Comments Thread For: Wilder: I'm A (Network) Free Agent; I Can Fight Anyone, Anywhere!

[Scipio2009]

The fight of his life after two years out and two fights against a pair of cab drivers. The worst fury gave the best wilder absolute hell.

Real talk; if you can point to a fight where Fury fought better than he did against Wilder, share it.

And yes, I've watched the **** Klitschko fight.

Fury fought his ass off and still almost got put out by an "overwhelmed by the moment" Deontay Wilder.

[Scipio2009]

Not for the first time I am a bit confused about some of the posts on a Boxingscene thread.
If Wilder is truly a (network) free agent then technically it should make it easier to make the fight. ESPN would be the platform as one of the fighters ie Fury, has a contractual obligation to appear on that network and both guys get huge exposure as well as a massive pay packet.
If Wilder signs an exclusive deal with one of the other networks then I fear we will have a year of discontent with none of the top 3 fighting each other.
But until that happens, it should be a done deal...should it not?

Fury just got $20m per fight, it was rumored that the camps were negotiating a 50/50 for the rematch, and Arum comes out of the gate with bull**** about Fury not seeing his value.

Are you really trying to act confused here? Do you honestly think that ESPN is going to offer Wilder $20m+ for a one-off fight?

**** no, lol.

Reading the tea leaves, Arum is going to try and offer short of $20m (against 50% of some back-end number after everything is covered and he gets his piece; basically little to no extra money) and then also look to get an option on Wilder's next fight (may even be bold enough to ask for multiple options).

And it'll be a rolling fight-by-fight Top Rank longterm deal, lol.

Open your eyes

[Scipio2009]

showtime will be out of boxing soon

they have no ppv fights anymore after pac retires

and their ratings are very bad given the purses of the fighters on their cards

Pacquiao's on his way out, but Wilder has a chance to be a PPV star, Spence Jr has a chance to be a PPV star, Mikey Garcia and Danny Garcia have the potential, Gervonta Davis and David Benevidez clearly have the ability, and there are a few others potentially under that (Joey Spencer sticking out in a major way).

If the last 20 years have shown you anything, it only takes one guy breaking through.

Beyond that, the ratings critique is incomplete; the numbers on the Showtime app aren't counted by Nielsen, the app likely has over 3.5m paid subscribers by now, and I figure that most folks have been watching their live fights on the app for years at this point (personally made the jump over with the Floyd deal, dropped it after the Danny-Salka fight, and have basically been back since mid 2015).

Context is important, lol

[Scipio2009]

This kinda shoots holes into excuses as to why theres no Crawford vs Spence jr, or Thurman vs Crawford. Those fights could actually happen....

Why would Thurman or SpenceJr take short money to fight on Bob Arum's card, lol?

Man Down Promotions (and I assume Robert/Mikey are finally looking at pulling the trigger on a company too) will be on the marquee for an event on FOXPPV that will easily **** all over Top Rank's next PPV event, without question.

Crawford is stuck in a deal that fronts him a nice bit of money, but also leaves him as a mute with Arum speaking for him, seemingly for the rest of his physical prime.

Spence can fight wherever things make the most sense, but there's nothing that's been shown by ESPN so far that demonstrates fighting there being better than fighting on FOX or Showtime/CBS.

[Scipio2009]

The PBC's "other side of the street" excuse went down the toilet...fast.

Someone needs to tell Errol, Danny, Porter and Thruman. the "other side of the street" is ducking. No more, no less. I give Wilder credit. If ESPN were smart, they'd make sure the PBC understands that Wilder's ONLY shot at redemption means no more games. Haymon needs to allow Danny, Porter, Spence and Thurman to receive a record pay day fighting Terrance Crawford because in the end, there is no other side of the street...ALL of the PBC fighters are Network FREE.

Because it needed to be said

Fury, after "rising from the dead", is now locked in on ESPN with fights against... maybe Kubrat Pulev (only if he no longer wants to push to get his IBF title shot against Joshua, in a battle if wallets to host the fight in Bulgaria).

Let that sink in.

Joshua is with Eddie Hearn, who is betting with DAZN, Whyte is a free agent but he's done good business with Eddie Hearn, Wilder, Ortiz, Breazeale, Kownacki, Joyce/Ajagba/Yoka and others are all in the PBC family, and Fury has no physical championship to contend for.

Who does Fury fight if no one bends the knee to Arum, happy to keep doing the business that they're already doing?

Lol, even if Fury were to force a mandatory shot, the WBC will come down off of their special case 40% here, the IBF only guarantees 35% to a challenger, the WBA is at 30% I believe, and who knows what the WBO does.

Where's Fury's comeback story, when he's set to use all of that goodwill from the Wilder fight to now fight Pulev and second-rate fighters because "It's only ESPN, baby!"?

