By Robert Elmore: After watching The Bright Lights and Dark Shadows of a Champion; The story of Sugar Ray Robinson, my perspective changed on the theory of “fighters fight just for the fans”. Robinson was a diva; and did not step into the ring if his money wasn’t right. Promoters didn’t know whether Ray was going to fight until he got into the ring. He demanded a cut of the film rights, closed circuit, ticket sales, the gate money, and most important the bigger half of the purse. And this was before he was even champion.
Those demands became greater after Jimmy Doyle suffered brain damage during their fight and died shortly after. Ray realized that his life was at stake every time he stepped into the ring. I mean let’s be real here, boxers fight for money and they are at all times looking to make the most cash out of every bout. Now some will look at Sugar Ray’s record and marvel at his 191 bouts.
It was strictly by choice that Ray fought so many times in a mouth. The reason; Money. T
he pay during Ray’s fighting days was nowhere near what it is today. He retired from the ring and had to return because he let his business run to the ground. His sister said he hated boxing and did it for two reasons. The first was the money (outside of hating boxing sound like anyone we know today, who says they’re into the check cashing business)? The second reason was to get a person (family or friend) out of the situation they were in.
This is the same reason Marvin Hagler fought so many times a year before he finally won the title in 1980. Hagler made 50 bucks in his first fights. But after he won the title, Hagler didn’t fight more than three times a year. Then you have guys like Sugar Ray Leonard who came out the Olympics making big money. He had a TV contract and endorsement deals. And to put the icing on top, he made 40 thousand in his first professional fight. That was unheard of back then. In the boxing documentary Legendary Nights, when a reporter said that Ray was afraid of Thomas Hearns, Ray’s response was “The only fear that I have is that they won’t give me the money I deserve, the money that I want”. Notice Ray didn’t say “I’ll fight Hearns in a mega fight for the fans”. He wanted money. If the promoters didn’t come correct with the cash (which they did that fight would have never taken place.
In the 80’s you had Mike Tyson running the heavyweight division. In his first title fight, Tyson earned, then a career high 1.5 million against Trevor Berbick. In his fight with Tony Tucker, he earned 2.5 million while Tucker took home 1.9 million. No doubt about it that was a lot of dough for the 80’s. Today, that is a luxury to some fighters and Let’s look at some gut wrenching points here and this might not sit too well with some people. If the fighters of yester year could earn the money of today fighting a guy who has a huge fan base and brought in big dough, I think they would take it.
If Ray Robinson knew that he could make 30 million in bout with fighter A versus him making 5 million in bout with fighter B, which one do you think he would take? Any of those old school fighters would probably choose the former. Why? After, the promoter, gets his cut, managers, trainers, taxes, sanctioning fees (if the fighter has a belt) and any other miscellaneous, the fighter would be lucky to take home a decent pay day. This unless of course, a fighter manages his own career and promotes himself.
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