FAO Deontay Wilder: Floyd's Shown You How to Make a Mega Fight

[Stinger1]

For those not old enough to remember, the Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder situation isn't without precedent. Floyd before he was "Money" was an emerging PPV star and considered P4P the best. Oscar was the biggest name in boxing after Roy wasn't Roy anymore and Tyson had retired.

So this is how the negotiations went down, which was detailed in this article.

Terms were not disclosed, but both sides said that the fighters will make career-high purses. In De La Hoya's case, that means more than $25 million. For Mayweather, it means at least $10 million. Both will probably earn much more than that if the pay-per-view is a hit.

"We are just glad we were able to come to the agreement," Ellerbe said. "Oscar is a great businessman, him and Richard both. The negotiations were smooth. We didn't have any problems. This is about giving the fans what they want. And it's about Floyd's legacy in the sport. Floyd wants to go down as the best ever and Oscar is the biggest name in the sport."

There you have it, even though the gap commercially between Floyd and Oscar was much smaller than Deontay and AJ, Floyd took 28% of the guaranteed money. IF Wilder is what he says he is, then, like Floyd he would take AJ's terms to prove himself.

But as AJ said this guy is just a belt seller. There is nothing wrong with that except lying about it and saying you're something you're not.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

For those not old enough to remember, the Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder situation isn't without precedent. Floyd before he was "Money" was an emerging PPV star and considered P4P the best. Oscar was the biggest name in boxing after Roy wasn't Roy anymore and Tyson had retired.

So this is how the negotiations went down, which was detailed in this article.

Terms were not disclosed, but both sides said that the fighters will make career-high purses. In De La Hoya's case, that means more than $25 million. For Mayweather, it means at least $10 million. Both will probably earn much more than that if the pay-per-view is a hit.

"We are just glad we were able to come to the agreement," Ellerbe said. "Oscar is a great businessman, him and Richard both. The negotiations were smooth. We didn't have any problems. This is about giving the fans what they want. And it's about Floyd's legacy in the sport. Floyd wants to go down as the best ever and Oscar is the biggest name in the sport."

There you have it, even though the gap commercially between Floyd and Oscar was much smaller than Deontay and AJ, Floyd took 28% of the guaranteed money. IF Wilder is what he says he is, then, like Floyd he would take AJ's terms to prove himself.

But as AJ said this guy is just a belt seller. There is nothing wrong with that except lying about it and saying you're something you're not.

I don’t really get the comparison tbh.
Floyd was Waaaay bigger than Wilder is now and Oscar was WAAAAAY bigger than AJ is.
Floyd had consistently sold 300-400k ppv buys prior to the De La Hoya fight, AJ can’t even draw a big audience on US network tv yet, He’s a mega draw in the UK but the US always has been and always will be where the money is. And that’s coming from a Brit.

[Stinger1]

I don’t really get the comparison tbh.
Floyd was Waaaay bigger than Wilder is now and Oscar was WAAAAAY bigger than AJ is.
Floyd had consistently sold 300-400k ppv buys prior to the De La Hoya fight, AJ can’t even draw a big audience on US network tv yet, He’s a mega draw in the UK but the US always has been and always will be where the money is. And that’s coming from a Brit.

AJ is making nearly 10x what Wilder is making per fight. Oscar wasn't making anywhere near 10x what Floyd was making per fight. And yet Floyd took 28% of the guaranteed purse and after the PPV upside I think made about 33% of the entire pot.

Wilder doesn't deserve a bigger share of the pot than Floyd got against Oscar. And Wilder should have Floyd's attitude, once you beat the A side you become the A side.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

AJ is making nearly 10x what Wilder is making per fight. Oscar wasn't making anywhere near 10x what Floyd was making per fight. And yet Floyd took 28% of the guaranteed purse and after the PPV upside I think made about 33% of the entire pot.

Wilder doesn't deserve a bigger share of the pot than Floyd got against Oscar. And Wilder should have Floyd's attitude, once you beat the A side you become the A side.

I’m not disputing who the A-side is, but there was MUCH more upside to beating Oscar than there is to beating AJ. Floyd knew if he beat Oscar he’d be able to have major PPV fights for the rest of his career against up and coming stars like Cotto, established Stars like Mosley etc. Regardless of who wins out of AJ-Wilder who could they possibly fight next for BIG money? Fury maybe? But that wouldn’t do big business in the US. This is essentially the biggest potential payday for both. If Wilder takes a lowball offer against AJ and wins where does he cash in on the opportunity? He hasn’t got a Pacquiao, Cotto, or Canelo on the way up, who he can go on to fight to earn mega money. He has to earn from the AJ fight.

Another difference is De La Hoya didn’t need to fight Mayweather he’d already made ridiculous amount’s of money, he was already established as the biggest star in boxing and was consistently selling 1m+ PPV buys. AJ does need Wilder, they need each other. There’s no bigger fight for AJ and no other fight that will establish him in the US market.

