BoxRec

Virgil Hunter, trainer of Andre Ward, made some very insightful comments at the press conference today (search youtube the conference is uploaded in full).

He effectively stated that Sergey is being grossly underpaid and perhaps exploited by his promoter or the media (HBO). He said almost verbatim that its a 50-50 fight on paper and its strange that the challenger Ward is making boatloads of money, while the Champion Kovalev is earning considerably less.

I believe the expected salaries for this fight are in the neighbourhood of 5 million to Ward and 1.5 million to Kovalev.

When you consider that Kovalev is the champion, and moreover is a much more entertaining fighter than Ward (in the sense that Kovalev often KO's guys) those numbers seem bizarre. Kovalev was also underpaid when he fought Hopkins.

Is it possible that race also have something to do with it? By that I mean that in mainstream American culture they tend to overly promote the image of a black athlete (vast majority of American athletes are black, if you think of say NFL or NBA or boxing) so perhaps there is more of a financial support network and financial media backing for someone like Ward (biracial) or Berto than say Kovalev or Golovkin or even Pavlik had. Andre Berto is another great example, because in all honesty he was very limited as a fighter but its shocking to see he was actuall paid more than Golovkin but I think we can all agree Golovkin is by far the better fighter. HBO and Showtime do tend to cater to African American or Hispanic communities and it seems they push certain races of boxers more than others.

It does seem that in America, much of the support network for an athlete and financial backing from the media (which translates to salary and endorsement) is intended to promote black boxers more so than others. Even a majority of White Americans fans tend to root for and support black athletes or boxers, it seems to be part of the national culture. Just think of the NFL where you have like 80,000 mainly White fans attending games and the athletes are overwhelmingly black.

Maybe Eastern Euros like Kovalev and GGG would be better basing themselves in Germany or Russia?

Wladimir Klitschko is an Eastern Euro who made a lot of money but notice that he did it *outside* of USA and the West. He based himself in Germany where he was well promoted. In the USA he probably would have been fighting for peanuts like Kovalev.

So they give you internet access from the nonce wing, nice

Virgil Hunter deserves a lot of credit for speaking the truth at the press conference and bringing up Kovalev's low pay even though it was probably unpopular at HBO.

Virgil is Ward's trainer and even Virgil seemed to imply that Kovalev deserved to be getting paid more than Ward because of Kov's titles. Atleast a 50-50 split if not slightly favouring Sergeu.

The question becomes why doesnt Kovalev have greater access to financial resources and a larger support network? Ultimately it seems to come down to his race and the fact he is a foreigner. Networks dont want to promote him or pay him, Kovalev is not the athlete Anerican media likes to promote.

Do you share a cell or have you a peter on your own?

a TML thread with race as the agenda, who'd have thought it

Counter-puncher wrote:a TML thread with race as the agenda, who'd have thought it

What else explains Kovalev's constant under payment?
Golovkin is another guy who really doesn't get paid very much when you think about it. Im pretty sure guys like Berto or Broner actually get paid more than him. Clearly payment is not based on ability or merit.

Maybe not race, but definitely it seems foreigners in particular Eastern Euros are getting screwed in the US. Its unfortunate really.

Also Virgil Hunter even pointed this out, and he is nonWhite so it clearly is an issue

He did something similar in the press conference for the Dawson fight.
When Dawson and Gary Shaw started talking about whose idea it really was to fight at 168, Hunter started in on Dawson telling him to talk for himself and he's not on the plantation. Some real garbage can stuff.
It's part of Team Ward's "mind games"
Just like between rounds of some fights, Hunter tells Ward to talk to the opponent.
Doubt Kovalev cares at all. His first few fights in the U.S. he fought for free.

I know that Virgil Hunter is well liked and respected but I have to say it. He's the most overrated trainer out there in my opinion. I feel like he's always on the losing end of a big fight and it's been that way for a while. On top of that, he can't stop yapping about things that don't concern him or his fighters. Inside the ring after the Khan/Canelo fight, Hunter went on about how Canelo should nut up and fight GGG now and I found the comments odd. His boxer just got KO'd and that's his first comment? I don't know if he's getting senile or what but his comments just seem to get more ridiculous.

Obviously the dispersion in pay comes down to that fact that Ward wouldn't get inside the ring for less. He obviously had a number in mind and in order to get a big fight like this, Kovalev agreed to it. He's gambling on his future and it happens all the time. It just proves to me ho hungry Serge is to win this one. Shut up Virgil and worry about your fighter and only your fighter.

From my perspective, it's a form of psychological warfare. Ward isn't really a trash talker, so Hunter does this part for him. And I feel Virgil only really pipes up when they have a real threat on their hands. He made comments about Froch's GF/wife in the lead up to their bout. He made racial comments regarding Dawson in their lead up. And now he's trying to create doubt in the way Kovalev is being handled. I believe it's just all part of a strategy to throw their opponents off their game.

Hunter trying to raise problems in the opponent's camp. He doesn't care how much Kov is making.

I think that Hunter is correct.

Ward is overpaid, that's what is going on.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Ward is overpaid, that's what is going on.

