Over the last few years, new money has swept into boxing from business interests eager to get their hooks into the last great, vastly unregulated major sport in America. These guys have been eager to spend big money and lose a bundle to get their feet in the door. In pursuing this “spend big, worry about the future later” strategy, they’ve turned the business upside down and, some might say, have totally messed things up.
With most everything locked up behind paywalls of some sort– pay-per-view, subscription-only apps, premium cable– overall growth has flat-lined. Fighters are tied to exclusive contracts that get in the way of many key bouts in the sport– the key bouts that, ironically, need to be made in order for the big money to really start flowing in and delivering return on investments. And, now, there are indications that these free-spending boxing newcomers, who have handcuffed their own ability to make big-money bouts, are pulling back in their budgets to stop the hemorrhaging of money.
Nobody who loves the fighters risking their lives in the ring will ‘fess up to it, but boxing purses have become over inflated in this current atmosphere. Pay has to be scaled back for the level of fights, generating the level of interest, being broadcast these days.
…or…
Maybe fighters just need to find a way to make the big-money, big-interest bouts on their own.
In comes Devin Haney.
The 23-year-old Haney is making less money than he’d like in his upcoming 4-belt lightweight title unification clash with George Kambosos this June 4. He’s also agreed to fight in Kambosos’ native Australia. If he wins, he’s agreed to fight the rematch in Kambosos’ native Australia as well. He even signed a multi-fight co-promotional deal with DiBella Entertainment (Kambosos’ promoter) and Top Rank to get the Kombosos deal and get the fight secured for airing on ESPN.
The kid made a lot of concessions. Actually, he conceded on everything. But he made the right move.
“To be honest, I pretty much just agreed to everything that they wanted,” Haney recently told Fighthype.com. “No matter what it was, we didn’t argue. We didn’t get nothing our way but we didn’t do no arguing. We just said ‘whatever we can do to make the fight happen.’ If I gotta go on there on another network, another promoter — which is my promoter now — to make the fight happen, so be it. If I gotta rematch you twice in Australia, so be it. It didn’t matter, I just wanted the belts. I want my name to be in the history books forever.
“I’m taking a lot less money that what I should be making, but it is what it is. It’s about my name being in the history books and my name being remembered and the money will come…when I get the belts, then I can write my own checks.”
Smart. Smart. Smart. And pretty ballsy as well.
Really, though, this was the only path Haney could’ve taken to get to where he wants to be as a professional.
In recent months, Haney’s career had taken an almost Demetrius Andrade-like vibe to it. With illogical and hyper-inflated purse expectations (thanks to streaming service DAZN) and, realistically, limited drawing power (also thanks to DAZN), he remained all risk-little reward to the top fighters in his weight range. His boardroom WBC title offered little incentive for any “name” opponent to accept the risk of taking him on.
With ALL the lightweight titles, though, and ESPN money behind him (which, unlike DAZN money, IS long-term sustainable), he’ll have significant more leverage in making big fights for himself. Anyone who wants to make big business at 135 will HAVE to get at it through him, at least in theory. At the very least, on team DiBella/Top Rank, he has two super opponents on deck in Kambosos and Top Rank’s Vasily Lomachenko.
Haney’s gamble on himself is no guarantee that he’ll get all the big, legacy-defining fights he wants. And, of course, there’s no guarantee that he’ll beat Kambosos and then beat everyone coming at him afterwards. But the alternative is a future of spinning his wheels, cashing paychecks that may be increasingly less hefty when/if new-money boxing business interests decide to stop operating in the red.
Haney made the only move available to him by conceding to Kambosos on everything. He made the only move that made sense for his future as a fighter with aspirations of greatness.
Kudos to the kid for doing things the hard way, but absolutely the right way. More fighters need to be willing to gamble on themselves for a stab at greatness.