"Daring to Be Great" Has an Expensive Pricetag and it Always Has

[-PBP-]

Every day you hear "today's fighters don't dare to be great like the fighters of the past." In some cases that may be true. But what people fail to realize is that, yes these old school fighters dared to be great, but they were compensated HEAVILY for taking on such risks. Let's take a look at how some of these fighters of the past were rewarded for "Daring to Be Great".

Common examples that are used where a smaller fighter moves up in weight:

1. Duran made $1.5 million, by far his biggest payday ever in his first fight with Leonard. $8 million for an immediate rematch.

2. Leonard made $12 million in his fight against Marvin Hagler at 160.

3. Pacquiao made $11 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

4. Mayweather made:

-$25 million to fight Oscar De La Hoya
-$32 million to fight Miguel Cotto
-$mega trillion gazillion to fight Canelo

5. Marquez made $3.2 million to fight Mayweather, $5 million to move up and fight Pacquiao

6. Roy Jones made $10 million to fight John Ruiz

7. Amir Khan made $13 million to fight Canelo

8. Shane Mosley made $4.5 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

9. Cotto made $7 million to fight Martinez

10. B-Hop made $5 million to fight Tarver


Very rarely do you see a guy "daring to be great" without making millions upon millions of dollars. So be careful when you criticize "X fighter" for not "moving up like my favorite fighter of the past" when your favorite fighter was compensated greatly for taking on such a risk.

Aren't better examples of "daring to be great" like Rigondeaux unifying a division in 12 fights, Lomachenko fighting for a world title in 2 fights, Pacquiao going after Barrera in his first test at 126, etc. etc.??? And what goes unnoticed is the failures (e.g. every over-matched Golovkin opponent that could have gone another route but wanted a shot at the best)


The number one argument I see coming is:

C'mon PBP. Every guy you listed was a proven, elite fighter that earned the right to those paydays.

My counter to that is:

How did they become proven, elite fighters in the first place? They became proven, elite fighters by beating the best fighters in their division and moving up after they handled their business in each respective division. That's why you need to be patient and let these current fighters build their resumes by knocking off the top fighters in their divisions before asking them to "dare to be great."

[Razcal26]

My counter to that is:

How did they become proven, elite fighters in the first place? They became proven, elite fighters by beating the best fighters in their division and moving up after they handled their business in each respective division. That's why you need to be patient and let these current fighters build their resumes by knocking off the top fighters in their divisions before asking them to "dare to be great."

I agreed with what you were saying until this point.

These fighters AREN'T clearing out their division. They AREN'T fighting each other and they aren't building their resumes.

What stands out for me is that when Floyd did his Showtime contract, he fought 6 fights in 3 years. He was 36 when that contract started. What other WW fought as much as a 36 year old Floyd during that time frame?

They don't want it bad enough imo.

[-PBP-]

I agreed with what you were saying until this point.

These fighters AREN'T clearing out their division. They AREN'T fighting each other and they aren't building their resumes.

What stands out for me is that when Floyd did his Showtime contract, he fought 6 fights in 3 years. He was 36 when that contract started. What other WW fought as much as a 36 year old Floyd during that time frame?

They don't want it bad enough imo.

I can see that starting to change:

Crawford/Postol
Porter/Thurman
Wilder/Povetkin
Lomachenko moving to 130
Ward/Kovalev
154 and 168 unification tournaments

I think the biggest issue is network budgets and TV dates. If the networks don't have money and the TV dates aren't available fighters can't fight nearly as often. The money just isn't there for fighters to want to dare to be great.

[-MAKAVELLI-]

GODDAMN Khan got $13mil?!?!?

[Dr Rumack]

Before 'daring to be great', they could try 'daring to have some dignity'. Massive paydays for a major, legacy defining challenge is one thing. Massive paydays to face another top contender is a different matter entirely.

Do people not realise how low standards are nowadays?

