Old school boxers made more than what top MMA fighters make today

[Corrado Soprano]

Top boxers make more than MMA fighters but did you know fighters from decades and even centuries ago made more than what top MMA fighters make today.

-James L. Sullivan vs James Corbett happened in 1892. Corbett made $35,000 which is around $906k today.

-Jack Johnson fought James Jeffries in 1910. Johnson received $50k while Jeffries received $60k for selling their rights for the fight to be filmed. The purse for the bout was $101k which was split 60/40 to the winner. Johnson made the equivalent of 3 million while Jeffries got 2.9 million.

-Jack Dempsey fought Georges Carpentier in 1921. Dempsey was guaranteed $300k (3.9 million today) and Carpentier got $200k (2.9 million today). They also made extra money for the motion pictures rights to the fight.

-The rematch between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney took place in 1927. Tunney was guaranteed 1 million (14.2 million today) and Dempsey got $447.5k (6.3 million today).

-Muhammad Ali's first fight against Joe Frazier was in 1971. Both were guaranteed 2.5 million (14.5 million today).

-The Rumble in the Jungle happened in 1974. Both Muhammad Ali and George Foreman were guaranteed 5 million (25 million today).

 

[wlu.29]

so do ping pong, badminton, darts and female golfers

 

[VinceArch]

so do ping pong, badminton, darts and female golfers

What about bowlers?

 

[wlu.29]

What about bowlers?

ufc fighters actually make more than bowlers

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/comparing-ufc-pay-to-golfers.4173508/

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/comparing-ufc-pay-to-other-athletes.4174978/

 

[AndrewGolota48]

so do ping pong, badminton, darts and female golfers

You forgot stamp collectors.

 

[RemyR]

 

[Corrado Soprano]

so do ping pong, badminton, darts and female golfers

They should. Those are tougher sports.

 

[Sickbro69420]

Lmao. I hope Dana doesn't see this thread or you're done for. Listen to Diego's warnings

 

[Deleted member 359865]

This is actually really sad.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

Ufc pay much better across the board than boxing, but big name boxers make way more

It's rumoured that conor got paid 22m in total for the Dustin fight with 1.6m ppv

In boxing he would easily double that and he is getting a much better percentage of what he brings in compared to others, as he has bargaining chips due to popularity

Someone like Aj, canelo or Fury could make more with half the numbers

This why top boxers don't cross over, it's not because they are afraid, or mma fighters have more balls, it is simply due to financial reasons
There is a reason why many mma fighters want to cross over to boxing = $$$$$$

 

[King in the North]

This is so bad you don’t even need to adjust it to a modern day standard. Jack Johnson in 1910 was getting paid more than 50% of the fighters on any given card.


How is that possible

 

[avenue94]

Top boxers make more than MMA fighters but did you know fighters from decades and even centuries ago made more than what top MMA fighters make today.

-James L. Sullivan vs James Corbett happened in 1892. Corbett made $35,000 which is around $906k today.

-Jack Johnson fought James Jeffries in 1910. Johnson received $50k while Jeffries received $60k for selling their rights for the fight to be filmed. The purse for the bout was $101k which was split 60/40 to the winner. Johnson made the equivalent of 3 million while Jeffries got 2.9 million.

-Jack Dempsey fought Georges Carpentier in 1921. Dempsey was guaranteed $300k (3.9 million today) and Carpentier got $200k (2.9 million today). They also made extra money for the motion pictures rights to the fight.

-The rematch between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney took place in 1927. Tunney was guaranteed 1 million (14.2 million today) and Dempsey got $447.5k (6.3 million today).

-Muhammad Ali's first fight against Joe Frazier was in 1971. Both were guaranteed 2.5 million (14.5 million today).

-The Rumble in the Jungle happened in 1974. Both Muhammad Ali and George Foreman were guaranteed 5 million (25 million today).

"But mma can't pay the same as boxing for the top guys because boxing is a way older sport"

Ufc pay much better across the board than boxing, but big name boxers make way more

It's rumoured that conor got paid 22m in total for the Dustin fight with 1.6m ppv

In boxing he would easily double that and he is getting a much better percentage of what he brings in compared to others, as he has bargaining chips due to popularity

Someone like Aj, canelo or Fury could make more with half the numbers

This why top boxers don't cross over, it's not because they are afraid, or mma fighters have more balls, it is simply due to financial reasons
There is a reason why many mma fighters want to cross over to boxing = $$$$$$

If you look at pay between the sports, there isn't a huge disparity. Boxing pays roughly the same or a bit less through most deciles, the boxing pay blows mma out of the water for the upper middle to highest paid fighters.

This is so bad you don’t even need to adjust it to a modern day standard. Jack Johnson in 1910 was getting paid more than 50% of the fighters on any given card.


How is that possible

Because fans in mma are so conditioned to fighters fighting to get signed by a promoter, which is backwards compared to boxing and most sports. Just look how so many UFC fans have taken it for granted that cross promotion is inherently a bad thing

 

[TidWell]

Top boxers make more than MMA fighters but did you know fighters from decades and even centuries ago made more than what top MMA fighters make today.

