BOXING FINANCE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 77, 27 September 1924, Page 19

BOXING FINANCE

WEMBLEY MATCH BALANCESHEET..

The finances of the Gibbons-Bloomfield fight are being much discussed to-day, states the "Manchester Guardian," chiefly from the. point of view of whether it is necessary to pay such hugo sums to tho boxers, who may not be and in this caso were not—in the ring for more than a few minutes. It seems that Gibbons agreed to fight for about £11,000 in English money and Bloomfield for £6000. The effect of paying such large sums is to force promoters to charge very, high prices for the' expensive seats if they aro to make a profit. At Wembley many thousands of £2 7s seats were empty. , '

It is argued by many people that it would be better to charge much lower prices for seats and pay the boxers in proportion—that is to say,' something like a thousand pounds to the winner in a big match, the loser to get half that sum. > That would be fairly reasonable, and if lower prizes, forced the champions into the ring oftener, the better for them and for the boxing enthusiasts. As it is the.best fights are altogether, overshadowed by tho advertised '"sensation." The Wembley fight was the worst fiasco for years, and it was evident that Bloomfield ought never to have been put up against Gibbons, who is a really fine and powerful boxer, more or less in the Dempsey class. There is no reason to be sentimental about a vpung man who received £6000 for a pitiful performance lasting about six minutes. The trouble s is that the custom of offering these fancy prices—they are not prizes, as the boxer gets them in any case—has become fixed, and they are now the index of a; boxer's reputation. For instance, Gibbons will want more than £11,000 next time he appears in a "big" match. It was rumoured that when Gibbons saw the great spread of empty seats he insisted on being paid the rest of the money (he had already received £3000) before- entering the ring. According to his manager . fcliis is quite untrue, the fact being that Gibbons stated that he would fight in any case. It is said that the expenses of the fight/ including the sums for the boxers, is about £27,000. It would be interesting to see a precise balance-sheet of this enterprise.