Great article on current affairs in boxing.

[Vendettos]

Y! SPORTS

Good read.

[greynotsoold]

In my mind, if you are a fighter, you fight. That is how you pay your bills and feed your family...And your team should work with that because you fighting pays their bills and feeds their families as well.
Sitting around waiting 2 years for a big payday has never ever made a fighter better.

[Master]

Ward has signed to a major contract company so he has to attract big fights otherwise he should have chosen ESPN and chose his challengers carefully.

[Vendettos]

In my mind, if you are a fighter, you fight. That is how you pay your bills and feed your family...And your team should work with that because you fighting pays their bills and feeds their families as well.
Sitting around waiting 2 years for a big payday has never ever made a fighter better.

Yeah that's for the fighters, but HBO won't screen Ward vs say... Kerry Hope just as a stay busy fight for Ward, when they can screen 2 better matched fighters and make more money.

Remember the people at HBO have bills to pay also.

I disagree with it all but the politics run boxing.

[greynotsoold]

In my mind, if you are a fighter, you fight. That is how you pay your bills and feed your family...And your team should work with that because you fighting pays their bills and feeds their families as well.
Sitting around waiting 2 years for a big payday has never ever made a fighter better.

Yeah that's for the fighters, but HBO won't screen Ward vs say... Kerry Hope just as a stay busy fight for Ward, when they can screen 2 better matched fighters and make more money.

Remember the people at HBO have bills to pay also.

I disagree with it all but the politics run boxing.

Jones Jr got away with a literal bum of the month tour with HBO; I guess they learned from that. And the "and no defeats" is SO essential these days that nobody will fight unless it is for all the money.
Dempsey gets a lot of scorn for not fighting Wills because the money was never right but it seems like we've come back to that for a lot of guys. Too many guys want to get paid, and paid well, so they let the fighter sit. Meanwhile, they all have their hustles and schemes, and all the fighter has is fighting.

[Rantcatrat]

Y! SPORTS

Good read.

It is a provocative read. I tend to disagree. I don't think there is true regional differences. Adrian Broner was paid approximately $1.4MM to fight Paulie Malignaggi. A few years ago Andre Berto was in the same boat, as was Chad Dawson to an extent. Pavlik got more than a million for his fight against Lockett. American networks are still paying "stars" a lot of money just to have the star on their network.

Also, look at Chris John. He's fighting nobody's and racking up defenses in Indonesia. There's an argument that Narvaez is doing the same thing in Argentina.

This has been the name of the game since time began for boxing.

The question is whether the European fighters are getting paid the same amount of money as their American counterparts that are allegedly getting the tougher challenges. For example, if John is getting paid less money to face easier challenges than he would be for facing tougher fights on HBO, then it makes sense.

[Vendettos]

Y! SPORTS

Good read.

It is a provocative read. I tend to disagree. I don't think there is true regional differences. Adrian Broner was paid approximately $1.4MM to fight Paulie Malignaggi. A few years ago Andre Berto was in the same boat, as was Chad Dawson to an extent. Pavlik got more than a million for his fight against Lockett. American networks are still paying "stars" a lot of money just to have the star on their network.

Also, look at Chris John. He's fighting nobody's and racking up defenses in Indonesia. There's an argument that Narvaez is doing the same thing in Argentina.

This has been the name of the game since time began for boxing.

The question is whether the European fighters are getting paid the same amount of money as their American counterparts that are allegedly getting the tougher challenges. For example, if John is getting paid less money to face easier challenges than he would be for facing tougher fights on HBO, then it makes sense.

I believe it's more intended to say that the money is the same for the star fighter but in Europe a star can fight 3 bums a year and make 2 million a fight but because of the restrictions in the USA there are fighters like ward to who only gets paid the same to fight a good fighter.. but its nowhere near as frequent.

Because fighters they're willing to televise aren't as common.

