Ever wondered how purse bids work? or what happens if a fighter does not sell tickets for a show? What the biggest frustration is for a Promoter?
Ringwalk UK’s Shaun Rye spoke to MTK Global promoter Lee Eaton to find out the answers.
* Being a Promoter or a Match Maker is a very niche job, what circumstances led to your current role?
I basically fell into boxing to be honest, I was always around the game with my good friend John Wayne Hibbert, so I was always around boxing at Eddie’s shows, Frank’s shows, stuff like that. Then a friend of mine passed away in 2012, the last conversation we had was about boxing. So, I thought I would do a boxing show in memory of him. Ended up selling the show out and raising nearly ten grand for charity and it just went from there really. I really enjoyed it, fell in love with boxing promoting. In January 2016, I bumped into MTK, MGM at the time, spoke to them, 10 months later, it all happened, MTK London.
* What is the very first item on the agenda when considering a new show, main event, date, location?
First, you have to look at a venue, then the dates for the venue and then it is the main event. Obviously, you get your main event, your co-main event, and your undercard and then you work down.
* How do you go about pricing up the overall cost of an event?
Listen you always work with a budget. Obviously, when we first started, it was low budget. We all worked on ticket sales, whatever we brought in from ticket sales, was what we had to spend. So, you would never really know. You would plan an event and then you would have to work around that. The second event we did at Brentwood, we had 12 fights. A week before fight week, it all started to crumble, we were down to 7, so that went to pot. We lost a bit of money on that show, but the next show, you might nick a quid. So, for all small hall promoters, it depends on that, on your tickets. Whatever ticket sales come through the door, that’s what you’ve got to work with. When you go a bit higher, you have your budget from deals with ESPN and IFL, like we do. So, you have a bit of a budget there.
* Have you had shows where you have not sold enough tickets and consequently made a loss after everyone has been paid?
You’re not always going to earn money, a lot of small hall promoters, your Steve Goodwin’s, your Carl Greaves’ your Stefy Bull’s, you might only nick a little bit or break even. If you break even on a small hall show, you’ve done well, if you’ve made money, you’ve done very well.
* Are you aware of fighters being tied into deals regarding ticket sales?
Look, at the small hall level, the whole show is around tickets. If you don’t sell tickets, then some fighters don’t get on shows. I’ve seen on some promotions, that some fighters don’t get on if they don’t sell enough tickets, they get pulled off the show on fight week and stuff like that. It has never happened on our show, we always work something out, but it happens, and I understand why it does happen, because the promoter is putting his own money into the show and if a fighter says ‘Oh I’ll do 150 tickets’ then on fight week says, ‘Oh I’ve only done 15’ that costs the promoter 2-grand, so where’s the 2-grand coming from?
* Is there a scouting system within the company, or are fighters suggested or recommended to you?
Listen, if you’re a good ticket seller, you’re a good fighter. If you’ve been to the Olympics or you’re an ABA champion, you’re always going to be looking to hopefully get with a tv promoter, like your Eddie’s and your Frank’s and stuff like that. There’s obviously always some fighters who will never get to that level. Sometimes there are some fighters that get to that level, and they’re not the best fighters to be honest, but they sell five, six-hundred tickets, so they’re attractive.
* What is the biggest frustration for a promoter?
Match making. Fights falling out on fight week, a week before when the show is all planned, losing someone from your main event. Just loads and loads of different things. Match making is one of the most frustrating jobs in boxing. Any Match maker you speak to, John Pegg, Mervyn Turner, Jason McClory, they’ll all tell you exactly the same. If a fighter wins, matchmaker has done a good job. If a fighter loses, Match maker’s done a shit job. It’s a shit position to be in, they don’t remember the 150 matches you have made previous, where every one has won.
* How high on the list of priorities, does production come, particularly if it is a televised event?
It’s one of the main things, to be televised, it needs to have a good production, good lighting and stuff. It comes top of the budget really.
* How is the income of a promoter calculated, do certain variables affect it?
What do you mean by that?
