UK Promoters / TV companies - Question about fighters purses

[Kirkland Laing]

Recently Warren offered Froch a million quid to fight Cleverley and when it was turned down Warren said that would have been by far Froch's biggest payday, that he's never made a million for a fight. If I remember correctly he got a million dollars to fight Jermain Taylor. If you look at half a million per fight since he became champion then he's made a few quid and apparently he buys property and rents it with the money he makes so he's a sensible boy.

Froch's promoter said £1m was an insult and he would make double that fighting anyone else as it stands anyway.

Nottingham arena seats 10 000 people. An average seventy quid a ticket is £700, 000, and that seventy is probably too high. Take 20% VAT off and the cost of hiring the arena, the cost of the event staff and the cost of promoting the fight and all the other costs and you've got three hundred thousand quid plus, maybe four, probably not. Then add on the TV money which will be something similar, or on certain fights maybe a chunk of foreign TV money eg. Canadian TV for the Bute fight and you've got six to eight hundred thousand to split between the fighters and the promoters. And don't forget for the Bute fight Bute was the champion fighting abroad so would have got 75-80% of the split of the fighters' chunk of the change.

So I'm guessing Warren is right here.

I'm not saying he isn't, I just remember what Froch's promoter said in return.

Don't forget the sponsorship cash from the fight too, that is probably well over a million.

I think sponsorship money would be in the tens of thousands. Maybe enough to pay all the undercard fighters. You can buy some serious advertising with a million quid you know. Capital One are paying three million a year to sponsor what used to be the Carling Cup.