If you watched the Roy Jones Jr vs Bernard Hopkins fight, be glad because they won’t even be re-airing it this weekend. Apparently the numbers were pretty low, which is no surprise considering the amount of people who attended the fight. According to Dan Rafael at espn.com:
The media coverage and fan reaction were overwhelmingly negative, and only 6,792 people showed up at Mandalay Bay to watch the fight, despite the availability of deeply discounted or even free tickets. Those who stayed away from the arena (or blew off the pay-per-view, as most probably did) made the right call. It was a horrible fight in which neither man did a whole lot other than pose, feint and foul. Hopkins has more left than Jones, but he’s fading quickly. Jones has nothing left.
Not to mention, the audience started yelling “Refund Refund Refund” after the fight.
Especially unfortunate is the fact that Roy Jones may not even make any money from the fight. According tobadlefthook.com:
The sad thing about the fight is that Jones won’t make anything. Let’s assume for a second that the 6,792 in the building actually paid for their seats (we know that’s not true) and that the seats averaged $300 a ticket (a figure higher than reality). That would mean the gate was $2 million. If the expenses to rent the building and promote the fight were $1 million, that means $1 million is left. Now, let’s figure it sold 100,000 pay-per-views at $49.95 apiece. That’s about $5 million. They have to split 50 percent of that with the cable and satellite operators, so that leaves $2.498 million for themselves. Add the $1 million from the gate and the $2.498 million from the pay-per-view and you have $3.498 million in profit. Given that the contract called for the first $3.5 million in profit to go to Hopkins and Golden Boy, it’s almost certain Jones fought for nothing. Actual revenue will likely be far less than I’ve described above.
Now let’s rewind to when Roy Jones Jr stopped by before his fight with Bernard Hopkins to promote, and discusses how he manages his money to ensure that he doesn’t go broke. We discussed his music and acting career, and performing before knocking out Clinton Woods:
Below is old video footage prior to the fight
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