Comments Thread For: Beterbiev Hunts For New Opponent, Barrera Bails From Fight

[SteveM]

There is simply not that much money there for eliminator type fights

Remember when Lemieux and N'Dam fought for a total purse of ~$100k for an actual world title?

$62k for eight to ten weeks' work is not bad. Way above the national average

Does he have any income apart from boxing. Far as I know he is fighting full time and if he has 2 fights a year to get $50 k take home for potentially having his brains beat out?

I am against fighters refusing to fight for less than a million when they are not champs but on the other hand there should be some way to guarantee a LHW top ten in an eliminator gets at least $50K net.

You guys all *****ing about boxing in a bad way. Fans of american HWs saying that other sports creamed off all the top talent - you can see why when these kind of paydays are what's on offer.

[The Gambler1981]

He balked right away....as would any fighter not starving to death.

Not signing the contract is not enough, all he had to say was not enough money so I am passing. Fair enough.

Fighters are not normal dudes sometimes it requires to do something you don't want to do to get to where you want to go. If you don't get that there is no point in talking to you.

[Kigali]

Lots of guys don't sign the contract until very near the fight, not uncommon.

He balked right away....as would any fighter not starving to death.

[BlakBread904]

Disappointing because I was planning on attending the fight, but I'm not upset at Sully. risk/reward yo...

62k before taxes and expenses could come out to peanuts (relatively speaking). However, Florida does not have state income tax so there's a bit more money in Sully's pocket.

He wouldn't be the first guy to fight for short money in hopes of being propelled to bigger fights/paydays. and he wouldn't be the first to pass on a fight because of short money. oh well

[The Gambler1981]

He never signed the contract.

Lots of guys don't sign the contract until very near the fight, not uncommon.

[Kigali]

Did he say anything publicly? Did he say thanks but no thanks? Or did the fight twist in the wind for months?

So no really really didn't balk right away.

He never signed the contract.

[The Gambler1981]

He did balk right away.

He never signed the contract.

Did he say anything publicly? Did he say thanks but no thanks? Or did the fight twist in the wind for months?

So no really really didn't balk right away.

[SteveM]

yup. this would have been an ibf eliminator.the winner gets a title shot and a much bigger payday. barerra made a foolish decision.

You can't keep selling your career down the line hoping for a bigger payday somewhere.

What if he wins. Exactly how soon is he going to be fighting either Ward or Kovalev as a mandatory? End of this year? 2018.

What happens if ward wins a rematch and then retires? Barrara (or Beterbiev) will probably need to fight for the title against some relative unknown for another $65K payday.

What a great career plan that would turn out to be for 2017/18.

[Sadiqkingofko]

I was really looking forward to this fight and was about to come in here to bash Barrera like a keyboard warrior, but wtf, $62k for a top 10 LHW? There's taxes, trainer fees, promoter fees, what does he even take home? Like $5 dollars? LOL Kathy Duva did the same thing for Kovalev in the Hopkins fight. Kovalev fought for peanuts. It doesn't seem like Main Events treats their fighters very well financially.

They should move to PBC or Roc Nation, Roc Nation got Ward 5M+ for 160K PPV, and PBC got Thurman and Garcia each 2M for a free fight on local television, Main Events takes too much money from there fighters

[Kigali]

62k is pretty light but he knew that figure, he should have balked right away and I would have felt that more. I can still feel it but he isn't getting any younger and how many opportunities will he get to really break through even for short green.

It really depends on what Barrera does next.

He did balk right away.

He never signed the contract.