* Is there a set amount a promoter would be paid, or would it depend on its success?
Listen, Eddie, Frank, Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya, they’ve all done their balls on a show, sometimes a show doesn’t go to plan. Eddie admitted it in an interview about Lomachenko, absolutely done his balls on it. There is no set amount to earn or lose, it depends on how good or bad the show goes.
* What is the hardest thing about cross-promotional events?
Not many happen to be honest, the biggest one that will happen is the Fury/Joshua fight. They’re not ideal, they are great for the fans. It’s always going to be a big fight if it is cross-promotion. There’s a few obstacles and a few egos to get past.
* For any fans who may be unaware, can you explain, in Layman’s terms, what the purse bid process entails?
Basically, with The British Boxing Board of Control, say it’s the British title, they might order Denzel Bentley vs Felix Cash. So, they will call purse bids. Bentley is champion so would normally get a higher percentage but with Cash having Commonwealth, it might be 50/50, I’m not sure. Under normal circumstances the champion and challenger is split 60/40. What happens is, you fill out two contracts with your purse bid in. Say you bid 100,000, champion gets 60,000, challenger 40,000, so then you send those contracts to the BBBofC via first class post. On the day of purse bids, they open them, whoever has the biggest bid wins. In that bid has to be a 10% deposit. When it is a World title, say the IBF, you have to go to America to their office. I’ve been to an EBU fight all the way to Rome for purse bids. It also doesn’t matter what promoter it is, any promoter can put on these fights, like Triller, who beat everyone’s arses. So, yeah everyone puts their envelopes in, and they read them out whilst everyone is there, it is a bit more fun that way.
* What is your favourite boxing venue?
The York Hall will always have a big place in my heart. If you go to York Hall, you think ‘Bloody hell, this is a shit hole’. It is a shit hole, but it’s the home of boxing. Done some great events at York Hall, erm Ulster Hall is an unbelievable venue and obviously Falls Park was an unbelievable event.
* Have you ever had difficult fighters to deal with?
Yeah, there’s a lot of fighters that have egos and there’s always going to be difficult ones and sometimes, there are fighters that are not that into a fight, maybe if it’s a mandatory fight, they can start playing games, but it is what it is, it is part of boxing, you just have to crack on with it.
* Will the impact of the Pandemic be felt in terms of future attendances?
100%. I don’t know how many people are going to want to go into York Hall with 1200 other people after a pandemic. Your bigger venues might get more people, but your smaller hall venues, you’re going to feel the pinch.
* How worried were you at the prospect of delivering events without attendances during the Pandemic?
I remember, it was the Light Heavyweight Golden Contract, we were going to do the draw on the Tuesday and I had been on the phone to Robert Smith all day the day before, just non-stop, trying to sort out problems, trying to get things done and then it was about 11 o’ clock, I got the phone call ‘Lee, it’s not happening’, all shows had been cancelled and I was devastated, absolutely devastated, especially for the fighters and for the first couple of months, it was tough, mentally it was tough because to go from doing twenty-odd events a year, to literally thinking, ‘hang on, what is going on here?’ Then it came to May and we were thinking, ‘We’re going to get back’ and then by the end of May we started to plan the next show, and I was buzzing again. I was nervous obviously thinking ‘How are we going to do a show behind closed doors? It is going to be very odd.’ The first show back was so strange being in a venue with no crowds.
* Do you have a line of communication with other promoters?
I do all the match making for MTK, so I deal with a lot of managers and promoters. Within MTK, we have somebody that deals with Eddie and with Frank. I don’t really have many dealings with them two. Normally I speak with those at smaller levels.
* How confident are you of potentially seeing the biggest fight in British boxing between Joshua and Fury?
From what I am seeing on social media, It’s pretty much done, so I ‘d be buzzing to see when it’s announced, really, really excited. If they need a spit bucket boy, I’ll be there! Pretty certain it won’t happen in the UK, especially during a pandemic, but let them go and earn as much money as possible and have the rematch in the UK.
*Disclaimer-The Joshua/Fury question was pre-Wilder arbitration.
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