* Gold standard
¢ Tokyo 2020: unprecedented games

¢ Several high-profile athletes and their
environmental causes

..and more

A brief take on how fighters are paid

>) It’s a heck of a way
to make a living

Mo Hussain
Sports Reporter

 

f there’s one point to take away from

someone who fights for a living, then it’s
that fighters have a hard time relating to
the experiences of the majority of people
in the workforce. Most folks go through the
motions five days a week and get to escape
from their job for a reasonable amount of
time every week. Fighters, on the other
hand, train for months and commit to
hard physical training and dieting. This is
all done so that, for a handful of nights in
the year, fighters can inflict great physical
harm to another human being. It’s a heck
of a way to make a living. As a result, the
way fighters get paid drastically differs from
the way most workers are compensated. In
most jobs, one is usually guaranteed a base
annual salary and just merely showing up is
usually good enough to keep a job.

In the fight game merely showing

up is not enough. The difference between
winning and losing a fight can have a
massive impact ona fighter’s financial
future. A winning fighter can make a
reasonably consistent income every year.
But if a fighter can’t manage to win many

> It’s been a while since
the stadium was
open to sports fans

Mo Hussain
Sports Reporter

 

C Place recently opened its stadium for
fans to cheer on their local sports teams
for the first time since the pandemic began.
The first team to get its taste of
the home crowd was the BC Lions last
Thursday on August 19. The last time the
Lions played a game at BC Place was on
November 2, 2019. However, their home
opener didn't end with the result they were
looking for; they lost to the Edmonton Elks
21 to 16. But the team was still excited to be
back playing in front of their home crowd
for the first time in close to two years.
“Pretty emotional to get back here, it’s
been a long time for the Lions,” said Lions
head coach Rick Campbell. “Disappointed
we couldn't get it done but pretty awesome
that J thought the crowd was good tonight.
It actually was loud on the field down
there several times where you had trouble
hearing and talking which is a good thing.”
The Vancouver Whitecaps also got
their first taste of the home crowd in over
a year last Saturday August 21 against the
Los Angeles Football Club. The Whitecaps
managed to also win that game 2 to 1. The
last time they got to play in front of their
home crowd was on February 29, 2020.
“The environment was amazing. |
didn’t think it was going to be like that,”

of their fights, then no promoter has an
incentive to pay them, and the fighter’s
career can take a significant nosedive.
Boxing is an example of a go-big-
or-go-home combat sport. On one end,
the highest paid fighters like Floyd
Mayweather, Canelo Alvarez, and Anthony
Joshua get paid at least eight figures for
every event they fight. But boxers like that
are astronomically few and far in between.
According to Ziprecruiter (one of
the largest job searching websites in the

 

said coach Marc Dos Santos. “My emotions
were more at the end of the game; giving
the fans what they wanted in the first game
back in a win against a very good team.’
Although many were glad to be back
watching their local teams in person, there
was some pushback on how crowded the
stadium was for attendees on the way out
of the Lions game. “One of two west side
stadium exits was cut off for some reason,

world), the nationwide average income for
a professional boxer in the United States
is just over $37,500. Those in the top one
percent in the sport earn approximately
$90,000.

To put this in perspective, the average
American household income in 2019 is
more than $68,000 and they don't have
to pay for training and diet expenses (and
usually don’t accumulate brain damage
over the course of their careers). Once
again: fighting is a heck of a way to make a

so the throng moved into a congested (as
you see) departure ramp,” said Business in
Vancouver Editor-in-Chief Kirk LaPointe in
a tweet. “I didn’t see more than a handful
masked tonight. This was definitely worth
my mask.”

The crown corporation for the
stadium, BC PavCo, released a statement
on the concern: “As many guests exited the
building at once at the end of the game,

 

living. “Even though I’ve made something
of myself from boxing... I’ve seen so many
people come away with absolutely nothing,”
said Tony Jeffries who is a former Olympic
boxer for the British national team.

If one can manage to be among the
few to make millions of dollars without
walking away with significant damage to
the body, then the fight game can be the
ultimate jackpot. However, to play around
with the odds of getting there is a risky
gamble.

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it was congested in certain areas of the
venue,” PavCo said. “Going forward, BC
Place will ensure there is access to all of
our doors at the end of events.” It will be
interesting to see how much BC Place will
adjust its safety guidelines before the next
event this Sunday, when the Whitecaps
host Real Salt Lake.