In his most recent bout against Canelo Alvarez last September, Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin had a guranteed purse of $3 Million, not including promised percentages of the PPV revenue and other residuals.
We still don’t know for sure how much each fighter took home but we do know this: Gennady will be getting a big pay cut (versus last fall) when he faces Vanes Martirosyan on May 5th.
Golovkin, of course, was originally slated to face Canelo Alvarez in a rematch following their controversial draw last September but the latter tested positive for Clenbuterol and was later forced to withdraw.
Now, not only has the May 5th fight been moved to StubHub Center, GGG vs Martirosyan will be broadcast on HBO, unlike Golovkin vs Canelo 2 which would have aired at $70 a pop on PPV.
Golovkin vs Martirosyan purse estimates
Numbers haven’t been released yet but we expect Gennady to earn $2.25-$3 Million for this fight and Vanes between $600,000 and $750,000.
Why?
Let’s analyze a few of Golovkin’s payouts and purse splits prior to the Canelo bout.
2017 – Golovkin ($2.5 Million) vs Jacobs ($1.75 Million) (Per Bloddy Elbow)
2016 – Golovkin ($2 Million) vs Wade ($500,000) (Per Bloddy Elbow)
2015 – Golovkin ($2 Million) vs Lemieux ($1.5 Million) (Per Bloddy Elbow)
Given Golovkin vs Jacobs was a hotter match-up than GGG vs Vanes, it’s likely revenue for May’s fight won’t eclipse the prior. But Gennady is a big name and the arena will sell out, so we still expect him to earn in the neighborhood of what he generated for the Jacobs fight. Vanes, on the other hand, won’t garner nearly as much as Jacobs did in his bout with Golovkin.
Of note, GGG faced Jacobs in the latter’s hometown and will be facing Vanes near the challenger?s home.
Team Golovkin is likely hoping it can benefit from local revenue as Vanes is a much bigger name in California that in other parts of the country. Perhaps that explains why Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko, the IBF’s top challenger, was never considered as a replacement for Canelo? Sergiy is a fine fighter but his fanbase is tiny and his subsequent ability to generate interest would have been even smaller.
Purse splits for Golovkin vs Martirosyan should most resemble GGG vs Wade, although we expect higher money on both ends in May?s bout.
Although Vanes, like Wade before him, is a massive underdog and GGG vs Martirosyan lacks the juice of Golovkin vs Jacobs and Golovkin vs Lemieux, Vanes will get an uptick for the revenue his California fanbase is expected to generate, and both fighters will benefit a little from the fight being on Cinco de Mayo, historically boxing’s biggest day.
Should we get confirmation of the payout, we’ll update this article.
