Boxer's annual income and career lifespan?

[PunchAh]

Does anyone have referenceable and accurate information on what an up and coming boxer under someone like Top Rank or Golden Boy makes? Also, what is the avg career lifespan at that level these days?

Income - I'm not talking about the low-end person just starting out. I'm also not interested in the super-elite who make all the news (or Forbes top 100) about their $30 million winnings. Doing a Google search brings back the same statistic of around $40,000 and a 5-year lifespan (13 bouts).

I also realize there is value in someone paying for gym, trainer, food, etc. but I'm strictly interested in cash and endorsement money.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

[boliodogs]

I don't know where you would find that information and I doubt you would find it anywhere.Each boxer's career is different and I doubt anyone averages them all out and keeps track of all of them.

[PunchAh]

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense but I still needed to ask. Last question, is there a place where I can see the highest paid boxers for a certain year? Let's say 2012. You would think it would be easy to find, but other than searching Forbes Highest Paid Athletes for that year, I'm not finding data. BTW there are only 4 boxers and 1 MMA on this years top 100

Rank-----Name------------------Pay-------Salary/Winnings-----Endorsements
#1-----Floyd Mayweather-------$285 M-----$275 M--------------$10 M
#4-----Conor McGregor----------$99 M------$85 M---------------$14 M
#15-----Canelo Alvarez----------$44.5 M----$42 M-----------------$2.5 M
#25----Anthony Joshua----------$39 M------$32 M-----------------$7 M
#72----Gennady Golovkin--------$25 M------$23 M-----------------$2 M

[Redsox]

everyone gets $4,000,000 per fight if it isn't televised.

[Citizen Koba]

Does anyone have referenceable and accurate information on what an up and coming boxer under someone like Top Rank or Golden Boy makes? Also, what is the avg career lifespan at that level these days?

Income - I'm not talking about the low-end person just starting out. I'm also not interested in the super-elite who make all the news (or Forbes top 100) about their $30 million winnings. Doing a Google search brings back the same statistic of around $40,000 and a 5-year lifespan (13 bouts).

I also realize there is value in someone paying for gym, trainer, food, etc. but I'm strictly interested in cash and endorsement money.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

I don't and I really ain't sure how that would work. Only way would really be to write to the promoter themselves and just kinda ask 'em. Good luck with that Maybe tell 'em you're writing an article for the 'scene or that you're doing a thesis or something. Y'Know, get creative - unless that's actually what you are doing?

Dudes who are already signed with TR or GBP (who have stables of around 50 or so each) are already amongst the blessed few, but there probably is no meaningful average. You win, you get kept on and the paydays go up, you lose more than a couple and you're out the door...

The SACs probably keep records of fight purses fought under their jurisdiction, so that's another possible avenue, but I'm guessing it'd be a lot of work cross referencing all the fighters you're checking out with all the places they've fought. Depends how badly you wanna know this ish I guess.

Anyways good luck with your research, man.

[7Abz7]

most boxers dont make enough

[PunchAh]

A lot of data is public or required to be. Of course, it only paints half the picture but its helpful.

Another questions, why dont they post the purses any more when they have TV fight nights? Im trying to see what the purses are for the undercards.

Something like in this article, you have to scroll down, but all the fights are form 2011 so the dollar amounts arent considered relevant.
gearupmma.com / sharing-salary-much-professional-boxers-make /
Im too newbie to be allowed to post URLS

Boxer Payout
Ruslan Provodnikov $10,000
Mauricio Herrera $8,500
Demetrius Andrade $8,000
UD-8 Albert Herrera $6,500
Harry Namauu $2,000
Jose Gomez $1,800
Manuel Otero $1,500
Richard Contreras $1,200
Juan Tepoz $1,200
Oscar Andrade $1,200
Deth’Marcus Hall $1,200
Jesus Gutierrez $1,200
Franky Martinez $1,200
Lonnie Smith $800
Total Payouts: $46,300
Average $3,307
Median $1,350

[Eff Pandas]

Its all over the place from hundreds of dollars per year to millions. Idk that you can make any meaningful effort towards finding out this info in one place outside of talking to the boxers specifically if they were willing to share that info with you.

Plus its not like the reported numbers are even their true income. Being a boxer is like being a small business owner. You got all sorts of people you gotta pay before its truly "your income". And would sparring income count towards their boxing income cuz thats virtually never reported & there are guys who are journeymen level, but can do alright when you count their work as sparring partners.

[champion4ever]

I know that Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson grossed more than $300 mil each in their careers and both had ended up filing for bankruptcy because somehow they both wind up broke.

[saintpat]

I know that Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson grossed more than $300 mil each in their careers and both had ended up filing for bankruptcy because somehow they both wind up broke.

Here’s how that works in simplified form (and it can very from fighter to fighter):

Say a guy gets a $1M purse.

He did not make $1M.

His trainer is probably getting about 10 percent. His manager is probably getting about 25 percent. And taxes probably eat up about 30 percent. The promoter is very likely also getting a cut.

Now that may seem unfair, but in many cases the manager and promoter are actually PAYING the fees (boxer purse, opponent’s purse — in the promoter’s case renting the building, advertising, etc.) at a loss when the boxer is on his way up.

A guy who is 18-0 might make, say, $10K for a fight. And his opponent, knowing he’s probably going to lose and taking a beating, might want $15K. Chances are no income related to that 18-0 fighter is going to cover $25K ... and those numbers in some cases may be much higher (especially with heavyweights), but if someone doesn’t lay out that money he isn’t going to progress up the ladder to make $1M.

And here’s the catch (or a couple of them) — boxers tend to keep their entourages up and pay all their expenses and even salaries in some case when they’re starting to make it ... and of course they have to have the hottest auto that they see in some rapper’s video, and a bigger-than-they-can-pay-for house (because it’s a 20- or 30-year mortgage and they won’t be making that kind of money for that long. They want to live like superstars and have all the bling and trappings, but they put nothing away for retirement. (I know of one current world champion whose manager tells him things in writing about his money — you should put some aside in a retirement fund, you should get a money manager, etc. — and have him sign it so he can’t later say the manager didn’t do him right ... and this boxer understands that and still goes out and buys a Rolls Royce or whatever the next day.)

Also, the IRS taxes the full purse as the boxer’s income — they take, say, 30 percent of that $1M off the top. And the manager’s cut is also a percentage of $1M, and the trainer’s, etc. So it starts out at $700K right away and the manager gets say $250K (and has to pay his own taxes off that amount) and the trainer his 10 percent of a million. So that leaves the fighter with $300K.

The smart ones set it up so the purse is their cut (or maybe even a portion of their cut) and the manager gets paid on the side and the trainer the same, so the IRS takes money out of a smaller pool (the boxer’s actual income) and the promoter pays the others. This is why Haymon fighters, for instance, make more than what their purses are listed as — it’s a way to avoid paying higher taxes. The boxer might have his own promotional company and some of it goes into that, which is a business tax offset by business expenses, etc.

It can be very complicated, but few boxers (or boxing people like managers, trainers or even promoters) have real business and money savvy to do it right.