The
latest hysteria involving the fight that won’t happen in May or June centers on
the listed purses (courtesy of the Nevada State Athletic Commission) for both Manny Pacquiao’s and Floyd Mayweather’s recent fights in
Las Vegas. There is a great disparity between what is recorded for both boxers,
as Mayweather's numbers are significantly greater. But here's the rub;
sometimes those numbers don't really mean all that much. In fact, unlike the
club reports (that list the ticket sales and gate receipts) - they aren't all
that official. Oftentimes, the numbers recorded (especially for foreign
fighters) are part of a bookkeeping procedure for tax purposes.
One
prominent manager who has worked on these contracts explained, “That's just a
basic guarantee upon which the IRS- who's always at the big fights- applies the
site withholding tax and so those numbers that are listed with the Nevada State
Athletic Commission are purposely low and they do not account for participation
in pay-per-view, which is genuinely where the lion’s share of the money comes
in.”
Then
you have variables such as fighters having their own promotional companies-
which Pacquiao does- and other ancillary revenue such as the foreign rights to these
fight cards, which can command millions of dollars.
“I
don't know what his deal is,” said one promoter of Pacquiao's deal with Top
Rank, who's been involved in major pay-per-view promotions throughout the
years, “but typically, they have their own company, like a promotional company
that takes some of the revenue in. That's pretty much normal now and it's a
business. They can charge expenses to it and it's a good idea. They have to pay
people that train them and follow them around or whatever and they all want to
be boxing promoters. So they all generally are.”
The
numbers put forth by the commission are from bout contracts turned in by the
promoters. Keith Kizer, Executive Director of the NSAC, tells Maxboxing, “On
those big guys, they get a back end. That's the minimum you get assuming
there's zero pay-per-view buys and then everything above is whatever the deal
is between him and Bob [Arum]. My guess is that Manny and Floyd probably walk
away with similar amounts of money at the end of the day after their fights.”
Then
there's this from Kizer: “I don't think they'd ever admit it publicly but I
think sometimes fighters and promoters agree to lesser amounts because of
sanctioning body fees. It's three percent of the purse for the major
sanctioning bodies so I know in the past- especially when Marian Muhammad ran
the IBF- that she would challenge the fighters and promoters, saying, ‘That's
not the real amount; you're putting down a lesser amount.’ I'm sure [WBC
President] Jose Sulaiman had similar arguments with fighters and that's between
them. That's a private agreement. We don't license the sanctioning fees.”
Alright,
so what is Arum's explanation of all this?
“Under
the laws of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and I think the Texas Athletic
Commission, the purse that you put down is what you pay the fighter on the
night of the fight,” he explained to Maxboxing on Thursday night. “Now, Don
King with [Mike]Tyson- and we saw that when they fined Tyson- King would put
the entire purse down and you have to give the check to the Nevada commission
and then the Tyson people would give the check back because the fact is you
don't have all the money the night of the fight to cover the check if you pay the
full amount. So we put in the contract exactly what we're going to pay them the
night of the fight.
“So
we know for sure that we have the cash in the bank to cover it. Then a day or
two days later after Sunday, we get advances from either HBO or Showtime and
the money comes in within ten days- and in his last fight, Manny had been paid
$22 million. That was his guarantee but that's all open and above board. It's
all spelled out in the long-form contract. So the idea that he got $6 million,
well, yeah, that's what the Nevada State Athletic Commission said but he got
paid $22 million. And people say, ‘Well, you do it because you're cheating the
government’- no! The government has copies of the long-form contract so we
withhold everything as we pay for it.”
Arum
continued by stating, “With Mayweather, they put up a check, ‘He got
20-something million’- show me that check being cashed.”
So
in other words, those checks are symbolic like those oversized ones Ed McMahon
used to hand out to the winners of the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes.
“Now,
could we say $22 million and give him a check for 22 [million] and get the
check back and pay him as provided in the contract? Sure but I think that's
dishonest. It's dishonest because I don't like to give checks that aren't
really checks and I'm just not going to do it. So Manny's contract provided-
his last fight- $22 million and he's going to end up making close to $30
million. But 22 [million] is guaranteed and 22 [million] has long since been
paid. As a matter of fact, $25 million has been paid.”
Sergio
Diaz, the manager of Antonio Margarito, who's been involved in three major
pay-per-view events, told me that for months after their fights against Miguel
Cotto and Pacquiao, they would receive checks related to those fights, almost
like residual checks that actors receive for syndicated reruns.
Arum
says, “That's why, for example, under the contract we have with HBO, they pay
roughly 60 percent the first week of what they project. Then it goes up to 80 percent
and throughout the course of the next 12 months- because they're generally conservative
and we don't mind- [Margarito] gets paid. But ask them how the money rolled in
month after month after month. But he was getting a certain dollar amount- I
forgot what- for every buy over a certain amount of buys. He got big, big
upside but that upside was paid over the months. They understand. I mean,
everyone understands it.”
Well,
obviously, not everyone.
