as a contender than your not going to make much money.

You got to keep in mind it varies by each fighter. Some have a person that both is their promoter and manager so the percentage or amount being paid might be less when you have two different people fulfilling the role of manager and promoter.

Also there are other expenses like sparring partners, diners, training outside of the city on high altitude , accommodations, transportation, physiotherapist, sports massage therapist, sports psychiatrist, cut man, doctor, etc, etc

I think when a fighter is starting to make more than 10 M's + other extra earnings per fight then he is truly starting to make real good money.

Yes the more you rise into the rankings and eventually becoming a top contender with a high purse,
your expenses start to pile up too. As a up and coming fighter and probably still as a contender your only expenses will be your promoter, manager, trainer, cutman, membership to your boxing gym and your hospital bills. As an up and comer you’re probably the one that’s getting flown in for the trainingcamps of the top contenders/champions.

Once you’re a top contender with a good purse you can hire your strength and conditioning coach, nutritionist, physiotherapist, message therapist, chiropractor you name it and perhaps then you can quit your day job as a construction worker.

[Evander]

Robert Garcia did a piece on this a number of years back.
It was very interesting to see the break down.