Comments Thread For: The Beltline: Are Canelo Alvarez, Tim Tszyu and Carl Froch the only men in boxing whose hands cannot be held?

[BrankoB]

Good article. The final left turn to pull Andre Ward out of thin air was a little unexpected though. It was like the 'twist' in an M Night Shamalyan movie.

One of the key things in this article is the concept of "Fuuccckkk You Money". Canelo has it and Froch presumably has it, so they can afford to be their own men and do what they like, say what they like without fear of the future. That is what gives them power to stand up and choose their own path. My question is this - how on Earth is young Tim so brave to stand up to Turki? I am assuming he does not have enough "Fuuuucccckkk You Money" and he is not in a position to not really care about his future prospects. Most likely, it seems he is relaying on Prime to support him going forward.

[LarryMerchant'sBottle]

I like the cards we have been getting recently and I have enjoyed watching the match ups that Turki has been financing. I am not sure exactly what his agenda is but I know many people have speculated his ulterior motives on this forum. I appreciate what he has done so far, but my skeptical mind does not know how long he will be allowed to keep doing it.

One thing I do know - nobody has bottomless pits of money they can afford to keep throwing away forever. You cannot be overpaying these fighters forever and keep loosing millions on every major card. Why do I assume Turki is loosing money on every card? Because no other promoter is doing what he is doing. We are not hearing anything about ppv numbers being crushed and live gate being sold out at premium prices weeks ahead of the card. So if guys like uncle Bob are not doing it, it means the shows are not making money. How much are they loosing? God knows.

Whomever is financing Turki (I am assuming it is his boss) will eventually have enough of this boxing thing and will likely pull the plug on loosing money by the truck full every time an event is staged. I don't know how long is their patience, but I fear it will eventually run out and then we will be left with a whole bunch of primadona's demanding exorbitant purses that no promoter can meet.

We're just about there now.

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

We keep hearing about the Saudi Paydays , but does anyone know any numbers ? I have not seen or heard anything . Anyone else ?

[BrankoB]

We keep hearing about the Saudi Paydays , but does anyone know any numbers ? I have not seen or heard anything . Anyone else ?

When the ppv numbers are good, people publish them because it is in human nature to want to brag about their success. When nobody knows the ppv numbers, it only means one thing - they are not looking great. In terms of fighters purses they have been published, but only the guarantees, not the upside.

[Verus]

So you haven’t answered what is their motivation ? The good of boxing ? Just to make the best fights?r u serious ?

As you undoubtedly know Turki is not spending his personal money on boxing and other sports. The Saudi government has invested tens of billions in various sports and sports leagues as part of a national strategy to diversify their economy and improve Saudi's image around the globe. This is lost on many folks who post on boxing sites. Here is a partial list of Saudi investments in sports to improve their international image, diversify their economy, and accomplish other PR goals.

• Football. Saudi's Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought Newcastle United in 2021 after years of legal wrangling. ...
• Golf. ...
• Cricket. ...
• Horse racing. ...
• Boxing. ...
• Formula 1. ...
• Tennis. ...
• Wrestling.

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

One of the key things in this article is the concept of "Fuuccckkk You Money". Canelo has it and Froch presumably has it, so they can afford to be their own men and do what they like, say what they like without fear of the future. That is what gives them power to stand up and choose their own path. My question is this - how on Earth is young Tim so brave to stand up to Turki? I am assuming he does not have enough "Fuuuucccckkk You Money" and he is not in a position to not really care about his future prospects. Most likely, it seems he is relaying on Prime to support him going forward.

I believe that Tim has done well for himself from fights and sponsorships , commercials, etc. He's a big star in Australia. He can fight there exclusively and make a fortune. Australians are like the British , they support their boxers in a way that we don't in the U.S.

[BrankoB]

I believe that Tim has done well for himself from fights and sponsorships , commercials, etc. He's a big star in Australia. He can fight there exclusively and make a fortune. Australians are like the British , they support their boxers in a way that we don't in the U.S.

I am Australian and I can confirm this. When Australia has a world champion, in any division, every fight is a major event and the tickets sell. We don't get so many quality boxing events and we are far away from everyone (difficult and expensive to travel), so world title fights are a big thing.

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

I like the cards we have been getting recently and I have enjoyed watching the match ups that Turki has been financing. I am not sure exactly what his agenda is but I know many people have speculated his ulterior motives on this forum. I appreciate what he has done so far, but my skeptical mind does not know how long he will be allowed to keep doing it.

One thing I do know - nobody has bottomless pits of money they can afford to keep throwing away forever. You cannot be overpaying these fighters forever and keep loosing millions on every major card. Why do I assume Turki is loosing money on every card? Because no other promoter is doing what he is doing. We are not hearing anything about ppv numbers being crushed and live gate being sold out at premium prices weeks ahead of the card. So if guys like uncle Bob are not doing it, it means the shows are not making money. How much are they loosing? God knows.

Whomever is financing Turki (I am assuming it is his boss) will eventually have enough of this boxing thing and will likely pull the plug on loosing money by the truck full every time an event is staged. I don't know how long is their patience, but I fear it will eventually run out and then we will be left with a whole bunch of primadona's demanding exorbitant purses that no promoter can meet.

Turki is the Chairman of the Sports and Entertainment Commission, or whatever it's called . Riyadh Season is apparently a campaign to publicize Saudi Arabia as a tourist destination. He's also a member of the Royal Family , a Prince. From my understanding there are a bunch of them . I don't know how high Turki ranks ,but it's Prince Muhammad Bin Salman who is next in line to the throne. The money that they loose on boxing is part of the advertising budget for Riyadh Season , it's peanuts for them. They gave Jared Kushner 2 billion , like it was lint in their pockets. This boxing thing isn't even a blip in the overall budget.

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

When the ppv numbers are good, people publish them because it is in human nature to want to brag about their success. When nobody knows the ppv numbers, it only means one thing - they are not looking great. In terms of fighters purses they have been published, but only the guarantees, not the upside.

They might not want to talk about their paydays to hide some from the tax man.

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

I am Australian and I can confirm this. When Australia has a world champion, in any division, every fight is a major event and the tickets sell. We don't get so many quality boxing events and we are far away from everyone (difficult and expensive to travel), so world title fights are a big thing.

I was almost Australian. When my parents left Cuba in the early 60's ,Australia was one of the places that my father was looking at moving to. Whereabouts in Australia are you ?