Boxers pay

[tim99b]

How much will they earn

Small hall show:
First few pro fights on tv:
British title:
Commonwealth title:
European title:
World title:

[SteveDow]

How long is a piece of string I guess.

It's very much dependent on the popularity of the fighter and the ability to sell tickets and whether that fighter is PPV worthy or not.

I mean AJ apparently got £4m for the Whyte fight which was just a British title fight but that was because he was on PPV and could sell out the O2 Arena for it.

I think the general point is that very few fighters and certainly those outside the heavyweight division are paid very much when all of the various deductions for tax, trainers fee, promoters/managers fee, cutman fee, training camp expenses etc have been paid. I think McClellan for example was only left with about $63k after everything had been deducted for the Benn fight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Small hall show: Couple £100's
First few pro fights on tv: in the £1,000's
British title: Maybe around £10-50k
Commonwealth title: Same as above
European title: Around £100k
World title: If it's a challenge, could be as slow as £100k up to £500k.. First defence etc would be above £500k..

Non the above figures mean anything tbh. It all depends on promotion.

[SteveDow]

Unless the fighter is very high profile I don't think he'd be getting £500k plus for a first defence of a world title. There's no way Cleverly for example would have been getting that defending the WBO title and he's pretty high profile. I think Enzo only got £300k for the Haye fight for example and so it must have been well less than that for his other defences.

[Greg Houston]

A world title challenge could be lower than £100k. I remember when Ricky Burns was named mandatory for his first world title t was in the news that he had been offered £50k to take the fight away from home.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Unless the fighter is very high profile I don't think he'd be getting £500k plus for a first defence of a world title. There's no way Cleverly for example would have been getting that defending the WBO title and he's pretty high profile. I think Enzo only got £300k for the Haye fight for example and so it must have been well less than that for his other defences.

Yeh, like I said, depends on your promotion and opposition. Can't see Clev earning £500k per defence up until he fought Kovalev.

If it's a world title challenge and it's gone to purse bid, all orgs minimum bid is usually £100,000 and in some cases for lower weights it's even less. a challenger is usually entitled to 20-35% depending on the org. So unless a deal is reached. You're looking at shittall for a world title challenge.

You can say, Hearn must pay his fighters decent amount of money. His shows sell good as well. Probably paid Okolie and Chamberlain £10-20k for their fight. It's wasn't for British title or anything, but 'good fight' on paper. It's probably the most they've earned. Can anyone tweet Hearn asking him? I'm not sure he would give out purse details over twitter.

[banjo]

Think I read that Froch got 25 grand for beating Damon Hague for the British, think it all depends on popularity, AJ made more in none title fights than Junior Witter did in his entire career.

[jamesmcdonnell]

All depends on profile, and how many viewers you bring.

Khan probably got more for his pro debut than many world title holders do for a routine defence.

[fightfan95]

It a question I don't think there's an actual answer for. There's so many factors in the pay for fighters e.g. popularity, how many tickets sell, promoters, PPV

There's no set pay for fights at different levels, so it's hard to gather a conclusive figure.

[Coco]

At the lower end it is all about ticket sales, you need to cover the cost of the opponent, about a grand, and then you keep a cut of the rest.
Good ticket sellers can earn well, others are fighting for peanuts so they can get wins.
If you can't cover the cost of your opponent you won't fight.

[Coco]

Bigger promoters take on genuine prospects to build them up to win titles as the money is covered by tv so they don't worry so much about ticket sales.
The bigger promoters still take on ticket sellers though as arenas still need to be filled, Bugaloni probably wouldn't have had the same opportunities without his fan base.

[bigped]

Unless the fighter is very high profile I don't think he'd be getting £500k plus for a first defence of a world title. There's no way Cleverly for example would have been getting that defending the WBO title and he's pretty high profile. I think Enzo only got £300k for the Haye fight for example and so it must have been well less than that for his other defences.

Yeh, like I said, depends on your promotion and opposition. Can't see Clev earning £500k per defence up until he fought Kovalev.

