STEVE’S SOAPBOX LAST OF THE MOHICANS By Steve Kim
Basically what happens now is that a young, promising fighter like Shakur Stevenson will win a world title in his early 20s in his 13th pro fight, and then, as his contracted minimums elevate because he’s now a champion, he quickly gets relegated to boxing twice a year on the platform in which his promoter has an exclusive output deal with. There was a time when there were non-title bouts in which champions could earn a few bucks for facing lesser opposition. Again, this wasn’t about the money. “This is what you do, and this is what you love. So you’ve got to stay sharp,” said McGirt, whose final career mark was 73-6-1 (48 KOs). While some would argue that boxers today are saving themselves from wear and tear by fighting less, others would counter that layoffs necessitating long “comeback” training camps are actually putting more mileage on a fighter’s odometer. “I get frustrated, because I say to myself that in this game, you can get old walking up the stairs. I’m not going to say that they don’t get it, because when you’re young and making money, you say, ‘It’s never going to happen to me.’ But it happens,” said McGirt. “Now it’s just about the money, and sometimes these promoters just give in to these guys. Whereas back in the day, if you didn’t take a fight, they said, ‘OK, no problem.’ They’d call somebody else.” Carl Moretti, the VP of boxing operations for Top Rank, says that one battle they face often is trying to convince boxers and their representatives that staying active and having to take less money at times will pay off in the long term. But the common retort is: “We’re not going backward on the money.” Even if they go backward on the quality of the opponent. “We try to tell them, ‘Don’t look at it as going backwards; look at it as one total amount for two fights,’’’ stated Moretti, who began his career at MSG
already had 38 bouts to his credit (36- 1-1) when he finally won his first world title (IBF junior welterweight belt) against Frankie Warren in February 1988. Unfortunately, he lost his title to the gifted Meldrick Taylor two fights later. But instead of wallowing in his defeat, McGirt performed eight times the following year in what was his eighth year as a pro. “Sometimes it’s not always about the money; it’s about keeping your tools sharp,” said McGirt, now an accomplished trainer. “The only way you’re going to keep them sharp is by fighting and staying busy. You never know when you might get that opportunity.” McGirt laments, “Today’s guys, everybody wants to stay undefeated. They’re worried about losing.” Perhaps that’s an issue, but many of today’s boxers who are signed with the major promoters have built-in minimums that can prohibit activity if they are too pricey. McGirt says he just negotiated fight-by-fight during his career, calibrating his expectations based on the level of the opponent. “I listen to some guys talk, and they say, ‘Yeah, they offered me x amount of dollars and I ain’t taking that shit.’ And I’m saying to myself, ‘You’re crazy.’” Nowadays, long-term exclusive promotional contracts come with minimum purse guarantees as the boxer advances from prospect to contender to world titleholder. These payment tiers often lock boxers into a limited number of fights once the fighter reaches contender or world level because their handlers don’t want to fight for anything less than their guarantee, regardless of who the boxers are paired with. Activity becomes stifled as the money increases. Boxers have always had agreements with promoters, but the business was different back in McGirt’s day. “In ’88 or ’89, you got a call from ABC. They’re going to give you $150,000. Who’s going to turn that down? Now guys look at $150,000 like, ‘You’re joking.’”
Boxing, where he worked closely with McGirt. What was done then simply would not happen now. “Those eight fights, [McGirt’s] biggest purse was probably $100,000,” recalled Moretti. McGirt was so active that he literally took a fight on a week’s notice. After defeating Tony Baltazar in early July, he was offered a bout versus Gary Jacobs for August 27.
That following Sunday, McGirt scored a 10-round decision victory – and then fought twice more that year. In November 1991, he put on a career- best performance by riddling the hard- punching Simon Brown over 12 rounds to capture the WBC 147-pound strap. “If you look at his activity going into the Simon Brown fight, compared to [Brown] we knew we were going to win the fight,” said Moretti. “One, we thought we were the better fighter. Two, the activity got Buddy there. He took two fights at $25,000 just to stay active. He said, ‘I just want to stay sharp.’ Now, he wasn’t fighting King Kong, but it’s like the quarterback – it’s about timing and rhythm.” Facing Brown was McGirt’s fifth outing of the year. Brown had boxed just three times in 1990 and 1991 combined coming into that battle. McGirt had a mark of 54-2- 1 at the time. Alvarez has now settled into being the usual twice-a-year fighter, but as late into his 20-year career as 2021, he actually performed three times as he vanquished the trio of Avni Yildirim, Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant on his way to the undisputed super middleweight crown. He did this while being the biggest brand in boxing. Too many modern-day boxers lament their lack of popularity – or what they are getting paid – and oftentimes fail to realize that they themselves haven’t done enough on their end to justify either. There are a few reasons why Alvarez is the game’s biggest star. Yeah, being Mexican has certainly helped. But just getting out there and consistently doing the job more than his colleagues has also played a part. “Canelo stayed busy. He’s making a ton of money, but he was fighting people,” said an admiring McGirt. “You saw every two, three months, he was getting ready to fight somebody. You don’t see that today. Guys fight, take four, five months off. I mean, I understand you’re making a lot of money … but damn.”
Hall of Famer Buddy McGirt fought 80 times as a professional.
B y the time you read this, Saul Alvarez’s record will either be 64-2-2, 63-3-2 or 63-2-3, depending on the outcome of his September 13 showdown with Terence Crawford. Regardless of the result from that Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, chances are the 35-year-old Mexican veteran will fight for at least a couple more years. Which means that there is a very high probability that Canelo will finish his Hall of Fame career with around 70 fights (or more) on his ledger. Yeah, we can be critical of this recent matchmaking or quibble with some of the decisions he’s received, but we should appreciate that this is a star who has actually put in the work throughout his career and has done more than his share to carry the sport for the past decade or so. When he walks off into
Canelo kept up the activity even when he reigned supreme.
“I just came from the movies. I was just getting ready to start camp that Monday to fight Gene Hatcher in September,“ recalled McGirt. His manager, Al Certo, left a message telling McGirt that Edwin Rosario had pulled out of a bout against Jacobs. The offer was for $50,000. “I said, ‘We can’t turn down $50,000 in a week. You crazy?’” McGirt’s plan was simple: Just spar all week leading into that fight at the Felt Forum inside Madison Square Garden. Certo was a bit hesitant until his fighter laid it out to him logically. “I said, ‘Al, let me ask you a question: Would you rather get a cut of $50,000 in one week or a cut of $25,000 after four weeks?’” recalled McGirt. “He said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, you cocksucker.’’’
the sunset, we will not see a fighter of his caliber put in nearly as many fights. He is the last of a dying breed. Ask yourself this: Which current boxer today will even break the 50-fight threshold? Some will barely get to 40. While the money for the game’s elite has risen, unfortunately the activity level for all boxers in the modern game has declined sharply. This business has changed, and not for the better. Fighters aren’t as seasoned as they fight for world titles, and then they’re not able to consistently sharpen their tools once they win world titles. It wasn’t always this way. Case in point: Hall of Famer Buddy McGirt, a two-division champ. He
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