Thread: Pricing for sparring!

I was reading the thread on Mike Jones- where is he now, etc. And I mentioned, along with someone else, that he is a sparring partner for Manny going into his fight with Aligieri.

And, I had mentioned, that good sparring can cost a lot of money over the course of the time spent. I said a figure of about 100k for championship fights or fights of that magnitude for the 2 to 3 month period.

I promptly did some research and found that Freddie, up to about 5-6 years ago, was paying guys 2k per week plus room and board for sparring sessions with Manny and Amir. Fighters that knocked Manny or Amir down got an extra 1k.

I think they were being robbed. Because I have a buddy of mine that was brought in to spar with Luis Ortiz and a few others and his going rate for the 2 1/2 to 3 month training camp was 60k- and he isn't no where near the calibre of anyone in the top 20, and Ortiz in particular is not even the top ranked guy in the HW division.

I feel, based on that, if Jones is the sparring partner for Manny, for the entire training camp- basically, a 2 to 3 month camp- he should take no less than 100k for the duration or 8k plus room, board and expenses can be negotiable. But most likely the coach/promoter would want to keep an eye out on the sparring partner, for obvious reasons.

What are some of the going rates you guys heard of?

Originally Posted by ykdadamaja

I was reading the thread on Mike Jones- where is he now, etc. And I mentioned, along with someone else, that he is a sparring partner for Manny going into his fight with Aligieri.

And, I had mentioned, that good sparring can cost a lot of money over the course of the time spent. I said a figure of about 100k for championship fights or fights of that magnitude for the 2 to 3 month period.

I promptly did some research and found that Freddie, up to about 5-6 years ago, was paying guys 2k per week plus room and board for sparring sessions with Manny and Amir. Fighters that knocked Manny or Amir down got an extra 1k.

I think they were being robbed. Because I have a buddy of mine that was brought in to spar with Luis Ortiz and a few others and his going rate for the 2 1/2 to 3 month training camp was 60k- and he isn't no where near the calibre of anyone in the top 20, and Ortiz in particular is not even the top ranked guy in the HW division.

I feel, based on that, if Jones is the sparring partner for Manny, for the entire training camp- basically, a 2 to 3 month camp- he should take no less than 100k for the duration or 8k plus room, board and expenses can be negotiable. But most likely the coach/promoter would want to keep an eye out on the sparring partner, for obvious reasons.

What are some of the going rates you guys heard of?

I think your friend is taking the piss

Top fighters usually only bring in sparring for 2 or 3 weeks. Most of the camp is getting fit. Real competitive sparring wont last the whole entire duration of the camp.

2k per week plus room and board sounds ok to me, how many rounds will they actually do?

its not a good living on its own tho you are right

Originally Posted by erics44

2k per week plus room and board sounds ok to me, how many rounds will they actually do?

its not a good living on its own tho you are right

If you get 2k a week for 20 weeks a year, and for those 20 weeks you have no rent or expenses, it aint to shabby

Hard way to make a living. So much repeated brain trauma for so little money.

Originally Posted by erics44

2k per week plus room and board sounds ok to me, how many rounds will they actually do?

its not a good living on its own tho you are right

Not a good living on its own!?

On its own, even if you only did 6 months a year thats £54,000 a year! More than most tradesmen get for a whole year!

Originally Posted by Silkeyjoe

Originally Posted by erics44

2k per week plus room and board sounds ok to me, how many rounds will they actually do?

its not a good living on its own tho you are right

If you get 2k a week for 20 weeks a year, and for those 20 weeks you have no rent or expenses, it aint to shabby

Its a good living. Especially for old pros who know how to defend. I imagine Kevin Johnson can make as much in a year just sparring as some top ranked fighters can fighting.

In fact, look at someone like Tyson Fury. How much has he had to spend over the last 18 months on camps and paying people like Johnson to spar him. Someone like Johnson on the other hand get to travel the world spending someone else's money while getting paid handsomely and not having any weight of expectation on their shoulders.

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

Hard way to make a living. So much repeated brain trauma for so little money.

