By Tim Royner: Former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury says he doesn’t care about the money he’s going to be getting for his fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder this Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Fury says he’s planning on giving away his purse to the poor, and that doesn’t want to leave his money to his kids.
Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) would be making a statement if he were to give away his entire purse to the poor, especially if he loses the fight. Fury’s career will be on thin ice if he gets knocked cold by Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) like a lot of boxing fans think he will. If at the end of a knockout loss, Fury gives away his entire purse to the poor, it would be an admirable move on his part. It’s hard to imagine him doing that.
“I couldn’t care less about the money. I’m planning to give it all away to the poor and building houses for the homeless, Fury said via Michael Benson. I don’t believe in leaving money to [my] kids. It’s bad for them. You see how all those spoiled rich kids who’ve inherited are in a mess.”
Fury is said to drive a Rolls Royce. Obviously, that’s not an inexpensive card to own. Fury could score points with boxing fans if he donates his Rolls to the poor as well.
It might make Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn happy to hear Fury talking about money not being a factor for him. It would give Hearn an excuse to give Fury a lopsided 90-10 offer to fight Anthony Joshua. Hearn would likely love to get Fury at an ultra cheap price for a fight against Joshua regardless of whether he loses to Wilder.
Wilder vs. Fury will be televised on Showtime PPV on Saturday. There’s a great deal of interest on Hearn’s part to see how many PPV buys the fight generates. Hearn has already talked about what the percentage offer that he’ll be willing to give to the unbeaten Wilder based on how many PPV buys the Wilder-Fury fight brings in. Hearn says if the fight brings in fewer than 300,000 buys, he’ll only offer Wilder an 80-20 split for a fight against Joshua. Presumably, Fury would be getting a far better split than that if he beats Wilder and the fight brings in less than 300,000 buys. It’s less arguably less important for Fury to bring in a massive amount of buys for his fight with Wilder. Fury just needs to beat Wilder to assure that he gets a massive payday against Joshua. But the problem is, Fury won’t be able to take the fight with Joshua straightaway after he beats Wilder. The Bronze Bomber’s management was wise to include a rematch clause in the contract with Fury, so he’ll be forced to give him an immediate rematch if he wins. If Wilder wins, he can move on and go about his business with his career. Fury doesn’t have that good fortune. He’ll need to fight Wilder in a rematch before he can fight the likes of Joshua.
“If it does a million plus [buys], we’ll give him 50-50,” Hearn said to the boxing media last month. “That’s probably fair enough. If it does under 300,000, he should probably take 80-20. If it does under 400,000, he might get 70-30. If it does over 500 thousand, we’ll give him 60-40.”
At this point, Hearn isn’t even considering Fury as a potential winner of the Wilder fight. Hearn doesn’t see it as possible for Fury to win. The projected percentage splits that Hearn is offering Wilder based on the PPV buys for the Fury fight sound very much like he has very little interest in making the Wilder-Joshua fight. Wilder and Fury have never fought on PPV in the United States before, so it’s unrealistic to predict that their fight will bring in a great of buys. Wilder vs. Fury isn’t a Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin level fight in the U.S. Fury is an unknown with the casual boxing fans, as is Anthony Joshua. The casual don’t know who Fury or Joshua is in Northern America. It’s only the hardcore boxing fans that are familiar with those two British heavyweights. Wilder is still mainly popular in his home state of Alabama. He’s failed to catch the imagination of the American boxing public the way that Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali did. Wilder has a lot of knockouts on his record, but he’s not fought good enough opposition to increase his popularity the way Mike Tyson did. The U.S fans have not been impressed with Wilder’s wins over the likes of Bermane Stiverne x 2, Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas, Artur Szpilka, Chris Arreola, Gerald Washington and Luis Ortiz. The only fight of that bunch that attracted a lot of interest from U.S boxing fans was Luis Ortiz. That suggests that the American fans weren’t sold on Wilder’s mismatches, and they’ve wanted to see him fight against the better heavyweights in the division. This Saturday night, the fans will get a chance to see Wilder fight one of the so-called top heavyweights in the division in Tyson Fury. There’s certainly a lot of hype surrounding the Wilder vs. Fury fight, but that might not translate over to PPV buys.
”65-35, 60-40,” Hearn said when asked about what percentage split Wilder is currently worth for a fight against Joshua. ”I think if he knocks out Tyson Fury, and does great pay-per-view numbers, he could get 60-40. 300 [thousand], 200 [thousand], no one knows who Deontay Wilder is [in the UK],” Hearn said.
It sounds like Hearn still isn’t ready to match Joshua against Wilder yet. Once Hearn starts talking about a near 50-50 split for the fight, then you’ll know that he’s finally ready to make the unification fight. It’s not realist to predict Wilder and his management team ever agreeing to a 60-40 or less purse split for a fight against Joshua. They want parity, and Hearn isn’t ready to give it to them at this time.
If Wilder vs. Fury does bring in over one million PPV buys on Showtime this Saturday night, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of purse split Hearn will be willing to give to Deontay, provided he wins by a knockout and looks great. According to what Hearn is saying, Wilder should be able to get a 50-50 split for the Joshua fight. That’s what Hearn said he’d give Wilder if he brings in 1 million buys. It’s just that it’s hard to take Hearn seriously anymore. If Hearn doesn’t want to make the Joshua vs. Wilder fight, he’ll continue offering flat fees to the Bronze Bomber, and make sure the fight doesn’t get made.