Roy Jones Jr vs Michael Nunn

As for in Great Britain, this was a guy who it seemed was never out of the papers or off our TV screens (in a time when everyone bought a newspaper every day and we only had four tv channels), no sportsman including Henry Cooper, Tyson or Ali had received the same amount of attention or exposure. We were fascinated.

 

If the PPV was $50 back then, the Toney fight should have netted him 5.25m plus site fee

• Toney and Jones turned down guaranteed purses ($2.5 million for Toney, $2 million for Jones) and took percentages.
  Toney received 45% and Jones 35% of all revenues after expenses.
• There was an estimated crowd of 7,000.
• There were 300,000 pay-per-view buys.

Roy Jones generated 160,000-175,000 buys in his first few PPV bouts against Montell Griffin, Vinny Pazienza and Eric Harding and took a large percent of the PPV

 

He did get $3m and he’d just signed a big new contract with HBO.

He wasn’t making peanuts.

 

I think Eubank made the UK the temporary Mecca in the early 90s, hence all the Americans wanting to come here to fight him in front of much bigger crowds and audiences.

 

PPVs were buttons back then on TVKO, nowhere near $50!! More like $10.

 

I know.

I lived through the era.

He was a star in Britain.

He was huge.

I can even remember the sketches from ‘Spitting Image’ etc.

He wasn’t a superstar to the rest of the boxing world though.

 

The crowds were never that relevant.

PPV was far more relevant.

 

If you watch ITV's 1992 year-end show, Eubank informs the audience that Nigel Benn isn't in the same class as himself, Michael Nunn or James Toney, and says he wants to fight both Nunn and Toney by the end of 1993 to find out who is the very best.

Bob Arum says prior to the Eubank-Holmes fight on ITV on a recorded interview that Eubank has too much of an awkward style and would make Nunn and Toney look bad on ppv, so it wouldn't make business sense when he's trying to sell them.

Eubank didn't get a look-in, so did his own thing.

 

Wow. So 5,000 quiet fans in Ballys or New Jersey was a spectacle like an Old Trafford, Wembley or Cork Stadium or even that 'Supertent' at Finsbury Park in 89 for Benn-Watson (in which NBC took Roy ringside for to build a fight with Benn, and Roy says he was completely blown away and never knew anything like that existed - it didn't before then!... Eubank and Nunn were also ringside)

 

The real reason the fights didn't happen was partly because Benn/Eubank weren't big enough in America. Benn was after McClellan, Benn and Jones wanted the fight but the problem was:

The last remark, it soon turned out, extended to him and Nigel Benn. 'You go tell Don King I'll take that fight any time. Nigel Benn's a great warrior, that's why I want the fight!'

The problem,however, remained that Jones and his adviser, Stanley Levin, were not prepared to give King any options on fights beyond a unification title bout with Benn. King was also determined that a scrap as momentous as Jones-Benn would only be screened on his Showtime payperview network while Roy and Stan were connected to Don's most despised foe - HBO.

A month after he had crushed Thornton, Jones said that he was willing to strike a seperate a seperate deal with Benn which would force King's hand. 'That's what I'd like to do,' he said. 'I hear about Don King offering $25,000,000 for me and Benn. He can come up with $10,00,000 apiece and we can fight' - without offering any long-term control to King.

Me and Benn - enough said. I like Benn and that's why I want to fight him. It's a sportsman challenge. [But] they cant speak for themselves. They don't have the power. They're denying the public of some great fights..people want to see something which is intriguing to their minds. Something which will look good...I really like the biggest challenge out there. When I fought James Toney, it was a project. Benn is a project because he is a warrior and he will be a tough fight for me. I really believe Benn wants to fight me. I have a lot of faith in him. I respect him.

 

We're supposed to be talking Nunn v Jones. Nunn at his best was better, which is certainly no shame.

 

PPV still brings in more money than crowds. The issue would be building the British fighters American profile while combining that with a big crowd.

The promoters couldn't pull that off in the 90s. Today they can because they build the European fighters American profile.

 

No, look at their respective Toney performances. Nunn defensive game was terrible and he arm punched most of his punches.

 

He stood in front of a 100% Toney and completely out boxed him. Jones bounced around the ring against a 25% James

 

One is more impressive than the other