I am a boxing manager: if you have questions about the boxing biz, ask!

Very true, I got a call from Carl King who wanted to work with me, he told me he would get me a deal with DKP, for a nice slice of the pie(%) I forget how much. Didn't even consider it.
I know a big name promoter/trainer, who used to invite his fighters to eat, he would pay for it, but at the end of the training camp, each fighter got a bill for the total amount of the bill rather then what they ordered. Yes sir fun and games in boxing.

 

M, good to hear, I saw Duddy when he was coming up and met some of the behind the scenes guys involved with his career. Ticket sales count and I don't mean the type you sell to family and friends.

 

You are correct the contract is structured more to protect the promoter, Don King's attorney told me that he structured DKP's promotional to close all loopholes for the fighter.

I want to give you two examples of clauses that could appear in a promotional contract. Let's say the promoter offers you 4 fights a year, the contract is specific, 4 fights you say. At the end of the year you go and say to the promoter, "hey I only fought twice last year you owe me two fights."
The promoter tells you, "remember the fight we offered you in Sept, that you turned down cos you were getting married, and that other fight we offered you and you turned it down cos you felt you didn't have enough time to get ready? You fought two fights, and you turned down two fights that totals four fights, we gave you the opportunity to fight on four different shows.
The second clause is the the minimum purses for a fight, it might be specific as to rounds, ex. 4rds you get X, 6, 8, 10 and 12 you get X, it says specifically how much you will be paid for each fight. The promoter comes to you in the dressing room and says, "we are losing money on this show, and really cant afford your fight, if you take a 50% cut in your pay we will put you on. The fighter says whoa my minimum is this, why should I take a cut on my purse. The promoter will say, yes your minimum is this and you signed the bout agreement with that amount, but if you look at your contract you will see this line"unless otherwise agreed to". So the fighter is given a choice fight at a reduced purse or dont fight, and this fight counts as one of the fights we have to offer you.

Over here on an upcoming local show, the fighter has to sell enough tickets to cover his opponents purse. I dont want to sign big headed, but not my guys, if my guys sell tickets it's because they can, and it means an extra amount added to his purse. My guys get 20%, of ticket sales, otherwise fergitboutit.

I feel for those guys that have to pay for their own fights, cos it really is a pain collecting the money and tracking people down.

Believe me no fighter ever thinks they are overpaid, they all believe they are getting slave wages, and getting screwed by the evil promoters.

Fighters have to know what they are worth and how much is on the table, and to realize that they have to be reasonable in their dealings. Thats why I try to build a fanbase for my guys, so that I have leverage when it comes to negotiating.

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I have dealt with a few UK promoters and yes you are right, the opponent or the "B" side is paid more cos the promoter is bringing in the right opponent or bringing in a fighter from the US, to face a local killer. To face even a used up veteran from the US means more for for the UK promoter cos then he can get more play cos the local is facing an American fighter, the average fan, doesn't know it's a set-up, all they know is that the local hero is fighting a "tough" American.

 

The fighters are always the last to know, cos all they want is to be able to show their stuff, and are usually the just happy to be at the dance. Managers like me, are not liked by local promoters cos they want to control the fighters and a stinkin' manager tends to complicate things.

 

No thats not what I am saying, let's say the promoter has a budget of a million dollars for Wilder to fight somebody on HBO. This means the promoter has to put together a fight and pay both sides out of the million. Let's say they pay Wilder $250,000, and the opponent is on board for $100,000, for a total of $350,000. Both purses are more than fair, so nobody is being robbed. A good manager might have squeezed the promoter a little more, to up the purse but not much more.
The promoter, then has made $650,000, but wait they have to put on a show and pay for the undercard, and everything else that goes to putting on a show, it comes out of the promoters end. Thats why you see crap undercards. This is how the promoter gets his, he is able to get a fee for letting Wilder fight on HBO, and if Wilder looks good then they are able to fight him again on HBO or PPV, where both can get paid. Promoters are really investors, putting up the money to advance the career of the fighter and increase their chances of making their money back.

 

The fighter can protect themselves, by doing a little research, learn to read a contract, know that you have rights that are protected by law seek advice from people who are in the business, boxing guys will give you their opinions about somebody get a feel for them. Sometimes a fighter is his own worst enemy, "Just cos he smiles doesn't mean he's your friend", fighters seem to listen best to fools, who tell them, that they should fighting this guy and getting paid this much, that everybody is looking to screw them, protect yourself do your homework cos it's your butt on the line.

 

Al Haymon is good for his fighters but in a way bad for boxing. Haymon has leverage which he uses to get his way as any manager should. The thing is that Haymon is too good, if thats possible. Andre Berto, earns millions when he fights, the question is does he deserve that money? He draws nothing at the gate and fights a bunch of soft opponents until Ortiz and then Guerrero banged him around. Haymon is doing his job getting his guy the best deal so you cant blame him, for what he can squeeze out of the promoter. It hurts boxing in different ways, Haymon has set a high bar $ wise, everybody else will think they deserve as much or more, the outlets(HBO, SHOWTIME, PPV) have a budget, for the year and for a fight, when you overpay on one end, you pay for it on the other end, so next time you see crappy undercard fights, this is one of the reasons why, the networks have an annual budget so if someone is overpaid that is taking a big chunk out of that budget, which in turn means less fights and lower qualty fights. Haymon's musical endevours gives him the power and the leverage with HBO and SHOWTIME.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/s...ng-up-the-fight-game.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
or google:Behind the Scenes, Haymon Is Shaking Up the Fight Game