Why didn't Roy Jones make the sort of money that Tyson or Mayweather made?

Roy didn't have the outside the ring drama that Mike did, or the theatrics of Floyd... But he was a spectacular once in a century type of talent... it's just sort of amazing that an athlete of Roy's caliber wasn't making hundreds of millions of dollars... In any other sport it would be unheard of... It's like how can an athlete who can perform like that not be a huge attraction? People tuned in to watch Jordan because he performed so well, not because of his personality or off the court drama. You're right though, Roy seems like a humble guy relatively.... Still lives on his farm in Pensacola and loves his animals and just being a part of boxing... It's like he was content with having 10's of millions of dollars...but not hundreds of millions... Seems like Roy has a lot of pride in that regard I think MJ had a bigger stage than Roy to perform on, and in the early stages he had some great rivalries, peers to build his brand off of, Magic Bird The Bad Boy Pistons, etc., and don't forget the atg shoe. I think Roy was what you see is what you get. Maybe getting Lennox/Holy/Iron Mike in the ring and beating them would have put him over the top. But at the end of the day look at Mike now. He morphed into a regular schmuck trying to eke out a living, and Floyd still schucking and jiving trying to keep up the coon act. Must not be easy work.

Probably because he was black.

De La Hoya was the first mainstream non heavyweight PPV star. Before him it was mostly heavyweights that were getting those big dollars. Plus in his prime the middleweight division was pretty weak so there wasn’t anyone on his level that would be a compelling matchup and he didn’t move up until he was past his prime. By the time he was in a position to have any fight on PPV he wasn’t as good and started losing. As much as I hated DLH, he took on the big fights as Roy ran away from them.

I read Holys book. Jones wanted 100 million for an Evander Holyfield fight. Of course it was turned down man, too much to ask for. Woulda been a sweet fight though. No it was 50 million to fight Lennox and that would have left nothing for Lennox. Of course Lennox would have separated his head eventually from his body at some point in the fight.

People don't understand how special Floyd was as an entertainer. All sports are ENTERTAINMENT and Floyd transcended BOXING and became a headline ENTERTAINER. Floyd did the WWE thing, did the rap thing earlier in his career (believe it was called Philthy rich records or something like that), was arrested a few times (appealed to MSM because Floyd fit the "stereotype" for black AA's), Floyd gracefully played the villain role, Floyd did Dancing with the Stars...Floyd literally INVENTED/MADE HBO's 24/7 TV show. And, of course, Floyd kept winning. Floyd was a FAR more interesting character than RJJ and perhaps most importantly Floyd had a nemesis who was his equal opposite. Pacman was a poor immigrant who was a Holy man and trained under a white man with disability. Pacman was humble in victory and defeat and spoke "cute English". Pacman was also blitzkrieging and KTFO opponents. Floyd will never admit this but his income benefited GREATLY from the mere existence of Manny Pacquiao...it wasnt just Manny that benefited. People originally tuned in to watch Floyd because he was exciting to watch... Fast, explosive, technical... an impressive athlete... like a lite version of Roy... As Floyd's career progressed and he turned into Money May, people were tuning in (buying PPVs) JUST to see Floyd lose... Because he became less exciting as an athlete... less aggressive, more calculating, more cautious... doing enough to win convincingly on points.... As a fighter Roy was FAR more exciting to watch, both in the beginning and end of his career...At the end of the day, isn't how a fighter actually performs in the ring the most "entertaining" thing about boxing.... It's like, who actually wants to watch Jake Paul get in the ring and box... What's the point of all the build up and drama to one of his fights, when the fighter who steps in the ring is barely an amateur?

