BOXING BUSINESS 101: UNDERSTANDING THE PURSE BID

The world of boxing can seem opaque, especially when it comes to fighter compensation. For some reasons, It happens that certain processes are not clear to the general public. This is the case of ‘PURSE BID’.

DEFINITION

Let's replace Purse Bid here as “The purse offer”. This is a special case in the mechanism of remuneration of boxers and the people who accompany them. Recently the fight between Teofimo Lopez Jr and George Kambosos Jr was entitled to its Purse Bid (more on that later).

WHEN IS THERE PURSE BID?

When one of the four boxing federations (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO editor's note) orders a fight between a boxer holding a title and his challenger, the two men, as well as their respective promotions, must agree on the terms of the fights in particular on the amount of the total purse which will be shared between the two camps. However, it happens in some cases that no agreements can be made. This has the effect of redistributing the rights of combat. A purse bid (therefore the Purse Bid) can be made by any registered promoter and thus acquire the rights to promote the fight. A deposit of 10% of the total sum must be paid by the promoter in order to secure his offer. In general, it is the promotion of one of the two boxers who wins the scholarship offer, but sometimes a third promotion wins the offer.

WHO GETS WHAT?

The formula for sharing the purse between the two boxers is established by the organization ordering the fight, but the tendency is for the champion to receive a larger percentage.

A CONCRETE EXAMPLE

When the IBF orders the fight between Lopez and his challenger Kambosos, Lopez and his promoter Top Rank couldn't find an agreement on the amount of the purse. Top Rank felt that it was not a major fight for Lopez and that the sum demanded by the boxer was not reasonable. With things dragging on and no deals being made, a Purse Bid was ordered.

The promotion company Triller won the bid with more than $6M, just ahead of Eddie Hearn (Matchroom) and their $3.5M. A security deposit of $1.2 million was awarded to the boxers, split 65/35% in favor of Lopez.

BY GANTS 2 BOXE