-James L. Sullivan vs James Corbett happened in 1892. Corbett made $35,000 which is around $906k today.

-Jack Johnson fought James Jeffries in 1910. Johnson received $50k while Jeffries received $60k for selling their rights for the fight to be filmed. The purse for the bout was $101k which was split 60/40 to the winner. Johnson made the equivalent of 3 million while Jeffries got 2.9 million.

-Jack Dempsey fought Georges Carpentier in 1921. Dempsey was guaranteed $300k (3.9 million today) and Carpentier got $200k (2.9 million today). They also made extra money for the motion pictures rights to the fight.

-The rematch between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney took place in 1927. Tunney was guaranteed 1 million (14.2 million today) and Dempsey got $447.5k (6.3 million today).

-Muhammad Ali's first fight against Joe Frazier was in 1971. Both were guaranteed 2.5 million (14.5 million today).

-The Rumble in the Jungle happened in 1974. Both Muhammad Ali and George Foreman were guaranteed 5 million (25 million today).

Boxing was the number one sport in America during those years. The reason it was so popular was because you could gamble at the venues and working class men loved placing bets on Friday after work and attending fights live. But they removed gambling on fights at venues because of the mafia and corruption aka fixed fights. It was pretty much like how Horse racing is you could bet on fights at the venue, not anymore.

Im guessing that is how they got most of their money to pay off the fighters at that time before ppv, if you think about it thats a lot of freaking money to pay them without any pay per view or commercials in those days.

 

[boxasmash]

Ufc pay much better across the board than boxing, but big name boxers make way more

It's rumoured that conor got paid 22m in total for the Dustin fight with 1.6m ppv

In boxing he would easily double that and he is getting a much better percentage of what he brings in compared to others, as he has bargaining chips due to popularity

Someone like Aj, canelo or Fury could make more with half the numbers

This why top boxers don't cross over, it's not because they are afraid, or mma fighters have more balls, it is simply due to financial reasons
There is a reason why many mma fighters want to cross over to boxing = $$$$$$

That's just a lie.
To get to the UFC you have to be an elite fighter in MMA. All elite boxers get paid way more.

 

[avenue94]

Boxing was the number one sport in America during those years. The reason it was so popular was because you could gamble at the venues and working class men loved placing bets on Friday after work and attending fights live. But they removed gambling on fights at venues because of the mafia and corruption aka fixed fights. It was pretty much like how Horse racing is you could bet on fights at the venue, not anymore.

Im guessing that is how they got most of their money to pay off the fighters at that time before ppv, if you think about it thats a lot of freaking money to pay them without any pay per view or commercials in those days.

Boxing wasn't the number one sport back then, it wasn't even legal in all states. Not to mention the hey day of boxing in the U.S. is pre WW2. Number of licensed boxers (aka talent pool) plummeted from there.

The main reason difference between boxers and mma is the fighters/promoter split. They are inverted. For example, Don King, one of the greediest and slimmest fucks in boxing never got the profit margins the UFC hits regularly...and that's even if we add in all the money he stole.

 

[ScarfaceJr]

with pay rates like this a young athlete would be insane to consider mma over boxing

 

[SokoudjouFanboy]

Remember: If you're a UFC only fan you're enabling them to continue to treat the athletes like this. Vote with your attention, treat other promotions with dignity instead of cutting them down by saying they aren't the UFC. My support for other promotions has nothing to do with me thinking they're better and everything to do with the fact the UFC's monopoly on glory has cornered the athletes into playing ball with the evil empire with zero end in sight.

Just saying.

 

[TidWell]

with pay rates like this a young athlete would be insane to consider mma over boxing

The reason is because it is harder to rise to the top in boxing. Mma is a get rich quick deal. You can get to a top org quickly with a few fights and the right connections.

in boxing they would need to go thru the amateurs making no money and then when they turn pro fight four to five times a year for 1 to 2 thousand dollars a fight.
Its a long process and you may never be able to make it to the top ten status.

so quick money is in mma. Big money in boxing but only if you put in work and spend years beating top competition.

the best bet now is for mma guys to crossover, they can bypass the rankings by making a name in mma and then landing a big boxing match with a champ and make millions.

this is where amateur boxers or pros have issue because they are putting in work only for an mma guy to get the payday over them.

but thats how boxing work its a draw game people pay for the main event

 

[sabretitan]

so do ping pong, badminton, darts and female golfers

womens shoes salesmen named Al

 

[2004 account]

Remember: If you're a UFC only fan you're enabling them to continue to treat the athletes like this. Vote with your attention, treat other promotions with dignity instead of cutting them down by saying they aren't the UFC. My support for other promotions has nothing to do with me thinking they're better and everything to do with the fact the UFC's monopoly on glory has cornered the athletes into playing ball with the evil empire with zero end in sight.

Just saying.

This. Too much enabling going on, the ufc feeds off its ignorant consumer fan base.