BOXING has always been a sport of big rumours, denials and then more rumours. The men and women inside the fighting carnival speak a special language and have a talent for ignoring the craziest of rumours.
During the last two weeks, as the scramble to fill the last remaining Saturdays in the year intensifies, the rumour mill was buzzing with talk of fights, fallouts, skirmishes, threats and outrageous claims. It was, in my humble opinion, a ridiculous run of stupendous tales, outright lies, slander, lunacy and fun. I’m sure that the boxing lawyers were poised to act.
In the last few days, a dozen men and women have been on the brink of walking away from their long-term promoters, packing their bags and crossing the street. In the last few days, promoters have been poised to be dropped by broadcasters, quit lucrative contracts, sign on a new dotted line and in general not have a clue where they will be in 10 days. All rumours – fine rumours, it has to be said. Well, they are rumours right now.
Deals have been made for fights and then it has been revealed that not one conversation has taken place. That is standard. Remember, most boxers have one, two, three or even four people talking to people on their behalf. And fights have been made for fortunes, only to find that as much as 80% of the agreed purses have been cut or lost – actually, the word is stolen. All are glorious rumours and there is a simple guide when exact figures are thrown about and posing as facts: It’s a lie, that’s the guide.
There are exceptions to the abuse rule and there are instances where boxers have genuinely not received what they should have. There are secret signs, make no mistake. However, some of the most recent rumours about boxers being fleeced are so damning that they must be false. I hope so, because I would like to think that the real thugs of thievery are gone.
There were certain men in the Nineties and early this century who imported opponents on a regular, regular basis. Some of those boxers were massively shortchanged. It was old-fashioned larceny, trust me and we all knew for certain that Miroslav was getting about 300 quid and not the £1,200 that his agent had been paid. Nothing we could do, sorry.
There was the fat American who stole money from his beaten fighters and was lucky to get out of Manchester one day in the Nineties. His men had fought with heart and bravery on a Phil Martin show; Martin found out that they were not getting anywhere near what he was paying the agent/manager. Phil bided his time, got together a wild posse of truth seekers and, on the way to the airport, the eight-seater was stopped. Pulled over, like it was a normal thing at 8am for a gang of men in balaclavas to stop a bus on a street in south Manchester.
The American was taken off the bus, his boxers stayed inside, the doors were closed. He was persuaded to find the money, which he miraculously did, and the beaten men on the bus were all given a big bonus. He was lucky to get out of Manchester and get on a plane. I had a drink (soft, obviously) with one of the men in that righteous posse in Manchester before the Catterall fight last weekend. Funnily enough, there was a great rumour suddenly doing the rounds in the bar where the Michael Gomez fans were drinking: “I’ve just been told the fight is off,” someone said to the man I was with. It was about 7pm at the time and the facts were seconds away. Nice rumour.
There are some operators in the British boxing business who seem to trade exclusively in rumours. Every week that you see them, they have a new tale about one fighter taking peanuts and leaving behind 50 grand on the table. They are the same men who tell you categorically that a fighter will pull out of a fight; they are also the men who never get a fight wrong. And, I nearly forgot, they always have the information about how many times the fighter at the centre of the conversation has been knocked out in sparring.
They are not liars, they just like talking about things that are mainly untrue or, at best, based on a bit of truth. They also know exactly how much a boxer had to lose on the scales to somehow make the weight. So, in a nutshell… the fighter has been ripped off, knocked out five times in the gym, had to lose 15 pounds overnight and he has a broken hand. He still wins, by the way. They always know the result, but never send you a message about it at 10pm; for some reason they wait until it is over.
There are also rumours that are fact, and they circulate because somebody inside a camp has let something slip. It can be a burden knowing something that is about to be announced; if the news slips out, you are a suspect and that is not fun. That has happened to me a few times and no amount of pleading innocence will work.
So, be careful if you hear a lot of boxing rumours and they appear to be so convincing that you are certain that they must be the truth. They are not always what they seem.
And there are always two sides to every rumour and both sides can be false. As Uncle Bob said all those years ago: “Yesterday, I was lying. Today, I’m telling the truth.” That is what I love about this business in one simple sentence.
