By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will be getting the lion’s shape of the money for Saturday’s fight card at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilder’s purse for his title defense against 35-year-old Chris Arreola (36-4-1, 31 KOs) will be $1.4 million. Arreola will be getting just $150,000, which is not much for a challenger at the heavyweight level.
You can make an argument that Wilder should be getting more than $1.4M for his fights at this point in his career. When you see fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao getting huge paydays for their fights, Wilder should be getting big money too. Unfortunately, the heavyweight division isn’t a popular one in the United States.
Showtime Boxing is piping in fights from the UK in having British heavyweight Anthony Joshua’s fights televised in the U.S. It would be interesting if Joshua becomes more popular in the U. S. than Wilder.
Arreola needs a win here to get a chance for a big money fight against Joshua or Tyson Fury. Those fights would be huge for Arreola if he can take Wilder’s WBC belt from him on Saturday night.
Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) will be looking to keep his unbeaten record intact in this fight. Since Wilder still hasn’t made the big money yet as a champion, he’ll need to keep winning until he can get a big payday fight against the likes of Fury or Joshua. If Arreola beats Wilder, then he can be the one that gets that big payday.
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In the co-feature, unbeaten welterweight Sammy Vasquez (21-0, 15 KOs) will be getting a purse of $225,000 for his fight against 2008 Olympic gold medalist Felix Diaz (17-1, 8 KOs). Diaz will be getting $125,000. That’s pretty even between these guys. Vasquez is the favorite to win the fight, but you never know. Diaz has looked pretty good as a pro, and he might be able to pull off an upset. Vasquez is far from invincible as a pro. He was a good amateur, but it’s different story in the pro ranks.
Wilder vs. Arreola will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox Sports and Fox Deportes.