FROM THE BOTTOM TO MAYWEATHER’S $85M, HOW DO THE PURSES OF OTHER FIGHTERS COMPARE?
A boxer’s gotta eat. Even though beating people up (in the ring, of course) is a time honoured tradition, it still has to pay the bills. Is boxing a reasonable career to pursue? Or is it a complete gamble, which sees only the very few become financially successful. There are probably at least hundreds of thousands of serious boxers on this planet. Their abilities range from outstanding to embarrassingly inept. Sort of like how it is in London’s financial district or on Wall Street. Many, if not all, of the people that take the sport seriously from a young age have dreams of becoming a professional. That’s admirable, but what does that mean from an actual salary perspective? How much will you make as you start from the bottom and climb up the ranks? It’s usually a good idea to look before leaping, so, let’s take a look at what a promising boxer can, or will, earn through the course of their career.
I originally wanted to begin this article with British boxers. Unfortunately, the information needed for this article is not available from the BBBoC. They informed me that those details are retained by the boxer and/or his manager. For a study like this, in the amount of time that I had, approaching every single boxer and their manager would have been quite the task. As the song goes (and also in the Bible), “when one door is closed, don’t you know another is open.” Isn’t there a little place in America that hosts the odd boxing match? Yes, there is and the great people with the Nevada State Athletic Commission gave me the information that I needed. I’m also expecting boxer wage/purse information for the states of New York and California. In the meantime, let’s take a look at what type of money, good professional boxers are making as they build their careers.
I included Jesus Soto Karas, who has only won 1 out ouf his last 6, and the fading Joel Cassamayor to provide some additional perspective I’m going to let the below numbers do most of the talking, with the exception of the following notes and a summary after the tables below:
• This information is from matches that were held in the state of Nevada
• It’s in alphabetical order. I picked 12 relevant boxers. Obviously many others competed in Nevada during the time period below.
• N/A means that the boxer in question didn’t fight in Nevada during that year. More than likely he fought in a different American state, or country, as opposed to not fighting at all that year.
• Some of these boxers will be fighting in the next few weeks and I did not include that purse information.
• Erislandy Lara…GBP, WTF is going on? Hopefully things changed dramatically in 2012. Erislandy Lara is boxing’s version of James Brown…the hardest working man in boxing.
• One, or two of the “Record from last bout in ’09…” figures might be off by a match. What can I say; I’m barely able to count to 10 and that’s only because I watch boxing. If any divisions are slightly off, blame these guys for not staying in one division for long enough…it’s never the writer’s fault.
Along this road to success in boxing, there are certainly politics and other headaches. The politics and games in boxing are long story, so that can be a topic for another day. What I hope is evident after reviewing the two to three year snapshot above, is that if you’re good and win, then boxing can definitely be a rewarding career. Success can be in spite of the politics. If you either have, or develop the ability, cultivate that ability to the max., have the dedication that boxing demands and the chance to show that ability professionally, then the pain game and its wages might not be too bad at all.
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Good info. Keep up the great work.
Thanks man. The formatting of the article was wacky, but I fixed it.
PACQUIAO #1. Marquez is just a sore loser!. I used to like him but now his annoying cry baby. Idiot. Gayweather wants to mouth off but did he call out Pacquiao? of cousre not because he knows the PACMAN has something for his ass. All the crap he was doing at Marquez fight well he wont be able to do all that with Pacquiao ..he’ll get one of those pinoy combinations, he’ll be like WTF???>>>PACQUIAO ALL THE WAY . MABUHAY!
No sweat. I actually changed it a little too…it’s on the front page now.
Nice one. Thanks.
Sheesh…if I get a couple more promotions at my job, then my name can be added to this list. Lol. Seriously though, these guys either need new management, no promoter, or a breakthrough fight.
Great piece!
Thanks.
Which networks involved for each purse would of been nice. Good read nevertheless.
Thanks. Yeah that would’ve added some more to the analysis. Luckily it’s more about the promoter and who else is on the bill/card (I got lazy and rolled all of that up in the date of the match e.g. 5/5 was May-Cotto and Jesse Vargas got a cool $125k).
Great job Christian! Very informative.
Thanks man.
funny thing is the top rank guys who are being robbed blind, are actually getting a decent pay are they not? compared to other fighters
lol! GBP dela hoya and mayweather jr. were guilty. I thought they said they’re after the welfare of boxers under them?
