By Robert Elmore: I have watched several documentaries and read several articles on boxers that go broke after they retire. It saddens me that these guys laid it on the line, trained hard, sacrificed time and yet have nothing to show for it (financially) when they hang up the gloves.
What’s even more irritating is when a boxer makes a business decision that will benefit him and his family, fans threaten to boycott fights or not support their favorite boxer any longer. Yes I understand that we (the fans) pay to see these fights via pay per view, purchased ticket to see the fight live, or closed circuit. But my question for these so called loyal fans is where are you when these fighters are broke? Do get they together, ante up and send a card full of money to them? Or do you just give your customary “Aww man that’s messed up” response?
Let me enlightened fans a little bit because I’m finding that most of these comments are coming uneducated new fans. Some of them may be old head. First, legacy doesn’t pay bills. Legacy is defined as an amount of money or property left behind in a will. In boxing terms, I say that legacy can be defined as memories left behind by a fighter. Whether good or bad, a legacy is left behind. So we get the memories, their family gets the money. The IRS, electric company, water department and various other bill collectors operate on cash, check or money order basis. They don’t care how many exciting fights a fighters had, their all about the money. Second, I don’t get mad when a fighter, here me clearly, after putting in some work, taking a low risk/high reward fight.
Let me show a couple business decisions by some old school fighters.
Sugar Ray Leonard came out of the Olympics and into a huge TV contract and endorsement deal. So it didn’t who he fought, he was getting paid big money. Out of 36 victories, Leonard fought 7 known fighters that were both high risk and high reward, but what about the other 29 fights? Ray made 40,044 dollars in his first fight against Luis “The Bull” Vega. In his fight against Andy Price, who was the NABF welterweight champion at the time, he made $300,000 and Price’s purse was….wait for it…$40,000. How does that happen? Ray was the challenger and made more than the champion? A fight against jr. welterweight champion Aaron Pryor was dismissed as well. But why? Pryor, though a good fighter, had no reward to him. He couldn’t fill arenas outside of his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Larry Holmes situation was a little different. He took on dangerous fighter after dangerous fighters with little reward because he was trying to prove he was the best. But even Holmes made a few unpopular decisions. On November 23rd 1983, Holmes signed on to fight unranked Marvis Frazier for 3.1 million dollars. The WBC ordered him to fight number one contender Greg Page or be stripped of the title. Don King, Holmes promoter, offered him 2.55 million for the page fight, but Holmes said it wasn’t enough. Now both Holmes and Leonard have done incredibly well for themselves after boxing, but what about those who didn’t fare so well? How does Ray finish his career with 179 fights and 139 knockouts but lives in poverty until he dies? I pose the same question about Joe Louis?
It nearly broke me down when I read that former champion Iran Barkley was broke and homeless. It was painful to watch Mike Tyson succumb to the hands of financial demons after giving the fans exciting fights, and making his mark in the boxing game. And it pains me even more when I see what’s happening to Evander Holyfield. But where are his adoring fans now? Are they inviting him to come and stay at their houses? No. they are not. Fans have to recognize that when they threaten to boycott or not watch a certain fighter fight anymore they will be replaced by somebody who will pay the money. It’s a very sad day when boxers gives their lives to the game and have nothing to show for it when they leave they retire. So can we be a little bit more understanding about a boxers decision?
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