[Beanz]

I think it is a bit of a dumb article. In fact the guy is full to bursting point with shit. He says

"The deck is stacked against American fighters these days. The money is no longer overwhelmingly on this side of the ocean, and that means that European fighters and promoters are able to call more of the shots than ever before. "

For that alone somebody should smack him in the mouth. If a more level playing field irks him so much than maybe he should up the quality of his research and pull out whatever is tickling his arse.

Andre Ward is not at a distinct disadvantage he is just a whinging pune. Just fight somebody ffs it's not rocket science. Mr Magno then goes on to say

"However, this is an acknowledgment that American and European fighters, to a great degree, are playing by two different sets of rules. For the most part, Euro-based champions are not bound to the same level of quality control as their U.S.-based colleagues. The European elite can take a breather (or several breathers) while the American elite are under the constant pressure that every fight must be competitively justifiable to the networks and/or the PPV-buying public. "

Well boo hoo, cry me a river. What a twat. No wonder he used to write for ESB. It's just bollocks. there are plenty of American fighters undermatched against less challenging opponents just as their are plenty of Europeans who are willing to face anybody.

[Fenster]

That was pathetic.

[Rantcatrat]

Also, I hate to say it but the central point behind the article, differences in the treatment of fighters from different geographical regions is outdated.

[Violent Demise]

In my mind, if you are a fighter, you fight. That is how you pay your bills and feed your family...And your team should work with that because you fighting pays their bills and feeds their families as well.
Sitting around waiting 2 years for a big payday has never ever made a fighter better.

Yeah that's for the fighters, but HBO won't screen Ward vs say... Kerry Hope just as a stay busy fight for Ward, when they can screen 2 better matched fighters and make more money.

Remember the people at HBO have bills to pay also.

I disagree with it all but the politics run boxing.

Jones Jr got away with a literal bum of the month tour with HBO; I guess they learned from that. And the "and no defeats" is SO essential these days that nobody will fight unless it is for all the money.
Dempsey gets a lot of scorn for not fighting Wills because the money was never right but it seems like we've come back to that for a lot of guys. Too many guys want to get paid, and paid well, so they let the fighter sit. Meanwhile, they all have their hustles and schemes, and all the fighter has is fighting.

The final straw that brought that to an end was when they had to import UK bum Clinton Woods to be a punching bag for 6 rounds

[Vendettos]

Like the article or dislike it, it's true.

Every word of it. America is a shit place to be a fighter unless you're a select few and more importantly, undefeated.


Europe isn't great, matchup quality wise, with so many mismatches but more fighters are active.

Ward has had one fight in nearly 2 years. That's 2 years of his prime vanished, he's 29.



We can all agree on this fact though, boxers today are not looking for the big fights as much as the big payday. A sport that used to be filled with big fights is now limited to 1 or maybe 2 big fights a year.

[Fenster]

No it's a shit article.

For starters, Ward has been out through a shoulder injury. Secondly, whilst negotiating his comeback he fell out with his promoter, Dan Goossen, and tried to get rid of him, which went to court. Trouble between fighter and promoter and TV network (who deal with promoter) = no fight. Simple as.

As for there being only one or two big fights per year these days? Fuck knows how some people define a big fight, I thought there had been loads already this year with loads more planned, but on Sept 14 there are TWO on one card. Unless Floyd-Canelo, which broke the all-time live gate record in days, and Garcia-Matthysse, who are both on seven figures for an undercard bout, aren't big fights?

[ross]

"Quality control"?

Pavlik was quality was he?

Its more quantity than quality and fuck Ward. No ome wants to watch him cheat his way through an ugly boring mess anyway.

If the European networks allow their champions to fight more frequently and make more money then stop being a bitch who wants to fight at home and move away to germany, sign up to sauerland or whoever and actually fight more often and earn more.

Is anyone forcing these american fighters to stay in america? No!

Can americans still watch fights that happen in europe? Yes, so fucking move!