If it's a world title challenge and it's gone to purse bid, all orgs minimum bid is usually £100,000 and in some cases for lower weights it's even less. a challenger is usually entitled to 20-35% depending on the org. So unless a deal is reached. You're looking at shittall for a world title challenge.

You can say, Hearn must pay his fighters decent amount of money. His shows sell good as well. Probably paid Okolie and Chamberlain £10-20k for their fight. It's wasn't for British title or anything, but 'good fight' on paper. It's probably the most they've earned. Can anyone tweet Hearn asking him? I'm not sure he would give out purse details over twitter.

I would think okolie and chamberlain would
Have got well more than that , can’t see them
Fighting each other for that kind of money but who knows

[curtis wood]

My title fights

Dave Ryan home corner (English Title vacant) 5k

Shayne Singleton away in Manchester (English Title defence) 5k

Derry Matthews away corner (commonwealth title challenger) 8k

Darren Hamilton away corner (British Title challenge) 10k

Willie Limond in Scotland (British Title defence 30k

Frankie Gavin away corner (WBO intercontinental title) 14k

Take away 25% for managers and training fees plus a 12 week training camp and it equates to absolute peanuts, the only fight worth a carrot financially for me was the Limond one hence the reason why I took it. That's why it makes me chuckle when idiots say I'm coming back for a pay day! What payday! Regular fighters on sky sports will get paid more but a normal domestic grinder like me and they will all get in and around the same as the figures I've quoted. Hope this helps, and for the record I'm one of the lucky ones, I got paid more than most fighters I know, the problem is if you turn the fight down due to the purse been rubbish they just pick up the phone to the next fighter and keep going till somebody takes it. It's a tough old game to make a few quid

[rubberneck]

It’s quite surprising how little money there is in boxing overall. A world title is not a guarantee for a massive payday.

A few years ago I read that two light-flyweights contested a genuine world title for a purse of $11,000. Considering a 70/30 champ/challenger split and then the deduction of expenses and taxes it would have left either fighter with eff all money. I understand that the lower weight divisions don’t command as much money but that amount seemed ridiculously small.

[slapbangwhallop]

Very honest of you Curtis, fair play.

And like you say, you'd be considered a "draw" in the game and likely to be attracting a larger purse than the average licence holder in your position.

[rio]

My title fights

Dave Ryan home corner (English Title vacant) 5k

Shayne Singleton away in Manchester (English Title defence) 5k

Derry Matthews away corner (commonwealth title challenger) 8k

Darren Hamilton away corner (British Title challenge) 10k

Willie Limond in Scotland (British Title defence 30k

Frankie Gavin away corner (WBO intercontinental title) 14k

Take away 25% for managers and training fees plus a 12 week training camp and it equates to absolute peanuts, the only fight worth a carrot financially for me was the Limond one hence the reason why I took it. That's why it makes me chuckle when idiots say I'm coming back for a pay day! What payday! Regular fighters on sky sports will get paid more but a normal domestic grinder like me and they will all get in and around the same as the figures I've quoted. Hope this helps, and for the record I'm one of the lucky ones, I got paid more than most fighters I know, the problem is if you turn the fight down due to the purse been rubbish they just pick up the phone to the next fighter and keep going till somebody takes it. It's a tough old game to make a few quid

did you ever get your full purse vs Gavin in the end? I heard Warren got your check lost in the post!!! Allegedly the 10k you made for the Hamilton fight was peanuts compared to a bet that came in that night

[curtis wood]

I understand this is a business but most of us fight because we enjoy it, most have other jobs that pay the bills, boxing is a passion and any money I make out of it is just a bonus. You can't relie on boxing money to provide for a family unless you are one of the chosen few, probably less than 2% make enough to box full time, if you are full time you probably relie heavily on sponsorship and things like that, you are also not taking into account fights falling through because of injuries. No fight no wage, financially this is a brutal sport. Everybody says to me you must be loaded and I say I was till I started boxing!! I fight for cheap thrills, I love the sport, not for money because I've never earned any from boxing

[SteveDow]

The figures Curtis kindly quotes for us don't surprise me at all.

