Boxing as a career choice...

I was watching a wee bit of tennis this afternoon. Looking at some of these guys' career earnings, and it dawned on me that past the big boys, Most of these guys have made as much in their careers as a half decent boxer with a fanbase can make in a fight. And tennis is generally a more popular sport than boxing.

A quick look at the ring P4P looks like a millionaires club. And Im inclined to believe the top 100 would also list guys who have done decently for themselves financially.

Looking at all individual sports, would you say boxing is the one most likely to reap a reward for a half-decent prospect. Once you get a name, and a decent home base, you just need an alphabet soup title and you can make high five figures for a very long time. Sure I am simplifying the equation a touch, but would you agree with the premise?

Tennis players are rich already. It's a hobby for many of those outside the top 50.

Not sure, football would be the obvious big earner even for the lesser known players, but I'm not sure on tennis

I would lean towards tennis as you have more tournaments than fights per year and its probabaly easier to get sponsors etc

I wouldnt really agree. The top pound for pound guys make huge money but beyond that it starts to dwindle pretty rapidly. For example Lamont Peterson there, a world champion, earned about 50k for a world title fight not long ago and thats before tax and management. Its one of the more extreme examples but alot of the lesser world champions wouldnt be rolling in the big bucks. Unless you are a top name and can roll in ppv figures then it can be a tough enough slog.

Theres also huge risks involved and no real job security. A loss can happen at any time and mean the differance between a big purse and a pittance. Its a tough sport.

A half decent premiership footballer or NFL/NBA/MLB would probably be a much safer and less risky scenario all things considered.

I was speaking to Vasel Pospisil (Im a junior reporter by trade), during a local challenger tournament a few days ago trust me, its not just a hobby. These guys are doing their utmost best, and outside the top forty, have made about 1-2 million career-wise. Sponsorships arent as easy to get as you think if youre ranked outside the top twenty, and as for tournaments, only those making it to the business end make serious money, and thats pretty much the same people week in week out.

Boxing differs from most other sports in that in most cases it is down to a fighters popularity that ensures he gets paid. That or the fact they are so exciting they must be paid reasonably well. Gatti made more than a million fighting Ward in a glorified club fight. All about selling yourself in boxing, either through personality (like Hatton did to a large extent) or exciting talent. If you are great at baseball, football, NFL or NHL you are guarenteed the $$$$ This isn't the case in boxing, sadly.

Of course team sports make more, thats why I didnt discuss them, my OP pretty clearly states individual sportsn

The money is more in the PPV's than the titles now in boxing, too many titles and champions.

I think I misread there, I thought it was all sports. I wouldnt really know what kind of money alot of those other individual sports are on. I imagine motor racing probably pays well, as does golf and in most of the other sports the actual risk/health factor of boxing would offset alot of the financial differances.

Only the top top boxers earn enough to become rich. If you were to compare the top 100 boxers to top 100 footballers I imagine boxing would lose pretty badly.

If you want to earn money, don't become a boxer.

kingraf wrote:Of course team sports make more, thats why I didnt discuss them, my OP pretty clearly states individual sportsn

Sorry.

Boxing is the riskiest career choice out there, trust me. You have to be something special to make a lot of money, enough to really be worth the risk you're taking. You're essentially fighting (as a semi-pro) 8/9 times a year for a percentage of the takings from tickets - the higher up the card you are or the more tickets you shift, the more money you make. This starts around £250 so you have to have another job to supplement yourself. You have to also bear in mind, you can't get a job that needs any sort of overtime outside of a normal 9 - 5, because in training for fights you have to be in the gym almost all of the time, it cripples people to get up at 6 to train/run for a couple of hours and then train for a few hours when they finish too. To train for a fight, you have to do anything between 100 - 200 hours in the gym.

You then have to factor in the money you're earning, boxers tend not to have the best set of qualifications, so its generally minimum wage jobs, and you also have to pay for equipment, time of the trainer (unless he'll do it for free) etc.

From there you may get picked up by a promoter if you string together some wins, or lick their bum at a gym visit. You can also get some extra cash being a sparring partner (jokes incoming) but again, thats not really enough to be a full time job. If you do get picked up you will then have to go full time, the promoter will make promises and guarantees of how much you will earn and they'll pay your basic expenses (training) but you're still expected to supplement your own lifestyle and such, meaning you have no time for family/friends - because you're working and training.

Now you're at a massive risk because you COULD lose, and this could ruin your career, the promoter no longer wants to get fights for you (unless you're exciting) and the pots dwindle. So you then look for another job and either a) Start again or b) Give up.

You have to be either a top amateur or something special to get far in boxing. I have an incredible amount of respect for boxers that have made it, the road is long, hard and lonely.

kingraf wrote:I was speaking to Vasel Pospisil (Im a junior reporter by trade), during a local challenger tournament a few days ago trust me, its not just a hobby. These guys are doing their utmost best, and outside the top forty, have made about 1-2 million career-wise. Sponsorships arent as easy to get as you think if youre ranked outside the top twenty, and as for tournaments, only those making it to the business end make serious money, and thats pretty much the same people week in week out.

feel free to submit some stuff to the v2 journal!!

Regarding tennis, surely being British is all you need to make a fortune. Talent would be the distant 2nd requirement. Although Murray having talent might have put an end to that gravy train. ;-)

Yeah, I mean, the world number 98 in tennis has career earnings of just north of 200k, if I was bothered enough to create a top 100 of boxers, Im sure all of them would be south of that figure. In South Africa (weak economy), we probably have about 15-20 fighters who made that last two years, UK has only one tennis player in the top 200. But, currently have Macklin, Murray, Haye, Harrison (he will come back), Fury, Price, Matty Hatton, Ricky Burns and Chisora as guys who have made more than that.

Then you get a guy like Josesito Lopez who made that in a whirlwind three months. Look, obviously team sports make more money for more people, but if you looking towards individual, I just dont think anything beats tennis financially.

Thanks Adam, I was planning on writing an article on the football thread, but I think I will put it in the journal

Although golf may be the exception. Motor racing does pay, but you need a lot of money to start off, and I dont quantify it as a sport.

kingraf wrote:Although golf may be the exception. Motor racing does pay, but you need a lot of money to start off, and I dont quantify it as a sport.

Totally agree. The competition is between mechanics.