Trainer Lamar Wright fighting to get his boxer's $4K purse from Matchroom Sport after July 15 bout in Detroit

[Ledhed1]

So this is how it works in boxing. Put it on fighters to actually sell tickets and if they don't, they don't get paid.

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By Kevin Iole, Yahoo Sports

Boxer Angelo Snow Sr. fought a scheduled six-round welterweight bout at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan, on July 15, getting stopped by Jemarco Holloway at 2:16 of the fourth round.

Snow, however, hasn’t been paid his $4,000 purse, trainer Lamar Wright told Yahoo Sports, and has filed a grievance with the Michigan Athletic Commission seeking his money. Yahoo Sports has spoken to several representatives of the Michigan commission but none have offered an on-the-record answer.

Matchroom Sport promoted the card, which was headlined by a bout for the undisputed women’s super featherweight title between Alycia Baumgardner and Christina Linardatou that was streamed on DAZN.

Snow agreed to a deal with local promoter Vic Green, who brought him to Matchroom. The deal included the same $4,000 purse but had wording about ticket sales, ticket commissions and purse deductions for returned/unsold tickets. Wright complained to Green about that and said it would be best if Snow not fight if the language about deductions for ticket sales remained in the contract.

Green then reached out to Matchroom and began a correspondence with its legal counsel, Jai Singh, requesting that Snow be paid in cash only and that the ticket wording be removed.

On July 14, the day before the bout, Singh sent an email to Green, having agreed to remove the phraseology to which Wright objected. Wright provided a copy of that email to Yahoo Sports.

In it, Singh wrote to Green, “Please see attached the amended bout agreed for Angelo with the ticket commission wording removed. Please sign and return as soon as possible. Please note that any commission monies not received by us midday will be deducted from the purse.”

Wright also provided a copy of the bout agreement to Yahoo Sports, which said that Snow would be paid $4,000 for the fight. Nowhere in the bout agreement is the word "tickets" ever mentioned, as Singh had said to Green in his email on July 14.

“In consideration of the Boxer participating in the Bout to a conclusion, Matchroom shall remit directly to the Boxer a purse in the amount of $4,000 (Four Thousand US Dollars) (“Purse”) less any applicable deductions including but not limited to any local taxes (if applicable), applicable Local Commission sanction fees and any other applicable sanctioning fees or deductions,” the contract read. “The Purse shall be payable by bank transfer by Matchroom to an account designated by the Boxer within five (5) days of the conclusion of the Bout, less any applicable deductions.”

Wright told Yahoo Sports that Matchroom was allegedly trying to pay Snow just $900. Wright said the face value of the tickets Matchroom had provided to Snow to sell — all of which were returned — was $4,680.

“If you think of it logically, in that scenario, we would owe them money for fighting,” Wright said.

Yahoo Sports reached out to Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport’s chairman, and he said it was because of returned tickets.

“We signed a contract for this prelim bout which, amongst other terms, confirmed that tickets taken on consignment are non-refundable,” Hearn told Yahoo Sports.

In a since-deleted Facebook post made on July 22, Wright complained that Snow had not been paid.

When asked about Wright's Facebook post, Hearn told Yahoo Sports that two days before the bout, the fighter returned “a substantial number of tickets in breach of the contract terms.” Hearn said Matchroom kept the fight on the card but wouldn’t give Snow a ticket commission given the large number of returns.

Hearn then said Saturday he’d been attempting to get wiring details to send Snow his pay but hadn’t been able to reach the booking agent. Wright said Matchroom wanted to pay Snow $900 and he didn’t want to take the money because it might be seen as a settlement.

After reporting on the story, Yahoo Sports reached out to Hearn again on Tuesday for further clarification, but he failed to respond.

[mofo2]

I remember a few years back Eddie was bitching about Frank Warren making fighters wait for their purses and said thats not how he would ever operate; seems his organisation has changed.

Edited July 28 by mofo2

[Ledhed1]

I've heard this from British commentators most often. How a fighter sold X number of tickets to a show. To make the audience think "wow, well done!" This fighter basically got paid in tickets. Go sell em and you can keep up to the amount stated in the contract, in this case 4 grand. The fighter would have no incentive to sell more than the amount stated in the contract. If I'm the fighter, I don't even accept the tickets. I'm here to fight. You're the promoter; it's up to you to monetize the event. If you can't pay me $4,000, don't offer it to me.

Is this perhaps a common practice in Britain? So Hearn thought he'd see if it'd fly in middle America? Perhaps ticket sales were slow, so he thought he'd put a local fighter to work to drum up some support? Hey, the promoter owns the show. The boxing business is the wild west. They can try whatever they want. The wording was in the contract, it was objected to and removed. It comes down to what the final contract says. But a bad look for Hearn. Even if he can say such a provision is not unusual, it's a wake up call and a look behind one of the many curtains in the boxing industry the stakeholders prefer we not look behind.

[WelshDevilRob]

This is normal practice in the UK. The boxer has to sell enough tickets to cover his and his opponents' purse.

[Ledhed1]

19 minutes ago, WelshDevilRob said:

This is normal practice in the UK. The boxer has to sell enough tickets to cover his and his opponents' purse.

Thanks, Rob. That'll put a different spin next time I hear a commentator commend a fighter for selling tickets. They leave out the detail that, yea he had  to sell those tickets in order to get paid. Comes across as shady. The promoter bears a diminished responsibility to do his job, i.e. promote the event. What a racket.

[WelshDevilRob]

On 7/30/2023 at 11:47 PM, Ledhed1 said:

Thanks, Rob. That'll put a different spin next time I hear a commentator commend a fighter for selling tickets. They leave out the detail that, yea he had to sell those tickets in order to get paid. Comes across as shady. The promoter bears a diminished responsibility to do his job, i.e. promote the event. What a racket.

I don't think the Top fighters in the UK like Anthony Joshua go around selling tickets. But, it's a necessity for small hall shows. You'll often hear Eddie Hearn mention how many tickets Heavyweight Johnny Fisher has shipped.

Lee Selby used to sell tickets for his home fights in Cardiff. I suppose the US is a different market and, obviously, a lot bigger than the UK. It'd be interesting to find out if promoters like Thompson Boxing or Russell Peltz require the boxers to sell tickets.