First off, I know Roy's time was before the age of social media, so he didn't have the advantage that Floyd had. But Tyson was BEFORE Roy and he made hundreds of millions of dollars. After Mike, Roy became THE fighter... The most athletic, flashiest fighters who knocked people out in dramatic fashion (not every fight but when he did it was typically in spectacular fashion). Roy was also a GREATER athlete than both Mike and Floyd. Yet despite his superiority in the ring, his P4P unquestioned status, his next level miracle speed he never made the crazy money that Mike or Floyd did.... How was Roy not considered as great of an attraction as Floyd or MIke so as to demand similar purses?.... It doesn't make sense... You can say, "Well, he didn't have the competition"... But look at the padding of Mike and Floyd in their early career... Jones for most of his career was mismanaged by his father. Roy is similar to Mayweather in that he became a bit of a heal... the guy everyone wanted a piece of. Mayweather was going down the same street, so to speak, but two things happened: 1) He told Arum to go fck himself (more fighters should do the same) and he fought a fighter with massive appeal, that being De La Hoya. Only after De La Hoya did Mayweather start to become financially succesful. Tyson was the heavyweight champ of the world... And it was fairly obvious he reigned supreme... end of story!

Combination of things. Strong heavyweight division. Not winning gold at the Olympics. Promoter. Personality. Story going into his fights.

Mike was putting asses in the seats out the gate because of the spectacular ko's and being a heavyweight, but he really became over the top when he became front page news for the bizarre behavior, Robin/Ruth Givens, the rape charge, etc. Floyd was mediocre, then he created the Money May persona if it wasn't for that, he would be still mediocre. I think Roy made out good he had a good deal on HBO was he the face of boxing no Oscar was during his era, but he tried some things, but he didn't look like the type to sell his soul to make a extra buck. Roy didn't have the outside the ring drama that Mike did, or the theatrics of Floyd... But he was a spectacular once in a century type of talent... it's just sort of amazing that an athlete of Roy's caliber wasn't making hundreds of millions of dollars... In any other sport it would be unheard of... It's like how can an athlete who can perform like that not be a huge attraction? People tuned in to watch Jordan because he performed so well, not because of his personality or off the court drama. You're right though, Roy seems like a humble guy relatively.... Still lives on his farm in Pensacola and loves his animals and just being a part of boxing... It's like he was content with having 10's of millions of dollars...but not hundreds of millions... Seems like Roy has a lot of pride in that regard

Mike was putting asses in the seats out the gate because of the spectacular ko's and being a heavyweight, but he really became over the top when he became front page news for the bizarre behavior, Robin/Ruth Givens, the rape charge, etc. Floyd was mediocre, then he created the Money May persona if it wasn't for that, he would be still mediocre. I think Roy made out good he had a good deal on HBO was he the face of boxing no Oscar was during his era, but he tried some things, but he didn't look like the type to sell his soul to make a extra buck.

De La Hoya was the first mainstream non heavyweight PPV star. Before him it was mostly heavyweights that were getting those big dollars. Plus in his prime the middleweight division was pretty weak so there wasn’t anyone on his level that would be a compelling matchup and he didn’t move up until he was past his prime. By the time he was in a position to have any fight on PPV he wasn’t as good and started losing. So basically, what you are saying is that Roy didn't get the push that De La Hoya did from not having a promoter. like Bob Arum? Do you agree? I do believe if Roy had a promoter like Don King he would have grossed a lot more money than he did in his career. However, HBO wanted to exclusively own Roy by cutting out all middlemen and dealing directly with him.by setting up him a makeshift dummy promotional corporation called Square Ring, Inc.for him. in all truthfulness, HBO was Jones' secret boxing promotional company.

De La Hoya was the first mainstream non heavyweight PPV star. Before him it was mostly heavyweights that were getting those big dollars. Plus in his prime the middleweight division was pretty weak so there wasn’t anyone on his level that would be a compelling matchup and he didn’t move up until he was past his prime. By the time he was in a position to have any fight on PPV he wasn’t as good and started losing.

There are two reasons why: One he didn't have a promoter and two he lacked both the ability and the business acumen of a Sugar Ray Leonard who also self-managed his own career.

Ask Breadman next week, Roy is one of his favorite topics

I read Holys book. Jones wanted 100 million for an Evander Holyfield fight. Of course it was turned down man, too much to ask for. Woulda been a sweet fight though.