Top boxers are among the highest paid athletes in the world. But for most professional boxers, making a living from the sport can be as tough as fighting in the ring. This film looks at what it takes for fighters to turn their passion into a viable careerProduced and directed by Claire Justin. Edited by Richard Topping. Filmed by Richard Topping, Petros Gioumpasis, James Sandy. Graphics by Russell BirkettTop boxers are among the highest paid athletes in the world.
I do have aspirations of turning professional, and an Olympic medal really changes that. There's no denying it. Your stocks rise considerably. If you win an Olympic medal slash win an Olympic gold medal. So there would be a lot of interest in me. The programme is really designed to give boxers an opportunity at GB Boxing to go to the Olympic games and have the possibility of travelling the world and learning and being supported and fulfilling your potential, really, in amateur boxing.
Turning pro isn't complicated. Fighters have to pass a medical evaluation and have amateur fighting experience. Giant arenas and big pay cheques are open to anyone with a professional licence. But almost all pro boxers fight their battles in town halls, leisure centres, and nightclubs around the country.
Doing a show, for example, at York Hall in London, will cost you around £20,000 without paying any boxers at all. So anybody that's crazy enough to promote a show starts off minus £20,000. The venue may be £4,500. Security may be £2,500 to £3,000. Four doctors will cost you £2,400. Two ambulances, £1,300. Hire of the ring, £700.
You're not supposed to turn professional and be driving around in a Rolls-Royce with silver cutlery, you know? And there's supposed to be that struggle. And I like that, for a fighter, to experience that struggle when they start off, because when they get to the top they'll remember that journey. Eddie Hearn, world's biggest and greatest boxing promoter, chairman, also, of Matchroom Sport.
Boxing is a business, and a lot of people forget that. You can be as talented as you want to be, but if you're not pushing yourself or getting yourself out there on your own without your promoter, it's a lot difficult to kind of be seen, you know? Ticket sales, getting fans, publicity, interviews, anything that you can do to get yourself out there and raise your profile or lead you in good stead for that bigger prize money.
March 2022, I had my debut in London. After that I had to go back to work. That's when I was like, I can't. I can't do this. So prior to that, I did send O2 an email from myself and took the initiative, because I knew that if I was going to go the full way with boxing, I needed the financial backing to be able to do so. So O2 - there was a bit of push to begin with, and then they said, yeah, we will partner with you.
Fight night earnings vary massively from boxer to boxer. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will have shared a prize pot running well into the tens of millions of pounds from their bout in Riyadh this year. But for many earnings are in the thousands of pounds, even with commercial and sponsorship deals included.
You know, as athletes, we train every day, twice a day, Monday to Saturday. So it is pivotal that you do get that rest and recovery. That's why I take my hats off to anyone still working whilst boxing, because it's hard. Matchroom has handled some of the sport's most profitable bouts in recent history. A single fight can earn a promoter and the boxers they represent millions of pounds.
I don't mean to blow my own trumpet, but not many people win Olympic gold for Great Britain and in the world. So it's a small group, and I'm glad to be in it. But I've got to keep going, promoting myself. I've got to do that. I've got to keep winning, mainly. I've got to keep looking good. Hopefully that carries on.
A lot of boxing is pretty much the Wild West. It's pretty much who knows who, who can pull the strings. It's not like the Premier League where they go through a process. The best are picked. The others are dropped. This has got so many more bits to who gets picked and who gets chosen and who gets the big fights.
I think the business model of boxing is in a good place. I think when you open up the revenues to a fighter, if they're not commercially a success, they won't receive the amount of money that they perceive to be correct. If you are a superstar and drive huge numbers, that is where you will get your maximum pay from that structure.