[Scipio2009]

maybe fury didnt want to be shafted again by the judges which is what happened.
Now look at that bull**** by mr winkle and the dosser has come back to haunt them and now its back to big tittied breazeale and 2 million dollar purses.
Do you want salt to go with this post gumbo i think its hilarious.
As for good faith what about winkle airing negotiations in good faith and making them public on socail media...so don't even mention that gumbo lol

The American judge scored the fight for him, the British judge scored the fight even, and the Mexican judge turned in a card that was outside the range of possibilities (so a bad card).

You add that Jack Reis literally giving him every possible chance to fight on, what the **** are you talking about?

[Marchegiano]

as i said gumbo who don't know **** about boxing ...the evidence is right on profile page comparing the dosser to big george foreman lol.....now stfu gumbo

If you knew what the **** you were talking about you could tell me, by name, exactly what form my gif compares regardless of if they both adhere to it or only one.

Until you can do that maybe you should ask more than tell ya silly *****.

[Scipio2009]

Fury holds all the cards now. It's a WBC mandated fight and Wilder can't just walk away. Al and co do not have any choice now than to fight with or without contract with Showtime

Fury is mandated to get 40%, for an open bid process that Showtime/CBS already worked out their numbers for, with DAZN lurking behind.

How much money do you honestly think that ESPN is ready and willing to put up for a single Wilder fight, while already on the hook for $100m to Tyson Fury, who was a bad ref away from being KO'd? Mind you, this is a Wilder who's seen Fury's tricks for 12 rounds already and fought terribly the first time, lol.

[Ray*]

Yes, if ESPN won the bid, Wilder would dap up Haymon for doing his job, cross the street, and take 60% off of an astronomical bid.

You know why? Because Haymon is a shrewd operator who is actually on top of his business.

He knows what the fight did in the US, he knows what the fight did in the UK, he can gauge the interest in the rematch, and, with Wilder owning a piece of the show anyway, a beyond full bid will be put in to keep the fight with Showtime/CBS.

The first fight cleared over $20m, with the rematch set to likely double that; if ESPN wanted to front $50m on a bid (Wilder gets $30m, Fury $20m plus a likely back end piece for controlling the fight), literally need 1.5m PPV buys to break even, and then face Wilder walking right back out the door (still on the hook for all that money to Fury, depending on the actual deal), that's their choice.

Fury got left for dead, after fighting the fight of his life, in the 12th round. Fluid movement, extra sharp reflexes, really good understanding of space, all his tools sharp.

If you honestly think that Fury can do that for another 12 rounds, against a Deontay Wilder who'd already figured out most of the schemes to break through (after not even fighting all that great a fight, tbh), that's on you.

I don’t think you understand how promotion works, you typing with emotions. If the fight happens on ESPN they would control everything. All the advantages would be stack in their corner, which means Fury has a better chance to win and take that belt off Wilder.

The judges, referee would be on Fury’s side. The only bargaining chip PBC/Wilder currently have is that WBC belt. He would have to go over to ESPN and literally KO Fury to retain his belt, he wouldn’t get the extra help like he got in the Ortiz fight, he wouldn’t get a “Draw” from losing 9/10 rounds and winning two rounds from KD against a Fury who has fought two bums in 2 and a half years. He would have the everything stack against him.

So no I doubt Haymon would send him over there.

[Ray*]

250k PPV buys on SHOPPV is basically $9.5m in the pot. Gates in New York aren't really clear to me, but Wilder draws well at Barclays, so let's call that $3m for the full live event. And Haymon has his ITV deal for basically all of his shows not tied elsewhere worth who knows how much.

He likely needs another PPV to set it (Ortiz2 would work), but Wilder owns his own show and is basically on $10m+ after the next fight on going forward.

Not having the guarantee is risky, but he's still calls his shots, is likely a $10m+ PPV fighter after his next 1-2 fights (Wilder-TBA at 250k buys), and will own his show on $40m+ were he to break through.

And that's the rub; Fury is now on this 5-fight, $100m deal, but now he's got to hurry up and sit; Bob Arum is calling the shot for who/when/where Fury fights, so talking to Fury about anything no longer means ****.

Wilder controls his own fate; Fury can no longer say this, and it seems like Joshua can't either.

Again Wilder cannot make anything close to 10m dollars fighting Ortiz rematch or Breazeale, he calls his own shot but that means earning maximum 5m dollars. Your figure projection is not realistic when you look at the future sales, cuts etc

There is a season Wilder doesn’t have a deal with any networks, and it’s not because he doesn’t want to sign a deal. If the money is great he would be signed exclusively to one by now. Most of them just don’t think he brings that money back for them.