You mention Ray Leonard. This is Ray Leonard's record from November '79 to September '81:

November 79 - Wilfred Benitez
March 80 - Dave Green
June 80 - Roberto Duran
November 80 - Roberto Duran
March 81 - Larry Bonds
June 81 - Ayub Kalule
September 81 - Thomas Hearns

7 fights in 22 months. 4 with hall of fame opposition.

This was a guy who was already loved by the American public, in the way no US Olympic boxer is today. With all the charisma in the world and power to pick and choose he wanted to face.

That's where the bar for greatness was at back then. Today, a name on the rise faces another top 5 guy and he needs 18 months of tune-ups before he'll take a test again.

Just look at the number of top 10 opponents today's beltholders fought to become 'champions' today and you'll shock yourself. At lightweight it was 0. At featherweight it was three between all four 'champions.

This is what boxing is today. And the reality is this. Most of these guys are not good enough to be world champions. But they manoeuvre their way into a vacant title shot. They win a paper title and market themselves as world champions. They continue to avoid top 5 opposition until sometime, maybe years down the line, they will get paid an acceptable fee to lose their belt.

And meantime the entire sport waits while this shit goes on. Speculating and arguing about the outcomes of fights that won't be seen for years, if they're ever seen at all.

The problem in boxing is too much patience for this bullshit. Not too little.

[The Big Dunn]

PBP, my man, Amir was in no way shape or form "daring to be great". He was willing to lose to for a big purse, which anyone in Khans place would do.

He was in a 5/95 fight (while every other fight you listed was more of the 60/40 or 50/50 that fans actually wanted to see) knowing he stood to make 8 figures. Khan basically took Gabe Rosado's "jobber to the stars" act to PPV.

Why would fighters "dare to be great" and take 50/50 fights (like khan/brook) or 40/60 fights (duran/SRL) in the next weight class when there is more money in taking a 10/90 or 5/95 fight and getting destroyed?

[NaijaD]

GODDAMN Khan got $13mil?!?!?

Yeah he did!

Not hard to be brave when that kind of money is being waved about. None of those other PBC guys will ever see that kind of figures.

And OP is absolutely right, no one comfortable at their weight class is going to move up without the incentive of money, that greatness talk is a clever smoke screen sometimes.

[Eff Pandas]

Good post PBP. Boxing fans love to act like daring to be great is some simple equation where the biggest contributing factor is balls. Money plays big if not the biggest in this equation more often than not.

Also anyone know how many 0's are in a "$mega trillion gazillion"?

[therealpugilist]

I agreed with what you were saying until this point.

These fighters AREN'T clearing out their division. They AREN'T fighting each other and they aren't building their resumes.

What stands out for me is that when Floyd did his Showtime contract, he fought 6 fights in 3 years. He was 36 when that contract started. What other WW fought as much as a 36 year old Floyd during that time frame?

They don't want it bad enough imo.

They want the money and fame without the sweat, blood and tears. Some have the talent but not the opponents, others have the balls but not the talent. Floyd had all the talent in the world and worked hard too. thats the difference. Because he made it look easy people forget the dues he paid.

Its not every year a fighter retires after defeating 14 champion/titlists straight.

they dont want to be great, they want to get paid

[-PBP-]

Let's talk about fighting top contenders in your own division:

November 79 - Wilfred Benitez

The richest fight in history below the heavyweight division at the time. $1.2 million to Benitez, $1 million to Leonard.

March 80 - Dave Green

Leonard made $1.4 million

June 80 - Roberto Duran

Leonard made $7.5-$10 million, the largest purse in history

November 80 - Roberto Duran

Leonard made $7 million

March 81 - Larry Bonds

Leonard made $750K

June 81 - Ayub Kalule

Leonard made $2.5 million

September 81 - Thomas Hearns

Leonard $8 million/Hearns $5 million

Leonard has an incredible resume but he was paid handsomely to fight said resume. I don't think the mentality of fighters has changed at all. If they were making this kind of money fights would get done.