I've always wondered, what kinda £££ do sparring partners make? I've just been reading David Haye's book, and they mention in there that they had Vaughn Bean over as a sparring partner for him (the guy who lost to Holyfield) and mention that Bean had left his wife and kids at home etc to come and be a sparring partner, but I think, if memory serves me right this was for Haye's fight against Barrett so I can't imagine he earned a fortune himself. So I wondered, what does a sparring partner make? It must be a decent whack if it's convincing guys to come across the atlantic and leave their families etc for a few weeks.
Dominic Ingle said that Richard Towers got £1,000 a week to spar Vitali or Wladimir can't remember which
Puts Boxers Purses into perspective say Haye got £500,000 for the Barrett Fight. Tax man takes £200,000 Trainer takes £50,000 (10%) Manager Takes £50,00 (10%) Sparing partners would take at least another £10,00 as some of them would be working for more than a week some at the same time as other etc. Leaving him with £190,000 not to be sniffed at but these lads aren't on the mega money some of us think.
Does the tax man really take 40% of the full purse or what is left after trainer, manager, training costs etc? I'm sure I read someone say you're lucky if you're left with 40%
It would be 50% tax bracket at that level for sure. There might be some avoidance methods but in principle they won't be earning £500k and paying 40% tax!
Haye would have paid tax on the amount left after trainer, manager, sparring partner, training costs, travel etc as they would be considered business expenses and not earned income. That said it was done trough his own promotional company which is a ltd company so he would pay less tax on what he ended up receiving in his pocket anyway.
Someone like Haye wouldn't be paying 40% on the full £500k. His promotional company would probably be paid the fee and then all other costs would come out as expenses from that before Booth and himself took a 'wage'. Whatever criticisms you want to throw at Haye and Booth - being bad businessmen is never going to be near the top of that list.
The Taxman would still get their share it just all wouldn't be taxed from Haye. Let's say Haye paid Adam Booth £50,000. The Taxman would tax Adam Booth on his £50,000. So Haye would get personally taxed on what he earned after expenses, and everyone else would get taxed on what they earned whether they were a manager or sparring partner, whatever really.
But as the guy above me said, there will be all kinds of ways to avoid paying as much tax as they should. A good accountant can do anything with money really.