Early this morning, Kevin Cunningham, trainer and manager of WBC & IBF jr. welterweight champion Devon Alexander, reached out to FightHype.com to inform us that he was still waiting for HBO, as well as promoters Don King and Gary Shaw, to "come correct" in their offer for a proposed January 29 title unfication with WBO champion Timothy Bradley. Although Gary Shaw revealed that both he and King had agreed to a 50/50 split of the total pot, he was not willing to divulge specific details regarding the actual monetary value that was being offered. Although we still haven't been able to get a concrete number from any of the parties involved, Cunningham did allude to the fact that the initial numbers he saw for a fight of this magnitude pale in comparison to the amount of money that others fighters have made for far less significant fights.
According to a few sources, both Andre Berto and Paul Williams, who are managed by Al Haymon, made well over 7 figures for their last bouts. In fact, we're told that Berto made nearly $1.6 million in his title defense aganst Carlos Quintana, which would explain why he doesn't seem too concerned about not having a fight lined up after a potential clash with Shane Mosley fell through when he demanded an even 50/50 split of the purse. Likewise, Paul Williams allegedly raked in $1.4 million for his brief romp with Kermit Cintron, a bout that lasted only 4 rounds and that Williams didn't even break a sweat in. Another source revealed that WBA jr. welterweight champion Amir Khan, who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and was devastatingly knocked out in the first round by Breidis Prescott just two years ago, made $1.1 million for his lopsided unanimous decision win over former champion Paulie Malignaggi. Assuming all of those numbers are accurate, it's no wonder why both Cunningham and Bradley have repeatedly stated that the money "must be right" for the two best fighters in the division to fight.
Considering that both fighters are champions and both fighters are undefeated, one would think that a fight of this magnitude is worth far more than any of the previously mentioned bouts, particularly when you take into account that, for the most part, all three of them were considered to be either a "tune-up", a "stay busy fight" or a "coming out party." If a British fighter like Amir Khan can make $1.1 million in his U.S. debut, despite having a highlight reel KO loss on his record, then surely two red-blooded, undefeated American fighters like Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley deserve at least the same, if not more, amount of money to put their undefeated records on the line in a major jr. welterweight title unification. The last time the division had an undisputed champion was nearly 9 years ago, on November 3, 2001, when then WBC & WBA champion Kostya Tsyzu snatched the IBF title from Zab Judah via second round TKO. It was the first time in 30 years that all 3 major sanctioning body titles had been unified in the jr. welterweight division. Eventually, due to injuries, as well as boxing politics, Tszyu would be stripped of 2 of those titles before ultimately losing his last title to Ricky Hatton in 2005. Since then, the titles have remained splintered, with a number of different fighters all laying claim to one or the other at some point.
It's been a long time since the jr. welterweight division has had an undisputed champion. If Bradley and Alexander aren't being offered the same type of money that Amir Khan, Andre Berto and Paul Williams all made in their last bouts, then Cunningham is absolutely correct...HBO, Don King and Gary Shaw need to "come correct" with a "fair deal."
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