Ticket selling in the pros

Interesting people talk about people talking about dead certs pulling out of buying tickets. My cousin kept telling me 100% (i needed to hand money on Thursday) text me saying 100% for him and his mate. Next thing he pulls out Friday costs me £60.

 

Out of interest Jeff, how many tickets do you usually do? and did you ever hear how many tickets Mark Potter sold for EBF shows.

It's no wonder so many pro's are tempted by unlicensed when you can make a mint (without needing to train as hard) for fighting a total novice who hasn't had 1 fight of any kind.

 

two of my mate who are brothers are both pros and was fighting on a preston bill but had struggled to shift tickets they were told only one was allowed to fight that night. and another mate is constantly putting status on facebook for ppl to get tickets shame realy but thats the crude buisness boxing is

 

It's one of my annoyances when some people say certain boxers (young pros not signed to lucrative contracts a lá the Olympians) should be more active.
Easy to say, not so easy to do when you have to shift 100 tickets at an average of £30 a pop every few weeks, especially in the current economic climate when a lot of people simply can't afford it.

Many more boxers would be boxing far more frequently (as they should), but simply can't shift huge amounts of tickets that regularly.

 

well aye i agree, but when sky are intrested showing them ,and they have tv dates the money that you get from Sky will help to make up any shortfall .

 

Probably around less than 10% of all licensed pros in Britain get tv exposure mate, and a much lesser percentage than that of licensed promoters actually have tv deals in place so the boxers can gain that exposure.

There's a general belief that there's a lot of money to be made in boxing. There may well be, but it is a very, very low percentage of licence holders who actually make good money out of it. Boxing at ground level, in the pros, stopped being a talent contest long ago. It is literally a popularity contest - who has the most mates to sell tickets to.
If you have great amateur pedigree and exposure, then you may get lucky with a a prominent promoter investing in you, but for the greater many, that isn't the case.

 

All true mate, despite the idea of investing in amateurs being badly flawed these days.

What really doesn't sit well with me is the likes of DeGale, Gavin etc getting European title money for 6x3's. Obviously the higher profile amateurs do get more than the rest and that I've got no problem with, but THAT much more?

No way.

Especially considering the likes of Ricky Burns and Rendall Munroe have both spent significant %'s of their pro careers holding down a day job.

 

Indeed. There's a MASSIVE gulf in what the majority of boxers earn and what the public THINK they earn.

Then take into account it costs a boxer the best part of a grand a year to fight (licence fees, medicals, brain scan, etc), without a sponsor that's pretty steep, especially if you're only earning between £500-£1000 a fight, and can only fight 2 or 3 times a year due to the ticket selling pressure.

There are some very good boxers who have no choice but to become journeymen, simply because they don't have the financial backing or enough ticket selling clout to develop their own careers nicely.
And people say all you've got to do is win the fights as a journeyman and then you'll become the prospect. It doesn't always work like that (in most cases). You win the fights, you simply don't get any phone calls offering you work.

 

Very good points Gaz S. These days it is very important to have a good amateur career. Many people just don't realise how corrupt and unjust the sport is.

 

This thread could be summarised and closed after my next two words.......

Paul Smith :deal

 

there is no middle class in boxing

 

he is