Koshy
02-07-2003, 11:06 AM
From Fightnews.com
By Scott Shaffer
For those wondering why Evander Holyfield will fight James Toney instead of Roy Jones, Jr. this fall, Jim Thomas, Holyfield’s attorney and chief negotiator has provided the answer. Simply put, Thomas calculated that the revenues for a Holyfield-Jones fight would total at least $44 million dollars, to be split between the boxers and their respective promoters, Don King and Murad Muhammad. According to Thomas, Holyfield was offered a guaranteed of $8 million of the $44 million, with profit sharing only if pay-per-view buys exceeded 1.2 million. Thomas said additional conditions were also put on the offer: if Holyfield defeated Jones for the WBA heavyweight belt, he would have had to provide Jones with an immediate rematch at a 50% split plus give King options for the remainder of his title reign. Thomas said King still owed Holyfield $2 million from the Chris Byrd fight, and offered Holyfield $10 million to fight Jones, but only if the $2 million debt was forgiven. Thus, Thomas reckons, the true value of the guarantee to his client was $8 million, an offer Holyfield was unwilling to accept along with all the additional strings attached. “Roy Jones vs. Evander Holyfield would have been a great fight. It was a fight Evander wanted very much and a fight I tried very hard to arrange for him, but it is also a fight that will not happen, at least for now, because of the tactics used, and positions taken, by Murad Muhammad and Don King,” said Thomas in statement issued from his Atlanta office.
By Scott Shaffer
For those wondering why Evander Holyfield will fight James Toney instead of Roy Jones, Jr. this fall, Jim Thomas, Holyfield’s attorney and chief negotiator has provided the answer. Simply put, Thomas calculated that the revenues for a Holyfield-Jones fight would total at least $44 million dollars, to be split between the boxers and their respective promoters, Don King and Murad Muhammad. According to Thomas, Holyfield was offered a guaranteed of $8 million of the $44 million, with profit sharing only if pay-per-view buys exceeded 1.2 million. Thomas said additional conditions were also put on the offer: if Holyfield defeated Jones for the WBA heavyweight belt, he would have had to provide Jones with an immediate rematch at a 50% split plus give King options for the remainder of his title reign. Thomas said King still owed Holyfield $2 million from the Chris Byrd fight, and offered Holyfield $10 million to fight Jones, but only if the $2 million debt was forgiven. Thus, Thomas reckons, the true value of the guarantee to his client was $8 million, an offer Holyfield was unwilling to accept along with all the additional strings attached. “Roy Jones vs. Evander Holyfield would have been a great fight. It was a fight Evander wanted very much and a fight I tried very hard to arrange for him, but it is also a fight that will not happen, at least for now, because of the tactics used, and positions taken, by Murad Muhammad and Don King,” said Thomas in statement issued from his Atlanta office.