One way or another, there's going to be life after boxing. The sport's history is depressingly full of fighters who reached the pinnacle, only to be forced to survive after boxing through the hat being passed around for them. In this thread, I prefer to focus on the success stories. Think of the fighters who reached a reasonably high level -- say, ring top 10 ranking at some point. In that group, which ones do you think leveraged their boxing careers into good livings after retiring from the ring? Acting careers, Dempsey's bar, Golden Boy Promotions, training fighters, selling grills, Holmes's real estate investments...which ones made the best moves?
Max Schmeling working for Coca Cola. He also became quite wealthy and lived to an advanced age. I believe He even helped Joe Louis post retirement.
Well George Foreman has a net wealth of 300 million. 250 of that came from selling grills. I'm not sure but I would guess the majority of the 50 mil mostly came from ventures outside of boxing. I do know he was somewhat broke after his first career in boxing. The majority of his money made from actually fighting came during his comeback and was not made or retained during his first act as a fighter.
Through most of the 19th century, buying a pub was the equivalent of a retirement plan, for a successful boxer or army/navy officer. That is why so many pubs are named after generals and admirals.
Nino Benvenuti was also quite successful. He is 83 years old now and father of several kids. He was a successful businessman, opened a high-class restaurant, was actor in a few movies, he was also involved in a documentation about Carlos Monzon, TV pundit and city counselor for sport in Trieste. He was Olympic flag bearer and a torchbearer for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games. He was several times Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nation’s World Food Day and is honorary citizen from different municipalities. He was in India for some time to work for the Mother Teresa Project...
How much did George earn in his comeback minus the grill deal? Because I know he had a game out for the Sega & Nintendo.
He certainly made millions fighting but the bulk of his fortune came from his endorsements. Too bad his opponents didn't fair as well in retirement. I saw a YouTube interview with Micahel Moorer from a year or two ago and he said that he was flat broke. Holyfield lost millions after his career was over.
A very successful fighter should himself place some of his earnings away after each fight. It is best not to entrust anyone with your money. If it is a need, by all means get it, if it is a want, think it over financially before purchasing it. Squandering money away is not a long term safe practice, be practical, that is how I was taught. That way when Father time comes knocking at your dressing room door, you are all set for a comfortable retirement. You will not be living underneath a bridge like many past athletes.
John Ruiz seems to have invested well and lives in a nice house and vacations/travels, etc. He recently became a correctional officer as well. Gotta stay busy once you retire from boxing, may not be young for the sport anymore, but still young in your working life.
For a guy who self-admittedly was illiterate for much of his life, Larry Holmes always impressed the hell out of me with his financial sense and planning for his life after boxing. Used his money to pay cash and build his dream house, invested wisely in local real estate, and most importantly - no scandals. No booze, no drugs, no multiple kids out of wedlock. Married to the same woman from the start. Boxing wasn't the only thing he learned from Ali; he also had enough street smarts to avoid the hustlers and sudden good-buddies that show up when you've cashed a million dollar paycheck. I believe he helped Joe Frazier out a time or two when Joe was in dire straits financially.
Didn't Tunney marry into a rich family? Graziano sounds like his wife helped him save a lot of his money and it sounds like he retired all right. Roy Jones seems like he's doing OK, just had that Tyson exhibition and has/could have a successful commentary job Robert Garcia is now a successful trainer and he owns some condos he rents out for income I'm kind of curious what happened to Michael Spinks because he had some weird deal where he would get X number of dollars for life set up by his manager, but when his manager died I thought it went sideways. Hagler retired to Italy and became a b action star Hopkins seems to keep busy with golden boy promotions Lennox is retired and commentates
The most do-able of the lot seem to be owning a bar/restaurant, real estate, investments generally, sports commentating, a job in corrections or security, and refraining from getting into drugs or fathering kids out of wedlock. Oh, and save your money and be frugal/cheap. Acting careers like Hagler, Briggs, Norton, or Cobb had (like Corbett and Ali on stage beforehand) might be viable with talent. At least if you're muscular and/or scary looking. If you don't mind being humiliated by being associated with it, pro wrestling is an option, which Carnera and Louis tried (among others.) But it's likely not a stable or good source of income. Charming an heiress into marrying you, or becoming a successful businessman for a multinational corporation, is probably more for the likes of Tunney and Schmeling than for mere mortals. Similarly, unless your name is Foreman (or Butterbean...), you probably don't have enough name recognition for your own grill or video game. Ruddock tried to patent a trash compactor, and despite a relatively good career at heavyweight, I haven't heard of his star power turning "The Smash" into a success. Couldn't hurt to have an autobiography ghost-written for you, though. Especially if you faced somebody famous, or two. A couple guys become big name trainers, but I don't know how well you'd get paid if you actually stayed in boxing, ironically. Plus, you might not have a knack for teaching. A few become promoters themselves, but that's probably closer to the Foreman/Tunney/Schmeling end of the viability spectrum. Not very.
