Which Great Boxers in History became Poor Post-Boxing?

[CubanGuyNYC]

Thanks to Thread Stealer for posting those articles on Iran Barkley and Tommy Hearns.

Barkley's case is just plain sad. He was a guy blessed with enough ability to fight on a high level and make some good money. But he could never escape his background and save himself. I ran into him once at a local boxing show, also attended by Gerry Cooney. Let's just say that Iran struck me as the kind of guy that would have difficulty making it outside of boxing.

As for Hearns: "Hitman" made the kind of cash that should carry any reasonable person very comfortably through life, regardless of their financial expertise.

What all of these guys have in common -- Barkley, Hearns, Mike Tyson and, yes, Floyd Mayweather -- is that they think what they've earned is all the money in the world, that it can't run out. But they live such lavish lifestyles and recklessly support so many people that the loot eventually disappears. Also (and Barkley is a pathetic example of this), there's a common delusion that they always have one big payday left in them. Most of these men believe that if they ever begin to run short of cash they can earn more in the ring.

[Devils Advocate]

Wonder whatever happened to money Tyson earned? After all his cut from the $545 million on 12.4 million PPV buys is surely high.

Floyd lost all his money to big willie I thought and thats why he came out of retirement, good thing it happened early and can make his money back thus keeping the name "money" instead of PBF. He better hope he doesn't look like his dad later on or else all the money in the world couldn't help his ass

[check hook]

These boxers need to take some classes in finance.

And boxers don't need to be full time students, they just need to absorb whatever is in the class room.

promoters want them to stay ignorant and uneducated..........shame.....

[Boxingwizard]

promoters want them to stay ignorant and uneducated..........shame.....

A boxer can take classes in accounting, economics, and finance and their educated. It just cost like a couple hundred bucks.

[La_Vibora]

Unfortunately, there are far too many of these stories to tell. But here's an excerpt (taken from an article by William Dettloff on ESPN.com) about the great Kid Gavilan:

Like they do for most fighters, things went badly for Gavilan in retirement. He returned to Cuba and lived there, unhappily, for the most part of 10 years before resettling in the United States in Florida in 1968. By the 1980s, he was selling sausages in Miami.

Gavilan was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 and died of heart failure in February 1993 at 77, after having spent the final eight years of his life in an assisted-living facility in Hialeah, Fla. He was buried in a pauper's grave in Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami.

The story doesn't end there.

In 2005, The Ring 8 Veterans Association and a group that included Ray Mancini, Mike Tyson, Roberto Duran, Leon Spinks, Buddy McGirt, Emile Griffith and Angelo Dundee paid to have Gavilan's body exhumed and moved to another section of the cemetery and to have a memorial headstone erected to honor his contributions to the fight game.

"No one there realizes that this was one of the greatest fighters of all time," Mancini said at the time. "The Kid and other fighters of his era did not make the big money, but they paved the way for guys like me to do just that."

If you're interested in reading the full story, here's the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ory?id=3388969

Wow! I didn't realize he was buried at Lady of Mercy, I may stop by to see his grave and pay respects since he was one of my favorite fighters.

As for fighters, I can't understand why they so spend foolishly. Why get these huge mansions and buy Ferraris, Lambo, etc. Why not just rent them when you want to use them? Buying those things aren't a problem, but the amount of money that you have to put into those things to maintain them will eventually break your back. I mean do you know how much Holyfield for instance probably spends to have the grass cut for his mansion per year? Or how about when making repairs or maintenance(i.e. oil changes, tuneups,etc) on all those cars that Floyd owns? I am not sure of the exact number, but it isn't cheap. You would think these guys would learn from the fighters of the past, yet they follow behind their footsteps doing the same crap.

[jthoang]

Leon Spinks.

[La_Vibora]

Sam Langford, who became blind and poor:

[P.WILL]

I would buy a nice family house with about two decent cars and have fun. (if i made money like they do)
throwing money in crowds, huge empy mansions, bunch of cars

[20LH20]

It really is sad how so many of the great boxers somehow manage to throw everything away.

Personally, I can't stand the posses and leeches that so many of the high profile boxers roll with. They are probably getting screwed by the promoter from one side and screwing themselves on the other by spending so much on their clowns and trying to front some phony image of themselves.

[chessplayer163]

Why they grow broke

Funny. It's just not happening to just boxers, but many athletes. Boxing is pretty bad though.

The number #1 reason is bad business deals. They think that they made it big in boxing and have all this money and get into business they have no idea of. Restaurants, hotels, carwash, magazines, music, Real Estate. If they don't directly invest into the deal, one of their entourage will have a "Great deal" wink, wink.

Many businesses cost millions to get going and hardly any of them make money in the end.

Floyd Jr. has: Mayweather Boxing Gym, Philthy Rich Records, Mayweather Promotions, His Entourage, and the costs of his assets, Mansion, Cars, Security.
Plus I think he is a ****** gambler, on sports, which is a sure loser. My opinion is he's broke and had to take the Mosley fight. FYI I'm not a Floyd Hater.