Callum Smith has now recieved an offer to fight Billy Joe Saunders on BT Sport PPV

But hang on a sec...

The Hearn fanatics have passionately argued for a long time that BJS has little commercial worth. That he doesn’t sell tickets. That he’s boring etc.

So surely it should make sense that the money in a fight with him is not that big? Why should Smith be paid highly to fight a guy who supposedly has no commercial value?

Strange one that...

 

If that’s the case it’s fair enough.Saunders doesn’t bring much to the table and smith can accomplish everything he wants in his career without fighting Saunders.

 

No if Saunders didn’t have a title it would be fair enough. Smith is turning down a unification fight against a far smaller man. It’s a stone cold duck.

 

For next to no money. If someone said to you do a job that’s twice as hard for the same money you are in. Would you do it?

He has the carrot of the Canelo fight who has an 11 fight deal and is running out of opponents. Smith has already proven mor win his career than BJS has and in all likelihood earned 10 x the money. BJS needs smith, Smith doesn’t need BJS if you need him pay him. It’s simple.

He’s been offered the same money as he would get fighting average fighters. It’s fair enough

 

It’s not next to no money, he’d make around a million likely provided it’s a genuine 50/50 cut with no one else taking a large slice of the pie.

And more importantly if he wins he has another carrot to lure Canelo.

Yes I would take the fight in his shoes although that means absolutely nothing because I’m a nobody.

 

Fair play. Personally I wouldn’t. A million to fight ndam and a million to fight BJS are two different things.

BJS needs a big fight in his record... if he wants that to be Smith then make him and offer he can’t refuse. Everyone has a price as their prizefighters at the end of the day.

 

To say it’s only the same money as Ndam is shortsighted.

It’s the opportunity to unify the world titles first of all. It’s legacy. Secondly, it gives Callum more leverage for his negotiations with the likes of Canelo. Thirdly, it has the potential to boost your profile with it being a big domestic clash.

British boxing fans should be crying out for this fight. I think it’s a little bit sad when the odd one or two on here justify the duck because it’s only a million or whatever. Like it’s their own personal risk/money/deal. Wow.

 

Why doesn't Hearn make a 60/40 counter offer for sky ppv? That's a great fight and a great deal for both fighters. Sky would make a success of the PPV and everybody gets paid well. I don't think team Smith/matchroom want anything to do with Billy and I don't blame them. Even if Smith got the win he'd probably look bad in doing so. Yes, I've answered my initial question

 

It's not about justifying anything though? It's just acknowledging reality. The two guys may be well matched in the ring, but outside it they're heading in two different directions.

The reality is that BJS needs this far more than Callum does. He's steered his career into a ditch at the same time that Callum has moved himself into a prime position to make his retirement money. The path that Callum is trying to follow leads from the WBSS and Ring SMW king to a multi million pound paycheck, a career defining fight against the biggest draw in the business, all of which taking place in front of 60,000 of his fellow scousers in the stadium of the team he supports. Win and he's stratospheric, lose and maybe it's time to call it a day and enjoy the easy life.

Sadly for Billy Jo, he's nowhere near that through a combination of his own stupidity and the vagaries of the boxing business. He's currently high risk low reward which is a bad position to be in and all he has to offer is a belt that he took off a no mark with help from the Warren Boxing Organisation. so as @Trafford says above he can either sweeten the pill and take less or he and Frank can try and talk their way into the fight.

As a fan, sure I'd like to see them fight, but if it doesn't happen I won't blame Callum. He's represented British boxing better than almost anyone in the past few years and he's taking exactly the right decisions to maximise his rewards from the time remaining in his career. If it were a choice between the Saunders fight and seeing Callum knocking seven bells out of Canelo at Anfield I know which I'd choose.

 

I ****ing hate this era of fan promoters, I just wanna see good fights.

 

If he’s just stalling to fight Canelo then there’s no complaints from me. I’d love to see that fight although there is not a hope in hell that Canelo fights in the UK, nevermind Anfield. Absolutely zero chance of that.

If the Canelo fight isn’t going to happen soon, it makes sense to try and unify the titles imo or step up and try and become a 2 weight world champion against a Bivol or whoever.

 

It's unlikely to be at Anfield given DAZN pay the piper and call the tune, but it would be epic if it were.

Benavidez though... Once he's dealt with Dirrell....

 

It's not that big but that doesn't change the fact that Smith is getting paid just as well fighting other fighters. It's risk and reward and why is he going to fight BJS for the same money he gets fighting N'Dam? Smith doesn't need BJS. Smith ha far more options than Saunders does.

This is not saying Warren is lowballing as Warren may just look at what he believes the fight is worth and his offer reflects that.

 

What does that tell you about the appeal of the fight then? If you believe it's such a shot in the arm for British boxing yet the #1 sports platform in the country wouldn't want to pay both fighters over £1 mil for a PPV fight? That doesn't sound like a shot in the arm at all if you believe that to be the case.

 

Couldn’t of put it better