Not for good sparring partners. Those old pros who are used to build a prospects career, the ones who don't get stopped, who know how to survive and look after themselves. They probably only continue fighting to stay relevant on the sparring scene and obviously earn some more cash but if they really do get £2000 a week, this is probably more than they get for most of their fights.

Yeah but how many weeks do they get used for, and even if they aren't getting knocked out, how many sub concussive blows are they taking to the head on a daily basis?

2k a week is good but they only get a few weeks work out of it.

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

Yeah but how many weeks do they get used for, and even if they aren't getting knocked out, how many sub concussive blows are they taking to the head on a daily basis?

2k a week is good but they only get a few weeks work out of it.

They do wear head gear and fight with pillow gloves. If they also fight during the year they make decent money.

Yeah but doctors are learning more now that it's the repeated sub concussive blows added up that causes traumatic brain injury even more so than the big knockout blow, so in that way the bigger gloves and headgear are actually more dangerous because they allow the fighter to stay conscious and upright to receive more blows.

And if they have to take a job as a sparring partner, chances are they are making small purses for their fights. Take Derrick Findley, who's worked as a sparring partner for guys like Golovkin and Martinez. I read somewhere he averages around $10,000 a fight. So say he gets in 4 fights and 5 weeks of sparring work at 2k a week, in one year. SO he pulls in 50k before taxes, manager/promoter/trainer/gym/medical fees, not bad, people get by on less for sure, but there's no benefits, no retirement package, the window to make money can be extremely small and unpredictable, and by 40 (if not, sooner) he'll probably be either done or unable to make money from boxing anymore and he'll probably be dealing with all kinds of physical issues like traumatic brain injury and wear and tear to his body from years of training and fighting.

It's a tough way to make a living.

Nah. I don't think my friend was taking the piss, because he was doing ok here and doing his own fights to just up and stop everything just to go into camp.

Perhaps the 60k was not with expenses and other living accommodations taken into consideration. But I'm almost certain he was not going to get up and leave his family, properties and career just to do that.

Plus, we have seen the evidence of his extra money on the ground.

Originally Posted by ross

Originally Posted by erics44

2k per week plus room and board sounds ok to me, how many rounds will they actually do?

its not a good living on its own tho you are right

Not a good living on its own!?

On its own, even if you only did 6 months a year thats £54,000 a year! More than most tradesmen get for a whole year!
.

I'm sure good sparring partners could earn that

I'm not sure how many of those there are

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

Yeah but how many weeks do they get used for, and even if they aren't getting knocked out, how many sub concussive blows are they taking to the head on a daily basis?

2k a week is good but they only get a few weeks work out of it.

The reason I mentioned Kevin Johnson is because iv read about him being in a few different fight camps this past year. He may not have enough drive to win a world title but with no pressure I'm sure he's about as skilled a sparring partner you will find. I bet he's one of the highest sought after and well paid.

For sure, I imagine he's the perfect sparring partner: solid boxing skills, extremely durable, and not much power so he's unlikely to hurt the guy he's working with.

I'm sure the money he makes is more than enough to get by, but he's 35 now so his window is closing and he's getting pounded on daily by these champs... it's not the kind of money that he can retire off of.

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

For sure, I imagine he's the perfect sparring partner: solid boxing skills, extremely durable, and not much power so he's unlikely to hurt the guy he's working with.

I'm sure the money he makes is more than enough to get by, but he's 35 now so his window is closing and he's getting pounded on daily by these champs... it's not the kind of money that he can retire off of.

Johnson showed his limitations with that lacklustre performance against Vitali. I could have sworn he would have brought more heat-but he is slow, plodding and stiff.

Originally Posted by ykdadamaja

Originally Posted by Beanflicker

For sure, I imagine he's the perfect sparring partner: solid boxing skills, extremely durable, and not much power so he's unlikely to hurt the guy he's working with.

I'm sure the money he makes is more than enough to get by, but he's 35 now so his window is closing and he's getting pounded on daily by these champs... it's not the kind of money that he can retire off of.

Johnson showed his limitations with that lacklustre performance against Vitali. I could have sworn he would have brought more heat-but he is slow, plodding and stiff.

Its called lack of desire.

I bet he looks fantastic in sparring with no pressure.