Devin Haney is far from naive about the hefty financial costs that comes with being an undisputed champion today in boxing.
Haney – the WBC lightweight titlist who is gearing up to face WBA, WBA, and IBF champion George Kambosos in a 12-round, 135-pound undisputed title bout June 4 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia – noted in a recent interview that he understands that having all four titles in a division means having to give four separate sanctioning bodies a cut of his purse.
Such a policy has driven some observers to claim that sanctioning fees are nothing more than extortion and that they unfairly deprive fighters of their hard-earned money.
Most recently, two-division titlist and Hall of Famer Andre Ward spoke out against sanctioning fees, calling for an “overhaul” and stating unequivocally that he does not “like them.” Ward, in particular, criticized sanctioning bodies for their opaqueness.
“I got all the belts in my office, just collecting dust right now,” Ward said. “I have them on display for television but in reality, they’re just collecting dust. I start to do the math… I get sick. Maybe I’m missing something. If they can show me what they bring to the table and justify that, I will come back on this same show and say, ‘I apologize, I didn’t know this.’ I’ve been around boxing a long time and have yet to understand what they do to fully justify it.”
The Las Vegas-based Haney, who is in Australia at the moment, admitted he did not catch Ward’s withering comments but nevertheless suggested he did not hold the same opinion. What’s more, Haney stated that he knew full well that by clamoring for a shot at the undisputed distinction in the lightweight division that he was, in effect, agreeing to the financial terms set by the sanctioning bodies – and all that is apparently fine with Haney.
“I didn’t see what Andre said about sanctioning fees, but I begged for this opportunity,” Haney said on the Boxing with Chris Mannix podcast. “I begged for the shot for all the belts. I knew what I was signing up for. I knew what was in the contract as far as sanctioning fees. I’m all up for it.
“As long as I win, that's all I care about. We can talk about the sanctioning fees later. All I wanna do is win right now.”
In February, Keith Idec of BoxingScene.com reported the kind of money an undisputed champion is obligated to part with in today’s version of the sport. Josh Taylor, the former 140-pound fully-unified champion from Scotland, had to set aside 11% of his purse to pay the various governing institutions, which includes the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO, ahead of his title defense against Jack Catterall on Feb. 26; the first three organizations charged Taylor 3% of his purse, while the WBO charged 2%.
One belt that Haney will not consider owning is the WBC Franchise title, which Kambosos currently owns, because he feels it is less legitimate than his WBC belt proper.
“I appreciate the WBC for supporting me and everything that they’ve done,” Haney said. “It is no disrespect but the world championship belt that I have is the one I’ll be walking out with.”
Mannix (half) jokingly suggested that Haney should dump the WBC Franchise belt in the trash much in the same manner that heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe once famously did with his WBC belt back in the 1990s. Haney, however, does not appear to harbor such ill feelings toward the sanctioning bodies.
“Oh my God, Chris,” Haney responded. “Oh my God. I would never do that.”
“Right now it’s a dream come true of mine to finally be fighting for undisputed,” Haney continued. “I’m so blessed to be in this position. I would never want to disrespect the belts like that. God put me in this position to fight for everything at such a young age. I look forward to it.”
