can someone explain how they work? is it just a bid to see who offers more money to control the fight management? and is this the only way a fight between an HBO and a Showtime fighter will meet in the ring?
If a fight goes to purse bids, both parties offer total control to whomever wins. They choose venue, network, everything, and the fighters split the purse.
If a fight goes to pursebids there will be a minimum established (say $200.000) and the participating parties have to make a deposit first. After that they can bid on the fight, in a closed way, and the highest bidder gets to arrange and promote the fight having the final say in just about everything but usually there will be negotiation about a couple of things to make sure the fight actually takes place. And no, it's not the only way a HBO fighter fights a Showtime fighter. In more as just a few cases the fight still won't happen due to the networks not letting their fighter onto another channel, in wich case belts get vacated and #1 positions are forfeited. Sometimes HBO and Showtime fighters can make a deal on their own with the networks permission though... like Manny vs Floyd next week, wich is a combined effort.
