The Business of Boxing “Could Become Unsustainable” With Zuffa Boxing

Tony Bellow this week said to Charlie Parsons and Matchroom Boxing CEO Frank Smith that “Boxing Could Become Unsustainable” on the Fight Your Corner podcast. His comments are not a surprise in the World of Boxing with everyone shocked at the money being spent by Zuffa Boxing and Dana White. The business of boxing has for a long time been one only few really understand but Tony Bellew shared his concerns. Frank Smith added that the UFC model is very different where fighters earn around 20% of the revenue total. Unlike the huge purses being offered by Zuffa.

The pair were speaking on the Fight Your Corner podcast, hosted by Charlie Parsons, in an episode dominated by Dana White’s involvement in Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua.

Zuffa Boxing: Frank Smith Warns Fighters

Smith said he admired the business behind the UFC and WWE, but that fighters should understand how it works. “In the early days what they’re going to do, they’re going to overpay people to get into the sport,” he said. “In the long run, they’re going to create a sustainable business that underpays people.”

He said the UFC pays “20% of revenues” to its fighters. “Without the fighters, they wouldn’t have anything.” Bellew called it “a truly frightening statistic for any fighter listening”, and spelled it out: generate £1,000 and you take home £200.

Tony Bellow: Boxers Won’t Accept It

Bellew said the danger is that Zuffa drives prices up to sign the stars, then brings them down once rival promoters have been “washed out” and fighters have nowhere else to go. “What you’ve done in the UFC, you can’t do in boxing,” he said. “You can’t go from giving me £20 million and then going, you’re getting £200 grand. The fighters just won’t get in the ring.”

He also said he did not think the venture would last, and criticised moves to change the Muhammad Ali Act, the US law brought in to protect boxers from exploitation by promoters. “I care about fighters,” Bellew said. “I was a fighter. I’ve bled.”

Boxing: Money Men Come & Go

Smith said Zuffa should not expect everyone to “lay down”. He listed past arrivals with big budgets, from Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions and its private investment to Triller and Boxxer, and said: “Everyone comes in and goes, I’m going to change boxing. No, you cannot change boxing.”

He used Craig Richards as an example of the difference in approach, saying Matchroom had rebuilt the British light-heavyweight after defeats, while the response to his latest loss on a Zuffa card felt like there was “no real personal touch”.

Loyalty: Anthony Joshua & Matchroom Boxing

The conversation came back to Joshua, who Smith said has been with Matchroom for 14 years and “will end his career with Matchroom”. Smith called it the most successful fighter-promoter relationship in British boxing history, and said Joshua is one of the highest-paid combat athletes ever. He also cited Katie Taylor, saying Matchroom backed her when a rival offer came in.

Elsewhere in the episode Smith admitted his falling-out with Chris Eubank Jr is the one thing in boxing he still takes personally, but said a Matchroom reunion would be “like a Hollywood movie”. Read more on Eddie Hearn, TKO and the Fury vs Joshua production.