Expert: Melanie Ley - 10/23/2010

Question
Hi there!

I'm truly passionate about boxing and am hoping one day to
turn professional and make it my rice bowl. However, it
scares me that many boxers have become broke after
retirement even with the millions of dollars they've had
collected throughout their fights.

I do understand that for example, u get $1million for a
fight, after paying your trainers/corner man/managers/tax
and stuff like that you take home 400k +/- your house bills
and stuff. (all of this are just an example to state my
point). And lets say u have about 5 fights a year. so that
sums up to $2million that year. You make a lot more then the
average working adult.

With that example, i don't see how is it possible that
someone can go broke in that situation. So heres my first
main question.

I've been reading a lot about how boxers have their money
handled by other people and end up getting scammed by those
people or their money get stolen from. Why cant they handle
their own money themselves? If a normal working adult can
handle his own money, why cant someone with more money do it
themselves too? Is it a MUST for someone else to handle it?
Are we given the opportunity to choose if we want to handle
it ourselves? It scares me because i trust people very
easily and i really hate what this people are doing to
boxers who work hard to get that money.

Last question, am i allowed to manage myself? Or get someone
like my brother to manage me? Does he need any
qualifications or license to manage me?

I thank you very much for reading my question and i do apologize for my bad English.

Adam.  

Answer
Hi Adam - first of all, maybe 1% of the top active professional fighters get purses in the millions of dollars.  Depending on your manager or promoter, you might get five or six thousand for a fight, usually less.  You should contact your state's pro boxing commission and find out the requirements for getting licensed as a pro boxer and pro manager.  I would definitely recommend that you do NOT manage yourself.  I would also highly recommend that if you have no amateur experience, you take a year and compete in the amateur ranks before turning pro.