MONEY TEAM
I find it odd that certain fans really seem to have a vested interest in what
their favorite boxers earn in the ring and almost feel as though they share in
it somehow (Because of that, while they have never been managers or promoters,
they certainly like to play them on the Worldwide Web). The Mayweather
following seems to be the most guilty of this lunacy. Hate to break it to you
guys but being part of the “Money Team” doesn't get you dental or medical
benefits or a pension and it certainly doesn't get you part of the pay-per-view
proceeds. There's no profit sharing here involved.
Being a member of the Mousekeeters may have more meaning to it (Yeah, I know, I
know. I'm hatin').
I think Martin Wade (@brothaboxing) said it best on Twitter about this peculiar
phenomenon: “Mayweather derangement syndrome lol. Since when did boxing fans
act like hip hop fans?. Yo i bet Jigga got more $ than fiddy”
Preach, brotha, preach!
Anyhoooo, I'm off to count Prince Fielder’s money. We made out like bandits
from Detroit. I can afford to get those retro Jordans everyone was squabbling
over a few weeks ago.
NO BUTE CALL
On Friday morning, Jean Bedard, President of InterBox announced that Showtime
(who he and IBF super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute signed an exclusive
three-fight pact with at the beginning of last year) did not “share the same
vision” in regard to an April date for Bute to face Carl Froch. With Andre Ward
unavailable for that date, I'm wondering what's wrong with “The Cobra”- who
finished as the runner-up in the network’s “Super Six” tournament? Is Froch now
being penalized for the mortal crime of losing to Ward while actually having
the gumption to consistently take on tough opposition?
Bedard said the one American option they were given by the network was Andre
Dirrell (I don't think I need to remind anyone how Dirrell basically ducked out
of the “Super Six” with the endorsement of the famed “Dr. Shaw High”). The good
news for InterBox and Bute is that unlike most of their American TV packaging
counterparts, they can continue to do business without network money (as they
did when Showtime decided to pass on his IBF mandatory defense versus Jean-Paul
Mendy over the summer in Romania).
When asked his opinion on Friday afternoon, Stephen Espinoza, Executive V.P.
and G.M. of Showtime Sports, told Maxboxing, “Well, as a general note, I don't
like talking about the specifics of a negotiation. Having said that, there's
some misinformation going around.” The biggest being that it's Dirrell or
nothing for Bute, according to Espinoza, who recently took the helm from Ken
Hershman. “The third fight was supposed to be chosen from a list of preapproved
opponents. Froch is not on the list of preapproved opponents. I'm willing to accept
anybody on the list of preapproved opponents and that goes beyond ‘only Dirrell’-
which is apparently what [Bedard]’s been telling people.”
It's an interesting issue. Maybe Showtime wants to see some new faces or fresh
match-ups on their network. That's certainly their prerogative but again, disagreements
like this are some of the pratfalls regarding exclusive deals that networks
have with promoters and their fighters. In a perfect world, Showtime and HBO
buy the best fights, not just the best boxers in “appearance fights” (and I
want to make this clear; Bute-Froch is a solid match-up).
“It's not a great revelation to say there are pros and cons of multi-fight
[contracts]. There's advantages from our perspective in knowing that we can
invest money- even outside of fights- in marketing and building a particular
boxer without losing that to the benefit of another network. But you're right;
with a multi-fight agreement, it can lead to disagreements- or let's just say
differing expectations- such as this. I think in an ideal world, we're able to
work it out to a mutual benefit and there's give-and-take throughout the
relationship.”
Espinoza makes it clear; this hasn't gone the way of the Concordia. “I don't
think the situation is such that it needs to be salvaged and there are ongoing
discussions, so the ship hasn't sailed yet. Not only has it not sailed, it
hasn't crashed on the rocks, so to speak. We don't need to rebuild this. I'm
confident between reasonable people on both sides that we can figure something
out that makes sense for everyone.”
So right now, Showtime is not abandoning the S.S. Bute.
WEEKEND FLURRIES
Remember when I compared Frankie Gomez to JaMarcus Russell? Well, it sure looks
like it's headed in that direction according to this story from Jake Donovan: http://www.boxingscene.com/frankie-gomez-encounters-wrong-side-law--48953...According
to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, heavyweight Seth Mitchell will
open up the April 28th broadcast on HBO before the Bernard Hopkins-Chad
Dawson rematch in Atlantic City...On Saturday, Feb. 25th at the
Santa Paula Community Golf Course in Ventura County, Jose Aguiniga makes his
return to the ring. Also on that card are David Rodela and Hugo Centeno. This
show is being hosted by El Dorado Entertainment...Here's the latest installment
of “Maxboxing Radio” with Corey Erdman and Yours Truly (as I break out my Harold
Lederman impersonation): http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maxboxingradio/2012/01/26/max-boxing-radio-january-25...Here's
the great Ray Lewis (in the wake of last week’s devastating loss to New
England) showing why he's among the best leaders that the NFL has ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bCdj7gaWaQ...
.
