What makes you the A Side?

[MPX309]

I think they both need this fight though, equally. Ward's had a tune up now, he can probably still make 168, he stays in shape and looked sharp against what was essentially a brick layer, but GGG also needs this fight because he's yet to face an opponent who at the very least we can say will give him problems in the ring.

GGG is having better ratings at the moment, but Ward has done more in the sport. This is why I think it's an interesting debate.

50/50 split is good though, I couldn't give the purse advantage to either guy.

[sugarsmosley]

how many nice, sweet cars you have

[sicko]

Mayweather and Pacquiao are the only A Sides in Boxing when you fight them you make more money than you ever made. Also what ever demands they have you will accept it because of the amount of money you will make

After them you have Cotto and Canelo both can do at least 300k PPV buys on their own without being attached to Mayweather of Pacquiao

After them, the rest of the fighters in boxing need to stop with these demands. You're not in position of power to have all of these demands yet! Sellout out Arenas for $5 Tickets doesn't make you a damn Draw! What makes you a Draw and A Side is being able to generate at the Gate as well as on PPV. If you're not doing this then shut the *** up with your Diva Demands. Then some of you fans are so ******, I see people talk about the size of the Crowd but nobody ever pull out gate numbers which is interesting.

[StiffBlab]

How long is boxing going to pretend that fans don't want to see Rigondeaux?

[Scipio2009]

Just keen to see people's opinions on this?

Seeing as GGG has acclaimed himself the A side vs Ward? . . . But has he even earned the right to do so yet?
He has higher viewing numbers I think (correct me if I'm wrong) but has accomplished less. So who is the A side and what makes them that?. . . I know there's some obvious answers to this, but let's just have a discussion for the sake of it.

Whomever brings the biggest pot to the table is the A-side; whether it's because your TV broadcaster backs you with money, you've got a home venue that you draw massive gates to, or sponsors/private backer believe in you enough to put dollars behind you, he who brings the money is the A-side.

The Ward-Golovkin situation is complicated in that the parameter seem convoluted; Ward brings in more money at the gate (recent revelation of only bringing in $500k for the StubHub fight that they were puffing their chests out over should give pause), Golovkin has the seeming financial backing from HBO, but RocNation seems ready and willing to put more money behind Andre Ward than K2 is willing to do for Golovkin (Ward-Smith had sponsors out the wazoo for that fight).

weighing things objectively, you'd end up with:

-TV: HBO (starts off with backing Golovkin with $2m by default, after showing that they were willing to push that number up to $4m for the right fight, let alone the upside offered on PPV)

-venue: Oracle Arena (Golovkin only did $500k at Stubhub with 9,000 in the building, and I doubt that that number was way higher than that for the 12,000 that he put into The Forum; meanwhile Ward's already did $700k+ on 10,000 seats for the Dawson fight, like did a similar number on the 9,200 seats for the Smith fight, Golovkin is starting to have a following come out for him, and Oracle Arena is big enough to put 18,000 people into the building)

-promoter: Roc Nation (simply off of the extensive sponsors that they were able to bring to Ward-Smith, in addition to the connections that they have on the media side in NYC and LA, the two biggest media markets in the United States, and Ward's standing in the Bay Area, another top ten media market) w/K2 working the rest of the international deals (unsure of if it was just because Paul Smith was involved, but Andre Ward seems to have some interest in him coming from Sky Sports)

split the final take 50/50, between two fighters with no clear edge in any of the criteria.

K2 having the in with HBO likely means that this doesn't happen (K2 will compel a smaller gate in SoCal, less money from the UK rights fee without Sky, and fewer name sponsors for the actual fight).

Another sticky situation is the Frampton-Quigg discussions, in that, logically, the fight should be on Sky Sports(Quigg) in Northern Ireland (Frampton), with Matchroom Sports shopping the fight internationally (Quigg) and Frampton taking the 55/45 split, for being a full world champion; Team Frampton (particularly Barry McGuigan) won't take that because they want the fight on their own presumptive broadcaster for less money, with more of the pot going to Frampton.

As a simple rule of thumb, if one fighter bring the better TV money, the better gate money, and the better sponsorship money than the other fighter, the initial fighter is the "A-side".

note: tvb.org has a list, dated September 2014, that outlines and ranks the various American media markets; apparently not able to link it here.

[Scipio2009]

When Canelo and Oscar walked away from the first Cotto negotiations, it effectively destroyed whatever A-side crap Cotto had. Oscar/Canelo could do it again in a heartbeat if Cotto persists on repeating his A-side crap. He'll end up looking for another non-lucrative fight or be forced to negotiate with Golovkin's people.

So Cotto/Alvarez should be a 50/50 deal.

If Canelo walks away from Cotto again, Cotto likely fight someone like Joshua Clottey around the same time already planned, still makes $2m-$3m for the fight, and moves along with his life.

Who does Saul Alvarez fight were it not for Cotto? Possibly Lemieux, but such a move would stop Golden Boy from making 2-3 paydays that they would've made otherwise (either miss out on milikng a few Montreal defenses out of Lemieux, or their cash cow takes another L on a big stage, stunting his progress a lot)

Cotto can walk away, while Canelo really can't at this point.

Cotto, just as before, has Canelo by the balls and his camp knows it.

[Scipio2009]

What does what I have highlighted, have to do with being p4p?

Ward only fell out of being p4p #2 due to inactivity; the moment that he gets active again, and continues to look like the Andre Ward that got him rated , there's no reason why he shouldn't be put back into the spot he was before being taken down by inactivity.

[boliodogs]

I think the A side thing is ******. I follow boxing very closely and have followed it forever. I never heard of this A side BS until Mayweather and Cotto kept bragging on it and pushing other fighters around in fight negotiations. The idea is for the two fighters and their advisers to compromise on some things and meet in the middle and get the fight made. A fighter can get so carried away with proving he is the A side that he A sides himself right out of the fight. Lesser fighters still want a fair fight and fair pay. They don't like being bullied and dictated to by the so called A side fighter and they won't put up with it. Khan often complains that this guy or that guy won't fight him. Khan always thinks he is the A side an offers other fighters peanuts for pay and wonders why they tell him to get ***ed. If he would offer them a decent purse they would fight him. Cotto A sided himself out of the Canelo fight not long ago and ended up fighting Geal for much less money.

[Mike D]

the bigger draw is the A side

[BrometheusBob.]

I think they both need this fight though, equally. Ward's had a tune up now, he can probably still make 168, he stays in shape and looked sharp against what was essentially a brick layer, but GGG also needs this fight because he's yet to face an opponent who at the very least we can say will give him problems in the ring.

GGG is having better ratings at the moment, but Ward has done more in the sport. This is why I think it's an interesting debate.

50/50 split is good though, I couldn't give the purse advantage to either guy.

I can agree with this post... He had noo problem making 172, I doubt he has any issues with going back down to 168. I doubted it at first, thought he might move to LHW but after the weight progress I heard he was making on his way to 172 I feel confident he can return to SMW.