Frank Martin is rumored to be getting a purse of $200,000 for his fight against WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta Davis in late spring. That’s chicken feed for a fight with Tank on Amazon Prime PPV.
The Million Dollar Question
This is a dramatic drop off to the $1 million that Martin (18-0, 12 KOs) had reportedly been offered to challenge non-PBC fighter, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, and you have to wonder why Frank chose to reject that offer.
Who convinced Martin not to accept it? Is it the same person who persuaded Tank Davis not to accept Matchroom’s $10 million offer for a fight against Conor Benn?
Promoter Hearn said Tank could have made between $15 million and $25 million for that fight, and he questions whether he’ll be making that kind of dough against Martin.
Who got in Tank Davis’ ear to convince him not to accept Hearn’s offer? If Martin is only getting $200K for the Tank fight after turning down $1M, there are no words to describe what a blunder that was.
Gibbs on the Money
“Rumors are swirling in the boxing world, and we want to hear your thoughts on the matter. It’s been said that Frank Martin is only being offered a purse of $200,000 to fight Tank Davis, despite the potential notoriety and the title that comes with it,” said Nestor Gibbs of Thaboxingvoice.
“The question is, should Martin regret not taking the opportunity to fight Shakur Stevenson when it was presented to him? Had he emerged victorious against Stevenson, Martin would have had the chance to make a lot more money facing Tank Davis now.”
Martin would obviously have a lot of regret turning down $1 million and now getting $200K for a tougher fight against Tank Davis, one that he has little chance of winning. He would have stood a better chance against Shakur. It wouldn’t have been a PBC in-house fight, though, because Shakur is with Top Rank and fights on ESPN.
“Again, Al [Haymon of PBC] doesn’t want his pieces on another board just like he didn’t let your man Frank go,” said Gibbs. “Now, I’m hearing that Frank is only making 200,000 more. But hey, $200,000 for a title is still $200,000 vs. Tank for a title. Tank is still a bigger star than Shakur [Stevenson], but all that for $200,000 more. If you had beat Shakur, you would have been fighting Tank for way more.”