Hey Rolando, I’m not defending anyone here, but keep in mind that I purposefully picked up and coming boxers, so some of the purses are very small. As these guys have progressed they’ve steadily been getting paid more. Now I’m at a loss for the Erislandy Lara situation, but as mentioned above, I don’t have his latest numbers. My impression after going through all of the info. from Nevada is that as long as you sign a good contract, are with one of the major promoters and win regularly, you have a great chance of making proper money.
Also, when it comes to a boxer’s purse, my understanding is that it really does make a difference if it’s a front-end loaded deal, back-end deal, or some sort of equal mix.
MG, yeah, I thought the same thing when I saw the TR numbers. I guess that there’s a reason why boxers sign with them. The question though is, are their deals front end loaded i.e. as you become more popular do your wages not keep up with that popularity? Is that why people like Cotto, De La Hoya and FM jumped ship?
Cotto saw a more lucrative fight with Mayweather? He said he’d do business with Top Rank again. Probably what happened with Mayweather and DLH, as they became more popular it seems they didn’t get there way.
I’m just happy to see that boxers have upward mobility when it comes to making money. They deserve it.
Mr Marquez, you have been beaten by the paamcn, and all those boxer you cannot beat, he floored it including you, you might be assuming this because you have a shot to mayweather. but now, you loose to mayweather, tell me do you think he’s still no 1, we will see this in coming months when your idol mayweather will also kiss the canvas as you kiss it. just admit it you don’t have anymore chance to pacquiao. and start learning to speak english.
CShel, agreed, management’s crucial. The numbers suck in the beginning, but look at Zab Judah (Zabdiel, nice!). He went from $10k to $500K, in a relatively short amount of time. Boxing is definitely all about the school of hard knocks (well when the politics aren’t running your career).
Jesse Vargas’ pay scale was trending upwards quite nicely.
Haha, I should really reply to these from the admin. screen. It would look a lot more professional and I wouldn’t have to enter the captcha code all of the bloody time.
Thanks man. I agree to a certain extent. Guys like Judah can go from 10k to 500k because of his excellent management/promotion (as we’ve seen him get one Golden opportunity after another, and because of his name. That’s not always the case for most fighters. Im surprised Peterson went from getting 10k (Cayo fight)to north of 500k for the Khan fight. Im wondering how some of these guys stay afloat after they get their checks and pay everybody. I’d probably still be living with my mama on those wages. Lol
Ha! If you’d still be living with your mother after a $500k payday, then I don’t know what to say…
You’re right, as mentioned in the article, some up and coming guys need to have a day job. Rendall Munroe and Bryant Jennings just quit their day jobs. Re. Zab, you can’t overlook that he went 5-0 before fighting Khan. Yeah, he might not have looked amazing in all of them, but winning at least puts you in a credible spot. I agree though, you need a savvy, loyal, connected, honest manager and an effective promoter.
Peterson also increased his value quite a bit against Ortiz and then he got that K.O against Cayo (pun intended) afterwards.
Lol, after a $500k payday, my folks would probably be trying to live with me, lol. Seriously though, If I was making money like Lara, McEwan, and Vargas (before the May 5th fight)and had to pay my trainer and the rest of my team, then I’d be confined to that upstairs room at my folks’ house with the “no company after 9PM” rule. Lol. Some of these guys DID make big jumps in purses…glad to see that.
Yup.
gamboa is making a lot of money from top rank and now he is going to mayweather promotion?…he hasnt fight this year and lost a potential amount of money because of his bad business decisions?..or was it influenced by the mayweathers?….
It should be all about what’s best for the boxer. If Gamboa can get a better deal in the market and his contract has expired, then it’s up to Top Rank to match, or better what the market is offering. If they can’t match it, then he should get the best deal that he can. Just like Jessie Vargas signed with TR instead of staying with GBP/Mayweather. If you can get a better deal for yourself, then do it.
Has Floyd fought enough competitive fights? 1 against Cotto so far. He makes money that’s all so far.
Man, don’t forget to factor in taxes. These guys gotta love what they do. As shown, it definitely can’t be for the money, starting out. WOW!!!!
You said it man. As you probably know though, some boxer’s have day jobs, which they obviously drop as their careers gain traction.
good entertaining article
its good to read something that doesn’t include pacquiao and mayweather and all their cat and mouse conspiracy bull
keep up the good work
Thanks. Appreciated.