By Scott Gilfoid: Despite the IBF’s recent ruling that George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) is only entitled to 15 percent of the purse in a rematch against IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s), Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn still thinks he can put together a rematch between the two fighters. As you would guess, Groves wants no part of accepting a tiny 85/15 purse split given that he’d be bringing a great deal of the fans for the rematch.
The International Boxing Federation hurt the chances of the rematch taking place by their ruling that Groves can get only 15% of the purse instead of the normal 25% that a mandatory challenger is supposed to get. The reason why Groves only gets 15% is because he’s not ranked #1. The IBF has him ranked #6, below Brandon Gonzales, Maksim Vlasov, and James DeGale.
“The IBF’s decision to call for the rematch both helped and hindered the possibility of the fight,” Hearn said to Sky Sports. “It helped because Carl doesn’t want to vacate the IBF belt…But it hindered because they ordered the purse bids with the 85 percent – 15 percent split, which ultimately lowers George’s bargaining position, which doesn’t really work that well in negotiations…This is the biggest fight out there.”
If all Groves is going to get is 15%, then he needs to walk away from the fight, even if he’s walking away from a decent payday. To have Froch get big money from many of the fans that Groves attracts from the fight is like taking money out of Groves’ pocket. I don’t think Groves should do it. He should stay busy fighting other guys until he’s ranked high enough to where he’ll get 25 percent of the purse.
If Froch is retired by then or if he’s not interested in fighting Groves, then so be it. But if Groves doesn’t get 25% at least to fight Froch in the rematch this year, then I wouldn’t want Groves to say yes to the fight. It doesn’t matter what the IBF says. If Froch and Hearn want the tremendous payday they’d get by fighting Groves, then they need to give him purse split that doesn’t insult him. Frankly, I think 15 percent is insulting, and it’s embarrassing that the IBF would have a ruling that lets the lower ranked contenders to get such a small payday compared to the champion.
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