That makes no sense to me. None. If they're willing to fight for X dollars against say Manfredo and Stevens or something...why wouldn't they still fight for X dollars with the added bonus of a bigger name? Sure, the risk goes up but so does the (non-financial) reward. :huh
I guess it all depends if these guys have short term or long term ambitions. Sometimes, it's a great thing to take a step back in order to eventually take a bigger step forward. It goes for all of them...Bute, Pavlik, Andrade, etc. I'm sure Interbox could afford to give close to $200Gs for a Bike or Andrade / Pavlik co-feature.