Exactly.

Michael Montero ‏@MonteroOnBoxing Nov 16 Los Angeles, CA
Some #KovalevWard PPV math: 300K buys x $70 a pop = $21M, half goes to distributor, then split by promoters = about $5M each.

With 300K being an optimistic prognosis, Roc Nation will be losing money. If it is 200K, even Main Events will not earn much.

I'm guessing about 125. We'll see.

It is true that Virgil Hunter most likely brought up Kovalev's pay as a way to create tension in Kovalev's camp, a sort of mental technique that he thinks may gain Ward a small advantage come fight night.

But regardless of that, or what Hunter's motivations are in bringing it up.

The fact is what he said about Kovalev's pay is true. Ward, the challenger and least entertaining of the two opponents is making 5 million to Sergey's 1.5. What explains this disconnect? In fact, I am trying to remember the last time I've seen a champion so criminally underpaid. Generally speaking, it is the champion who receives the lion's share of the payment. Kovalev really is making small peanuts compared to what Ward is, and Hunter is absolutely correct when he says that Kovalev is either being exploited or not paid fairly (for whatever reason). Hunter said at the press conference that it is a 50-50 fight and what he means by that is that Kovalev should be making the same amount of money as Ward is. He's right about that. Kovalev is being criminally underpaid for this fight.

At Kovalev's age, 33, it is time that he is paid properly because he may only be in the sport for another few years. So, right now is the time he needs to be making big money. The truth is he should probably relocate his career in Europe where he would be paid more fairly in the future.

1.5 Million (Champion Kovalev) to 5 Million (Challenger Ward, inactive, and generally a boring style) is insulting to Kovalev who deserves atleast a 50% split, and its a bad joke.

As I said, the problem seems to be that the media financial support network in the USA is intended primarily to promote a certain type of athlete who is black (Mayweather, Ward, Berto) more so than others, and because of this, Kovalev's team is unable to secure him the money that he deserves. Kovalev would be best off to leave the USA and base himself in Germany or Russia, where there is more of a support network for European fighters.

I'm not convinced that race plays a factor in marketability at all. American crowds do prefer rooting for Americans, though. It also helps to be able to speak English fluently without an accent and have some charisma. However, some fighters like Bradley, Hopkins, and Ward have found that you can have all of that plus talent and still not be a big hit without an exciting style.

It's funny, because Kovalev has the kind of attitude that Americans would really respond to, if he could just express himself more fluently.

Andrew Kearney wrote:Virgil Hunter, trainer of Andre Ward, made some very insightful comments at the press conference today (search youtube the conference is uploaded in full).

He effectively stated that Sergey is being grossly underpaid and perhaps exploited by his promoter or the media (HBO). He said almost verbatim that its a 50-50 fight on paper and its strange that the challenger Ward is making boatloads of money, while the Champion Kovalev is earning considerably less.

I believe the expected salaries for this fight are in the neighbourhood of 5 million to Ward and 1.5 million to Kovalev.

When you consider that Kovalev is the champion, and moreover is a much more entertaining fighter than Ward (in the sense that Kovalev often KO's guys) those numbers seem bizarre. Kovalev was also underpaid when he fought Hopkins.

Is it possible that race also have something to do with it? By that I mean that in mainstream American culture they tend to overly promote the image of a black athlete (vast majority of American athletes are black, if you think of say NFL or NBA or boxing) so perhaps there is more of a financial support network and financial media backing for someone like Ward (biracial) or Berto than say Kovalev or Golovkin or even Pavlik had. Andre Berto is another great example, because in all honesty he was very limited as a fighter but its shocking to see he was actuall paid more than Golovkin but I think we can all agree Golovkin is by far the better fighter. HBO and Showtime do tend to cater to African American or Hispanic communities and it seems they push certain races of boxers more than others.

It does seem that in America, much of the support network for an athlete and financial backing from the media (which translates to salary and endorsement) is intended to promote black boxers more so than others. Even a majority of White Americans fans tend to root for and support black athletes or boxers, it seems to be part of the national culture. Just think of the NFL where you have like 80,000 mainly White fans attending games and the athletes are overwhelmingly black.

Maybe Eastern Euros like Kovalev and GGG would be better basing themselves in Germany or Russia?

Wladimir Klitschko is an Eastern Euro who made a lot of money but notice that he did it *outside* of USA and the West. He based himself in Germany where he was well promoted. In the USA he probably would have been fighting for peanuts like Kovalev.

Wow bro.
You have NO idea how America works.

Lackeos wrote:I'm not convinced that race plays a factor in marketability at all. American crowds do prefer rooting for Americans, though. It also helps to be able to speak English fluently without an accent and have some charisma. However, some fighters like Bradley, Hopkins, and Ward have found that you can have all of that plus talent and still not be a big hit without an exciting style.

It's funny, because Kovalev has the kind of attitude that Americans would really respond to, if he could just express himself more fluently.

We like accents too -- Arnold Schwarzenegger!

It was easely visable in all Wilder his defences too, Daffy Haye same story. I guess white people simply aren't as greedy, they come for the opponent/challange, not the money.