Comments Thread For: Life at the Bottom: Most Boxers Earn Less than Minimum Wage

[BoxingUpdates]

When Tyson Fury and Oleksander Usyk square off on Saturday, it will not just be for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world, it will also be for riches beyond the dreams of most people.
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[Eff Pandas]

The thing is a boxing career isn't a full time job so a guy who fought 4 8rd fights coulda only spent the 1hr36min (or less) in the ring boxing so you could argue he made $18k/hr. Doubtful but technically possible.

More reasonably maybe he coulda spent the ring time + 4hrs a day for 8wks before each fight training & he made ~$31/hr. A yr isnt a yr for everyone. A yr is how many hrs you put into your "job".

Even high level guys aren't typical boxing or training for boxing 40hrs a wk. So boxing & an avg persons job aren't really comparable. I'd compare boxing, esp at the early stages, more like a career in the arts. Lotsa actors or musicians are putting far more time into improving themselves towards their art than they are being compensated for that work til they breakthrough to it being a longer term viable career.

Granted boxing has more physical risks & dangers & there should be more safeguards to cover that, but mostly a boxer, esp at their early stages, should be ready to pivot to other career options or put aside money to pursue other options at a future date + work other jobs as they chase their dream in boxing than they should be thinking anything other than this is a risky option thats highly competitive with a crazy high failure rate.

[bigBANGbear09]

The thing is a boxing career isn't a full time job so a guy who fought 4 8rd fights coulda only spent the 1hr36min (or less) in the ring boxing so you could argue he made $18k/hr. Doubtful but technically possible.

More reasonably maybe he coulda spent the ring time + 4hrs a day for 8wks before each fight training & he made ~$31/hr. A yr isnt a yr for everyone. A yr is how many hrs you put into your "job".

Even high level guys aren't typical boxing or training for boxing 40hrs a wk. So boxing & an avg persons job aren't really comparable. I'd compare boxing, esp at the early stages, more like a career in the arts. Lotsa actors or musicians are putting far more time into improving themselves towards their art than they are being compensated for that work til they breakthrough to it being a longer term viable career.

Granted boxing has more physical risks & dangers & there should be more safeguards to cover that, but mostly a boxer, esp at their early stages, should be ready to pivot to other career options or put aside money to pursue other options at a future date + work other jobs as they chase their dream in boxing than they should be thinking anything other than this is a risky option thats highly competitive with a crazy high failure rate.

Same way you can be in school for medicine and at the same time in art school....I get it .m.that brings a whole lot of concentration....A physics with LLB....hahah

[Atypicalbrit]

It is what it is, it's a spectator sport and if you aren't at a certain level then the money just isn't there.

Although boxing is dangerous, so are jobs like being a fireman and stuff like that.

Also boxing is for most people, a passion, it's not like mind drudgery of stacking shelves or flipping burgers.

So yeah, you get paid to your talent level and if you aren't getting paid much maybe it's time to consider is this sport the way for me to make money or should I do something else?

We are all adults here.

[champion4ever]

What’s worse is most of these fights are not even live streamed or televised.

They are dark matches. Which makes it even more difficult to market them.

How do they expect to build their brands and profiles without television.

ESPN is the last national television audience left for boxing stateside.

[pnut901]

Like most jobs , boxers would greatly benefit from having a Union.

[Eff Pandas]

What’s worse is most of these fights are not even live streamed or televised.

Yea the math doesn't even math for most fights that aren't on any platform.

If you got a 8 fight card paying $375/rd, as they suggest, & got 44 rds (5x4rds, 6rd, 8rd comain & 10rd main event) of boxing this sh^t is suggesting they gotta pay the fighters $16.5k combined. If someone is doing some rinky dink club show with a 400 seat capacity with $40 tickets you are gonna need to sell out every show to break even on the boxers pay, not counting all the other expenses involved with putting on a show.

You gotta make the sport viable for all parties.

[Boro]

Most jobs work out to be trash wages let's be honest.

Boxing is no different, you have to work your way up and gain experience and notoriety generally through "time served".

The only difference with combat sports and other "dangerous" fields is you normally get danger money.

In combat sports you don't but then again some of the fighters could do with fighting more regularly and that would increase their "perceived" low wages.

[champion4ever]

Yea the math doesn't even math for most fights that aren't on any platform.

If you got a 8 fight card paying $375/rd, as they suggest, & got 44 rds (5x4rds, 6rd, 8rd comain & 10rd main event) of boxing this sh^t is suggesting they gotta pay the fighters $16.5k combined. If someone is doing some rinky dink club show with a 400 seat capacity with $40 tickets you are gonna need to sell out every show to break even on the boxers pay, not counting all the other expenses involved with putting on a show.

You gotta make the sport viable for all parties.

I agree. That is why it is so important for these boxers to sign with a mainstream promoter with a platform in order to get exposure. That is the only way they are going to help raise their profiles and build their brands.

[Eff Pandas]

I agree. That is why it is so important for these boxers to sign with a mainstream promoter with a platform in order to get exposure. That is the only way they are going to help raise their profiles and build their brands.

Sure but everyone isn't gonna be able to sign with a major promoter so this is likely just gonna kill club show level events.

So if this became the standard either guys are gonna need to sign deals upon their pro debut or they are not gonna be as many opportunities to be a guy like Alan Garcia who had 10ish club level fights before signing with TR among many others who have to prove themselves more before a major promotion shows interest.