I won't name him on here out of respect but a friend of mine who used to box in the same GB amateur team as AJ and had built up an unbeaten record and had more than 10 fights has basically had to pack it in now and get a normal job simply because he can't make it pay. I think he was only getting a couple of grand a fight max and with all of the other expenses etc for a man with a family to feed it's very tough for even very talented fighters to make it pay.

[curtis wood]

Fwank bounced 3 cheques on me but I got paid in full in the end, the worse thing about that is I had to cancel my family holiday because I didn't have the money and that really annoyed me. I fought hard that night and gave my best, I earned my money and to have to wait months was not on and to have to tell my wife and kids I now couldn't afford to take them away was something I'll not forget. The bet is irrelevant, the British Title is worth more than any bet I ever allegedly had. Curtis Woodhouse former British champ. You can't put a price on that folks

[SteveDow]

I understand this is a business but most of us fight because we enjoy it, most have other jobs that pay the bills, boxing is a passion and any money I make out of it is just a bonus. You can't relie on boxing money to provide for a family unless you are one of the chosen few, probably less than 2% make enough to box full time, if you are full time you probably relie heavily on sponsorship and things like that, you are also not taking into account fights falling through because of injuries. No fight no wage, financially this is a brutal sport. Everybody says to me you must be loaded and I say I was till I started boxing!! I fight for cheap thrills, I love the sport, not for money because I've never earned any from boxing

Not sure whether this is a stupid question or not Curtis but when, as often happens, fights fall through due to injury is the fighter usually fully on the hook for all of his training expenses, trainers fees etc or is there some sort of insurance policy that can be taken out to at least cover these expenses? I'd imagine for most fighters one or two pullouts would lead to huge financial problems if the fighter was left having to cover all costs without any income.

[rio]

Fwank bounced 3 cheques on me but I got paid in full in the end, the worse thing about that is I had to cancel my family holiday because I didn't have the money and that really annoyed me. I fought hard that night and gave my best, I earned my money and to have to wait months was not on and to have to tell my wife and kids I now couldn't afford to take them away was something I'll not forget. The bet is irrelevant, the British Title is worth more than any bet I ever allegedly had. Curtis Woodhouse former British champ. You can't put a price on that folks

I was expecting you to go in harder on big Frank in your book but you would have probably got sued!
Was a massive achievement winning the British, good luck in completeing the set and winning the Commonwealth.

[curtis wood]

You don't need to pay your trainer or manager but all your expenses are not refunded or anything like that, it's just bad luck. You could be say 10 weeks in and paid for transport to and from the gym, sparring partners, strength and conditioning coach, dietitian, tape, gym fees, all sorts of stuff with nothing at the end of it. That happens a couple of times in a row which happens and you can be in serious financial trouble. What normally happens is good fighters take away jobs underprepared to pay the bills then next thing you get labelled a bum, I've sparred some top talents that can't sell a ticket so can't fight as nobody will put them in the home corner and they are too good to go in the away corner. It's a messed up game

[SteveDow]

Thanks for the response Curtis, that's pretty much what I thought. Certainly takes a hell of a lot of dedication and mental toughness even to deal with those issues let alone what actually happens in the ring.

[rio]

You don't need to pay your trainer or manager but all your expenses are not refunded or anything like that, it's just bad luck. You could be say 10 weeks in and paid for transport to and from the gym, sparring partners, strength and conditioning coach, dietitian, tape, gym fees, all sorts of stuff with nothing at the end of it. That happens a couple of times in a row which happens and you can be in serious financial trouble. What normally happens is good fighters take away jobs underprepared to pay the bills then next thing you get labelled a bum, I've sparred some top talents that can't sell a ticket so can't fight as nobody will put them in the home corner and they are too good to go in the away corner. It's a messed up game

Who are some of the best fighters you sparred who had the ability but haven't made it because of there inability to sell tickets?

[tim99b]

So now how much would someone like Martin j Ward earn in his last 5 fights winning the British outright/ commonwealth and the European title