BoxRec

Just had a beer in the pub with the lads , the subject of Andy Lee and Darren came up and my freind is close too the lee camp.
Andy was offered £30000 too fight Darren
No wonder we cannot get the big uk fights happening
I wish sky would give there heads a shake , all the tv with one promoter will make a promoter rich and the boxers very poor in a sport which is so difficult too earn decent money from
Good luck in the U.S andy in your next fight

I find it hard for this fight to happen and money is not the problem.

Andy Lee has fought most of his career in the States, the fights he has had in Ireland were mainly broadcast on RTE (Irelands main Terrestrial TV provider). Andy hasn't fought on that channel since the Dunne / Cordoba undercard in March 2009 over four years ago. He has only fought on SKY a couple of times. So the people who really know who Andy Lee is is the boxing fans in Ireland and UK.

Is that enough to get a draw for a big money fight with Barker in the UK. No, it makes no sense. Lee is also fighting on US channels most of the time anyway and is getting the exposure over in the States.

I'll fight him for half that

What's wrong with the offer?

It's Andy Lee. He isn't Martinez. He isn't even Macklin.

lillywhite14 wrote:What's wrong with the offer?

It's Andy Lee. He isn't Martinez. He isn't even Macklin.

Isn't it.
Speculate to accumulate and all that. Where is Lee going at the minute? Beating Barker would put his name in the mix for a fight with Macklin which will be a nice little earner for him.

That's a real problem in the sport.

I don't want fighters getting short changed by any means. Just seems like their are too many that think they are worth so much more than they actually are.

lillywhite14 wrote:That's a real problem in the sport.

I don't want fighters getting short changed by any means. Just seems like their are too many that think they are worth so much more than they actually are.

Whilst lee is by no means a big name he's worth more than 30k in my opinion! For a fight against Barker which would i imagine make fairly decent money being a domestic tear up

£30k is a fair offer for a fight between 2 fringe contenders.

It's a fight they could both do with to boost there stature and rnkings in the division in order to get future title shots. Can't imagine Darren would be getting much more if any for the fight?

How many would turn up for this in london 4-5000?

columbo wrote:

lillywhite14 wrote:That's a real problem in the sport.

I don't want fighters getting short changed by any means. Just seems like their are too many that think they are worth so much more than they actually are.

Whilst lee is by no means a big name he's worth more than 30k in my opinion! For a fight against Barker which would i imagine make fairly decent money being a domestic tear up

That is the attitude that perpetuates fight not getting made what sort of budget do you think Matchroom get for a Saturday night fight? £100k? £150k? Well if its around that amount and i suspect it probably is. Where do you think Matchroom have the money to pay him these massive figures that he is worth? Presumably Barker would be getting paid more as the Matchroom fighter? £50k? £75k? its would probably cost £100k to make that fight. Obviously there is additional income from ticket sales.

Then however there is an undercard which has to be paid for. By the standards of many peole on here there would have to be another top level fight to support that which would cost a fair bit as well. Then beleive it or not Matchroom probably would try and like to make a little bit of money from the show.

I personally think peoples idea of what fighters are worth and the current economics on the ground dont tally up.

Wonder how much jamie mc got for his world title fight on homesoil compared to 30k??

I`d fight any any man on the planet, except for Kahut, for 30k.

forcefraser wrote:I`d fight any any man on the planet, except for Kahut, for 30k.

x10000000000

Lee won by KO1 against Daryl Cunningham in New York last night.
I wonder how much he got for that ?

its a good purse for Lee. The fight is not even a top of the bill fight for matchroom. It could be a support fight for a title tilt, that's all.

What I could easily see happening if Macklin beats Golovkin that Macklin will have an easy defence of the title later in the year with Lee on the undercard then Macklin / Lee on St Patrick's weekend in MSG.

If Macklin beats Golovkin, I doubt Lee / Barker would happen for a while.

brian13 wrote:What I could easily see happening if Macklin beats Golovkin that Macklin will have an easy defence of the title later in the year with Lee on the undercard then Macklin / Lee on St Patrick's weekend in MSG.

If Macklin beats Golovkin, I doubt Lee / Barker would happen for a while.

Was under the impression Lee has repeatedly turned down fights with Macklin.

wrimc wrote:

columbo wrote:

lillywhite14 wrote:That's a real problem in the sport.

I don't want fighters getting short changed by any means. Just seems like their are too many that think they are worth so much more than they actually are.

Whilst lee is by no means a big name he's worth more than 30k in my opinion! For a fight against Barker which would i imagine make fairly decent money being a domestic tear up

That is the attitude that perpetuates fight not getting made what sort of budget do you think Matchroom get for a Saturday night fight? £100k? £150k? Well if its around that amount and i suspect it probably is. Where do you think Matchroom have the money to pay him these massive figures that he is worth? Presumably Barker would be getting paid more as the Matchroom fighter? £50k? £75k? its would probably cost £100k to make that fight. Obviously there is additional income from ticket sales.

Then however there is an undercard which has to be paid for. By the standards of many peole on here there would have to be another top level fight to support that which would cost a fair bit as well. Then beleive it or not Matchroom probably would try and like to make a little bit of money from the show.

I personally think peoples idea of what fighters are worth and the current economics on the ground dont tally up.

so is Barker worth more than Lee then? I dont think his achievements really tally that.

danconnollyeire wrote:

forcefraser wrote:I`d fight any any man on the planet, except for Kahut, for 30k.

x10000000000

I heard it wasn't a huge purse as a lot of £££ went into getting the fight in the UK.

The stadium had approx 3000 there so be less than £100k depending on prime time figures

brian13 wrote:What I could easily see happening if Macklin beats Golovkin that Macklin will have an easy defence of the title later in the year with Lee on the undercard then Macklin / Lee on St Patrick's weekend in MSG.

