Former WBC world Heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder, expressed his deep-rooted frustration in the manner in which boxers are, – and were – treated since the inception of the sport. On an interview with Ellie Seckback of ESNews, Wilder revealed some of the maltreatment that pro boxers suffer in the sport.
“I’m sick of going to the Hall of Fame seeing old fighters slurring and sh**. That sh** sad, bro. As a fighter, as a champion, you get all your bruises when you’re in your career.” Wilder exclaimed passionately. “They don’t have a dollar. They can’t even support their kids!”
The subject Deontay Wilder addressed pertains to the belief that a multitude of professional boxers gain too little back for the sacrifices they make to their mental and physical health. Perhaps the most popular case in this instance is that of Mike Tyson, who missed out on more than $100 million in dollars to his former promoter, Don King.
Though Wilder’s words hold merit, there have been quite a few other instances where boxers have simply made poor decisions that resulted in them losing their hard-earned money, such as with the case of Riddick Bowe who seemed to endlessly spend his money on family, friends and non-liquid assets such as cars and homes.
“I don’t want the fame and notoriety of what I did, give me my finances. Don’t steal from me. Treat me right. Give me benefits.” Wilder continued. “Treat this like a real sport if y’all wanna call it, cause if you gon’ call it that, give us the benefits. If not, then continue as a business and tell the truth about it. That’s just where I am with it.”
Deontay Wilder highlighted a significant issue; while promoters and governing bodies seem content to call boxing a sport, the manner in which boxers are treated contradicts what actually occurs in the sport. Approximately three years ago, popular sports website, The Athletic, conducted an interview with an anonymous supposed boxing executive who confirmed the existence of these ‘slave contracts’ within the sport of boxing.
According to this executive, these contracts tie down young boxers for a number of years that offer them no protection or benefits whatsoever. He explained that boxers could potentially sign with a promotion, not fight in any bout and thereby miss out on making an income, as well as being tied down for a lot of years all while being prevented from fighting outside the promotion they were signed to.
The executive further alleged that fighters with exciting styles tend to get more opportunities as they can sell tickets, why those that are considered to have ‘boring’ styles will suffer as result of not being considered. He also drove home the point that these ‘slave contracts’ could have a signed boxer grow in stature and earn a lot more as a result, but they would still get 10% of what they could potentially earn while the promoter would get away with getting 90% of their income because of the construct of their contract with the boxer.
Wilder’s rant – at what we surmise to be boxing promotions and/or governing bodies – seem to align with what the executive alleges about the industry. Noticeably, PBC owner Al Haymon is purportedly one of the individuals said to adopt these type of contracts by categorizing himself as an ‘advisor’, rather than a promoter, which allows him to subvert certain rules in the Muhammad Ali Act which was made to protect fighters in these instances.
To explain Al Haymon’s background a bit, he is the owner of the PBC which promotes/matchmakes fights for mostly American boxers. He used to be an executive within the music industry, and after transitioning to boxing seems to have translated the practice of signing artists to ‘360 contracts‘ into the sport of boxing itself. 360 contracts are notorious deals in the music industry where artists receive only a portion of their income through installments or non-liquid assets such as jewelry, while the bulk goes to whoever manages or promotes them.
There is even speculation that Al Haymon himself might have been the creator/originator of these type of contracts given these type of deals seemed to show up in the early 2000s, the same period in which he was already a renowned executive in the entertainment industry due to his involvement with artists such as Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and Eddie Murphy.
Coincidentally, Wilder is also signed to Al Haymon’s PBC company. Though his words do nit necessarily imply Al Haymon did anything wrong whatsoever, it is clear that Deontay Wilder has some knowledge of what happens in the boxing industry. It is likely that he was speaking from experience, or something one of his peers experienced within the sport.
His words are a stark reminder that the ‘sport’ of boxing, still has work to be done if it wants to considered a legitimate, fair and organized sport – also mentioned in a previous article we published. Though boxing is in itself different from all the other organized sports due to brutal nature of competitive fighting, there is clear sense of injustice in the industry when a fighter’s health and wellbeing is not at the forefront as it should be.
