If Beterbiev wants the big paydays he has to make a effort like Golovokin did . GGG has 338 k followers on twitter AB has 507 . GGG at least has made attempt to learn English to make himself more marketable.
Can't blame him for Beterbiev-Barrera mate, nothing to do with him. If he avoids the Kovalev rematch, then you can blame him for that.
This is an excellent post, I agree that Duva did not want the Beterbiev-Barrera fight and is likely the one to blame here. But I do still think GYM ought to have been willing to pay Barrera more in order to get the fight made, $62,750 is clearly insufficient. GYM have a track record of not backing up Beterbiev and investing the money to get good opponents. That being said, Beterbiev hasn't helped himself by not learning English nor making much of an attempt to market himself. But from a fan perspective, it's a real shame that GYM are seemingly happy for Beterbiev to mill around smashing cans while waiting for a Ward title shot, if it ever happens.
Adonis Stevenso raped, tortured and possibly murdered underage girls yet they seem to have no problems promoting him.
Agreed. Good post. One of the byproducts of GYM forcing the process was the 75% guaranteed split if they won, resulting in a (IMO unfairly low) gross amount going to Barrera's side. Duva also knew this, and I think that also plays into why she bid an absurdly low amount- if she loses, it's pretty justifiable to walk away from such a low payday given the sizable risk. Had she won for, say, $300k, her fighter gets the larger split- Sullivan gets $225k, and Beterbiev would have had to fight for $75,000. I think GYM would've been fine if she'd won for that very reason you stated- it'd have been cheaper for them. If they win with a low bid and she walks, they can play the ducking angle. It's a frustrating situation all around. It doesn't help that it took this long for the fight to be canceled given that the purse results were already known for a few weeks, which is why I think the Ward-Kovalev rematch negotiations may have some part to play in it, too. If that fight falls through, Barrera's a natural choice for Kovalev's next fight.
Theres no point saying "This guy, or that guy should get more money" The fighters get paid on what they can bring in. Neither of these guys have big fan bases. If there was money to be had in this fight, Main Events wouldnt have bid 181,000. Whats Barrera going to do? Hes obviously not going to get Ward fight money other than basically fighting Ward (Or maybe Kovalev) These Cubans for all their ability and talent, never seem to get their business side of things right in their careers
You made a lot of good points. However, some media outlets have said that the fight is worth more than $251,000. To put it into comparison, Anthony Dirrell vs Callum Smth was multi-millions. Sure they have bigger fan-bases, but it's not 10x bigger, Barrera has a fan-base and Beterbiev is reasonably well-known too as a threat to Kovalev and Ward. Both promoters, especially Duva, bid low because they had no real interest in making the fight. I consider that attitude most unfortunate.
They are also promoting Beterbiev but it is hard to promote a guy who can't promote himself at all. Bute was loved in Quebec because he learned french and was a humble guy. GYM promote Stevenson, Stevenson can promote somehow himself, he is the champion, but nobody likes him and he doesn't really sell.
75-25 was set in favor of Beterbiev, not because GYM won the purse bid, but because there was a bid in the first place and Beterbiev was the #1 contender... Plus it is not to GYM to pay more money to Barrera out of charity, they would have paid Beterbiev more, like they do usually with him (they are loosing money everytime he fights). It was to Main Event to pay more there own fighter.