Fighters, Finances and Splits – When Is Enough, Enough?

[AdSense-A]

By Tyler “The Miracle Man” White

I saw something recently about Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn offering Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder fights and everything always breaking down because of splits and sums of money, etc.

In fact, it was UFC fighter Darren Till who said the following:

“Alls I’ve heard come out of Eddie & Joshua’s mouth is business this and business that and split this and money that… f*cking give it a rest will ye. Your gonna be a billionaire anyway so just let’s see who the best are out of Joshua, Wilder & Fury. My money is on Fury!”

Whilst I respect that each fighter wants to get as larger slice of the pie as possible, I think Darren Till makes a really good point here.

It’s no secret that Anthony Joshua is a multi-millionaire already and with a smart head on his shoulders, he will have made some serious investments guaranteeing that he’s never short on cash ever again.

These smart investments as well as all of his incredibly lucrative sponsorship deals are due to see him rake in the cash, even past his retirement as he is likely to remain a British sporting icon, much like his predecessors Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis.

With all of this in mind, surely it would make sense for “AJ” and his team to offer a 50/50 split or maybe even succeed a small percentage just to make the fight(s) happen?

I know there’s an arduous amount of politics involved in boxing, regarding promotional disputes and such-like, but in theory, it really should be as simple as making the fight happen, even if it means you miss out on such a large slice of the big fight pie…

The question that arises in my mind, is how much money does a fighter need in the bank, before they start taking a cut in earnings just to make a fight happen?

Should they take a cut? Or should they stick to their guns? After all it’s their health and legacy that they’re putting on the line. It’s them that has to live with the consequences of losing their titles after all; not anybody else…

This is a frustratingly divisive aspect of boxing – fans want to see these big fights, but it’s not the fans who have to risk their careers and their health, but on the other hand, fans are the ones who pay for the fighters to earn these huge purses and surely it’s the fighters’ job to make the big fights happen?

Regardless of what we think individually, I don’t see things changing any time soon and I see the heavyweight division remaining very frustrating for the foreseeable future too!

Check out Tyler “The Miracle Man” White who is part of a new podcast called “British Boxing Talk” on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

[si-contact-form form=’2′]