Errol Spence Jr. Questions How the Sanctioning Bodies Direct Funds from Fees
Throughout the press tour for his July 29 super fight with WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs), unified 147-pound champion Errol Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) has exuded supreme confidence. While fervently believing he will beat Crawford, Spence is a man who is also concerned about the well-being of fellow fighters and the sport at large. This has motivated him to question how pocketed sanctioning fees are benefiting the athletes.
THE CHAMPION HAS SOME QUESTIONS
At a press event in New York City, the two warriors took their share of trash-talk and sizing each other up. But at the end of the event, the tone took a decided turn. In what was an impromptu moment, Spence grabbed the mic and said the following:
“We’re giving three percent to these organizations. We gotta know where this money is going to. Man, you got Canelo (Alvarez) and (Anthony) Joshua and all these guys making fifty million dollars, and these belts are getting three percent of that. Where is it going to? How is it helping the fighters out? What are they doing with it?”
Sanctioning bodies take a piece of a fighter’s purse when a boxer fights for their world title. All four of the major sanctioning bodies will be at stake for Spence-Crawford. With the amounts of money expected from this upcoming matchup, the sanctioning bodies will pull in plenty of dollars.
One of the four major sanctioning bodies is the WBC. They claim that a lot of the money they get from sanctioning a world title fight goes towards paying employees, funding amateur tournaments, and their anti-doping clean boxing program, among other things. Still, that hasn’t stopped fighters from being suspicious on the matter.
But there is a question as to whether fighters actually pay sanctioning fees. Spence claims that is the case, but Bill Haney has said otherwise. The father and trainer of the reigning lightweight champion, Devin Haney, claims that the networks are the ones who actually pay sanctioning fees.
All of this has created a level of confusion, mistrust, and suspicion between many fighters and the sanctioning bodies. The questions raised by Spence should provide plenty of fodder for fans on boxing boards.