De La Hoya-Mayweather is in another stratosphere to AJ-Wilder in terms of the size of the fight as well, this fight done near 3m buys if I remember and absolutely destroyed the previous record, AJ-Wilder may not even be a box office hit in the US IMO

[GhostofDempsey]

Hahaha, what Deontay doesn't realize is that he is the Ortiz/Maidana/Guerrero/Berto when it comes to the money side of a big fight.

[Holler]

AJ does need Wilder, they need each other. There’s no bigger fight for AJ and no other fight that will establish him in the US market.

You're underestimating the effectiveness of the brand building job achieved by Matchroom and Team Joshua.

Presuming he takes care of Parker AJ can leave a flat cash offer on the table to Wilder and then make serious money fighting a combination of suitably hyped mandatory defences and perhaps some manufactured domestic clashes, Whyte 2 say or Haye if he shows well against Bellew. In the distance could be Fury who on this side of the Atlantic would make a much more lucrative opponent. That's 2 years or more of big earning supplemented by extensive extra ring income from the growing list of endorsements AJ is landing.

In the meantime Wilder is getting older, risking his belt for 1.5m a time and seemingly failing to cut through to an increasingly jaded US audience who don't seem to have taken him to their hearts.

There's a big imbalance between the two. As you say, Wilder needs AJ for a big payday, but whilst AJ wants the belt, undisputed title and greater US exposure, he has a pretty good pathway carved out should that option not deliver him what he thinks he's worth. So Deontay has some thinking to do...

[Larry the boss]

Floyd and Oscar actually were already atg's and beat lots of other p4p fighters and other top champions...why are you comparing Joshua and Wilder to them??

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

You're underestimating the effectiveness of the brand building job achieved by Matchroom and Team Joshua.

Presuming he takes care of Parker AJ can leave a flat cash offer on the table to Wilder and then make serious money fighting a combination of suitably hyped mandatory defences and perhaps some manufactured domestic clashes, Whyte 2 say or Haye if he shows well against Bellew. In the distance could be Fury who on this side of the Atlantic would make a much more lucrative opponent. That's 2 years or more of big earning supplemented by extensive extra ring income from the growing list of endorsements AJ is landing.

In the meantime Wilder is getting older, risking his belt for 1.5m a time and seemingly failing to cut through to an increasingly jaded US audience who don't seem to have taken him to their hearts.

There's a big imbalance between the two. As you say, Wilder needs AJ for a big payday, but whilst AJ wants the belt, undisputed title and greater US exposure, he has a pretty good pathway carved out should that option not deliver him what he thinks he's worth. So Deontay has some thinking to do...

There’s no way Wilder is taking a flat cash offer and nor should he, AJ fighting and possibly beating Wilder is more beneficial to his career than any other fight. If AJ can become an established PPV star in the US his market value will dramatically increase. He NEEDS this Wilder fight. AJ will continually earn good money with the gate revenue and UK PPV revenue fighting these Takam types but if he wants to earn MEGA money he has to break into the US PPV market, therefore he has to fight Wilder.

[Robbie Barrett]

Floyd and Oscar actually were already atg's and beat lots of other p4p fighters and other top champions...why are you comparing Joshua and Wilder to them??

Which is irrelevant when discussing a financial split.

[Holler]

There’s no way Wilder is taking a flat cash offer and nor should he

The point isn't that he takes it, the point is that the offer is sat there and whenever Wilder is mentioned the offer is repeated. It scotches the 'ducking' narrative and ensures that there's no danger to the Joshua brand:

'Wilder keeps saying he can beat me? Whatever. I'll pay him £10m to come and take my belts off me. He's had this offer for a year now and he keeps talking in the press but my phone still hasn't rang. Still waiting Deontay' Basic PR.

, AJ fighting and possibly beating Wilder is more beneficial to his career than any other fight. If AJ can become an established PPV star in the US his market value will dramatically increase.

True. But only potentially. It depends on this fight capturing the US public's attention. It depends on Vegas being convinced to offer big money. It depends on Showtime or HBO to do the same.

Also, when you make a new income pie in the US you don't get the same earnings in your existing market. It depends on risking the revenue from 90k in London and a big slice of UK PPV due to the unfriendly fight time on 2 boxers who have yet to show a big following for PPV in the US. A lot of risks, most of them from AJs side as he is the one with the existing income stream.

if he wants to earn MEGA money he has to break into the US PPV market, therefore he has to fight Wilder.

He's making 15-20 already, that's nice work if you can get it. He fights in front of 90k people with large audiences and his sponsors enjoy a lot of exposure as well so those earnings will continue to grow. His risks are minimised, he has home field advantage and if a fight does go to the scorecards he doesn't have to worry about Adelaide Byrd deciding she doesn't like the cut of his jib.

So again, a Wilder fight is a nice to have for AJ and if it doesn't come off it's not the end of the world. For Wilder, however its a different story...