If Macklin beats Golovkin, I doubt Lee / Barker would happen for a while.

I think the world will be too pre-occupied with the fact pigs are now flying and hell has frozen over to notice that Macklin is lining up Lee as a potential world title defence

£30k ain't a lot when you take away trainer fees, physio, cutsman etc. etc. For a fight that big, the purse should be higher considering the amount of viewers and fans it would pull in. The winner of Prizefighter gets 32k for max 9 rounds work.

wrimc wrote: Presumably Barker would be getting paid more as the Matchroom fighter? £50k? £75k? its would probably cost £100k to make that fight. Obviously there is additional income from ticket sales.

Then however there is an undercard which has to be paid for. By the standards of many peole on here there would have to be another top level fight to support that which would cost a fair bit as well.

+ they need an arena to fight in which isn't free
+ they need to set up the arena
+ they need to staff the arena
+ they need to pay judges, including travel and accomodations
+ they need to pay refs
+ they need to pay commission to sanction and attend
+ they need to pay ringside physicians
+ they need to have an equipped ambulance ready at all times with EMT's
+ they need to actually promote it, set up pressers and advertise, etc
+ print tix

i probably left out a lot but it's not just the fighters on the card. promotors also have overhead
unrelated to any particular card, like office and staff and insurance and license and taxes, etc.

it's one thing to say "so and so is well worth it".
ok... take out YOUR money and pay him then.
uhhhhhh, well not with MY money he's not, but with some rich person's money he is.
there is only so much money coming in so there can only be so much going out.
promotors take cash out of their pockets to make these fights, even putting the purses
in accounts ahead of time, and i know promotors who have lost money on cards.
it's not that uncommon. think about it this way, if you took out THAT much cash out
of your pocket to make a fight happen, and put that much work into it, how much
of a return on that investment would you hope to get? add that to all the expences
and now you have the minimum revenue needed to make the show come off.
if they had a casino that would pay to host the fight that might help, and if they
had concessions and merchandise and lots of tv money and sponsors and
a big live gate with high priced tix then a promotor might have lots of money
to spread around. it's not how difficult the fight is that determines what the
boxers are worth to fight each other. it's whatever revenues the fight can bring in

A couple of things,

1st off its some guy in pub who said this so its hardly a cast iron certainty that the offer actually happened now is it?

2nd. lee hasnt been looking to fight any major fighter since Emanuel died. Adjusting to a new trainer, new life takes time and Andy is working on a lot of things with booth at the minute.

3rd. 30k is reasonable offer but the fight obviously didnt make sense to Andy at the time, Its not as if Lee laughed in his face at the offer but the reward didnt match the risk at the time, Lee is looking to get a few fights under his belt with Booth before stepping in up a notch.

sucracristo wrote:

wrimc wrote: Presumably Barker would be getting paid more as the Matchroom fighter? £50k? £75k? its would probably cost £100k to make that fight. Obviously there is additional income from ticket sales.

Then however there is an undercard which has to be paid for. By the standards of many peole on here there would have to be another top level fight to support that which would cost a fair bit as well.

+ they need an arena to fight in which isn't free
+ they need to set up the arena
+ they need to staff the arena
+ they need to pay judges, including travel and accomodations
+ they need to pay refs
+ they need to pay commission to sanction and attend
+ they need to pay ringside physicians
+ they need to have an equipped ambulance ready at all times with EMT's
+ they need to actually promote it, set up pressers and advertise, etc
+ print tix

i probably left out a lot but it's not just the fighters on the card. promotors also have overhead
unrelated to any particular card, like office and staff and insurance and license and taxes, etc.

it's one thing to say "so and so is well worth it".
ok... take out YOUR money and pay him then.
uhhhhhh, well not with MY money he's not, but with some rich person's money he is.
there is only so much money coming in so there can only be so much going out.
promotors take cash out of their pockets to make these fights, even putting the purses
in accounts ahead of time, and i know promotors who have lost money on cards.
it's not that uncommon. think about it this way, if you took out THAT much cash out
of your pocket to make a fight happen, and put that much work into it, how much
of a return on that investment would you hope to get? add that to all the expences
and now you have the minimum revenue needed to make the show come off.
if they had a casino that would pay to host the fight that might help, and if they
had concessions and merchandise and lots of tv money and sponsors and
a big live gate with high priced tix then a promotor might have lots of money
to spread around. it's not how difficult the fight is that determines what the
boxers are worth to fight each other. it's whatever revenues the fight can bring in

Outstanding post

I would add, to the topic under discussion, that Barker has always been good, and in his last couple of fights has looked arguably better than ever. Comparing like for like, Barker has better skills than Lee. £30k isn't a lot of money for the loss which ends your career at world level, which is probably how things would pan out.

As in any division, Lee is a contender treading water waiting a title shot that would be much more lucrative than facing a fellow contender.

He'd get more for winning prizefighter against nobodies.

On that basis it's a joke offer for me.

Any combination of Macklin, Murray , Barker or Lee should be considered a big deal. Hardly a super fight but a decent draw.

davie wrote: He'd get more for winning prizefighter against nobodies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prizefighter_series
i see a lot of guys on that prizefighter page that fought for british, euro, and world
titles. gavin reese had all 3 i believe. some of britian's best boxers didn't make the finals.
in those 3 round fights, anything can happen, including bad cuts and very talented
up and comers pulling upsets and even some known boxers performing above expectations.
winning prizefighter is actually a good payday, maybe the best some of those guys ever get.
not sure if it's a lock lee would win it and it's 9 rounds in one night. what do the other 7 fighters
get for entering prizefighter? i have a hard time believing they show up and get nothing.
possible lee could wind up getting hit with a lucky shot and knocked out cold for free.