"Daring to Be Great" Has an Expensive Pricetag and it Always Has

[-MEGA-]

So basically because the money isn't there. Everybody should just fight subpar competition?


I get that this is a business and every risk deserves an equal reward. But that's not how life works. Should the best not fight the best?

[Eff Pandas]

PBP, my man, Amir was in no way shape or form "daring to be great". He was willing to lose to for a big purse, which anyone in Khans place would do.

Of course he was daring to be great. He coulda lost (or won) vs Brook for a similar or bigger purse by most accounts. If Khan woulda beaten Canelo he's one of the biggest deals in boxing. And while you or I or most fans saw Khan having very little chance to win, we all also know that Khan is one of the more self-deluded individuals in boxing & I personally got zero doubt Khan thought he could win this fight so his motive, while misinformed, wasn't to cash out, it was to win.

[-PBP-]

PBP, my man, Amir was in no way shape or form "daring to be great". He was willing to lose to for a big purse, which anyone in Khans place would do.

He was in a 5/95 fight (while every other fight you listed was more of the 60/40 or 50/50 that fans actually wanted to see) knowing he stood to make 8 figures. Khan basically took Gabe Rosado's "jobber to the stars" act to PPV.

Why would fighters "dare to be great" and take 50/50 fights (like khan/brook) or 40/60 fights (duran/SRL) in the next weight class when there is more money in taking a 10/90 or 5/95 fight and getting destroyed?

I agree with arguments from both sides. For purpose of this thread I was just listing common examples of "daring to be great". In each example, the fighter "daring to be great" made a ton of money for that risk.

So basically because the money isn't there. Everybody should just fight subpar competition?


I get that this is a business and every risk deserves an equal reward. But that's not how life works. Should the best not fight the best?

Not that they "should". It's that they "are". Throughout history, the biggest fights would not have taken place if the money wasn't right.

[jqSide]

Just wait when Lara's bluff gets called by GG. He'll demand $5 million even though he's the one who expressed interest and knew he can't draw flies. Or he'll end up like Spence getting quiet all of a sudden when Brook called his bluff. I can't come up with anything worse.

[The Big Dunn]

Of course he was daring to be great. He coulda lost (or won) vs Brook for a similar or bigger purse by most accounts. If Khan woulda beaten Canelo he's one of the biggest deals in boxing. And while you or I or most fans saw Khan having very little chance to win, we all also know that Khan is one of the more self-deluded individuals in boxing & I personally got zero doubt Khan thought he could win this fight so his motive, while misinformed, wasn't to cash out, it was to win.

Eff P, my man the thing is If Khan had a chance to win he WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN THE FIGHT! If the payday wasn't so big, Khan wouldn't have gone up to MW or JMW.

With all due respect winning was never on his mind, just the payday. This way, should he lose in the closer fights available to him at WW following this (brook, garcia, thurman/porter winner), its not as devastating since he banked the big payday already.

I agree with arguments from both sides. For purpose of this thread I was just listing common examples of "daring to be great". In each example, the fighter "daring to be great" made a ton of money for that risk.

Those fights were in the era where winning mattered and got you bigger purses.

This is the era of stars, as Dr. Rumack alluded to. The way you get paid is to be a star or be not good enough to beat the star so you always get b side star paydays.

Look at the paydays for Canelo opponents-Angulo got $750k. James Kirkland earned $1.3 mil.. Khan stands to earn $10 mil. There is more money in letting Canelo KYTFO than there is in beating any other top MW.

[Irony123]

Every day you hear "today's fighters don't dare to be great like the fighters of the past." In some cases that may be true. But what people fail to realize is that, yes these old school fighters dared to be great, but they were compensated HEAVILY for taking on such risks. Let's take a look at how some of these fighters of the past were rewarded for "Daring to Be Great".

Common examples that are used where a smaller fighter moves up in weight:

1. Duran made $1.5 million, by far his biggest payday ever in his first fight with Leonard. $8 million for an immediate rematch.

2. Leonard made $12 million in his fight against Marvin Hagler at 160.

3. Pacquiao made $11 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

4. Mayweather made:

-$25 million to fight Oscar De La Hoya
-$32 million to fight Miguel Cotto
-$mega trillion gazillion to fight Canelo

5. Marquez made $3.2 million to fight Mayweather, $5 million to move up and fight Pacquiao

6. Roy Jones made $10 million to fight John Ruiz

7. Amir Khan made $13 million to fight Canelo

8. Shane Mosley made $4.5 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

9. Cotto made $7 million to fight Martinez

10. B-Hop made $5 million to fight Tarver


Very rarely do you see a guy "daring to be great" without making millions upon millions of dollars. So be careful when you criticize "X fighter" for not "moving up like my favorite fighter of the past" when your favorite fighter was compensated greatly for taking on such a risk.

Aren't better examples of "daring to be great" like Rigondeaux unifying a division in 12 fights, Lomachenko fighting for a world title in 2 fights, Pacquiao going after Barrera in his first test at 126, etc. etc.??? And what goes unnoticed is the failures (e.g. every over-matched Golovkin opponent that could have gone another route but wanted a shot at the best)


The number one argument I see coming is:

C'mon PBP. Every guy you listed was a proven, elite fighter that earned the right to those paydays.

My counter to that is:

How did they become proven, elite fighters in the first place? They became proven, elite fighters by beating the best fighters in their division and moving up after they handled their business in each respective division. That's why you need to be patient and let these current fighters build their resumes by knocking off the top fighters in their divisions before asking them to "dare to be great."

correct yet again PBP. Daring to be great is a commonly used catch phrase to discredit another fighter and sometimes used hype your own but really mostly to discredit.

There is actually probably no such thing as dare to be great... its should be "dare to be paid"

Closest thing to the definition of "daring to be great" is when you take on the toughest (but reasonable) challenge available for the same money that you could take on a much easier challenge.

[-PBP-]

Those fights were in the era where winning mattered and got you bigger purses.

This is the era of stars, as Dr. Rumack alluded to. The way you get paid is to be a star or be not good enough to beat the star so you always get b side star paydays.

Look at the paydays for Canelo opponents-Angulo got $750k. James Kirkland earned $1.3 mil.. Khan stands to earn $10 mil. There is more money in letting Canelo KYTFO than there is in beating any other top MW.

That's the thing. Nobody is daring to be great in today's era because the money isn't worth it. The price for risky fights is not worth it when you are getting similar purses for safer fights in your own division.

[djt117]

That's the thing. Nobody is daring to be great in today's era because the money isn't worth it. The price for risky fights is not worth it when you are getting similar purses for safer fights in your own division.

Yes, and who started paying big time money for fights that aren't worth a bag of penis?

It isn't that the money for big fights isn't big enough, it's that the paydays for 2-3 **** fights is equivalent money.

[The Big Dunn]

That's the thing. Nobody is daring to be great in today's era because the money isn't worth it. The price for risky fights is not worth it when you are getting similar purses for safer fights in your own division.

For the potential stars, its safer fights. For non stars its blow out losses. Canelo/Khan is the perfect mix of both.

My wish-HBO didn't approve Khan and made Canelo fight GGG or another MW. Khan would've made the Brook fight. This is 2 solid paydays for fights we as fans want. Instead Canelo and Khan got giant paydays for an outcome that every serious boxing fan assumed.

What's truly sad is fans that buy these kind of fight believing they will produce a Douglas/Tyson type upset.

[joseph5620]

GODDAMN Khan got $13mil?!?!?

After getting knocked out like that I think he deserved it