There's a lot of money to be made in boxing

Lunches are becoming profitable for Kelly Pavlik.

He’s got a $1 million payday behind him for a night that earned him the middleweight championship of the world.

He’s got a purse in the $3-million range to come in February and more millions likely in 2008.

And the men in his corner are receiving some nice paydays, too.

When the Youngstown boxer knocked out Jermain Taylor in September to earn the title, his managers, trainer and cutman shared in about $333,000 — or one-third of the $1 million.

About $100,000 of that went to Jack Loew, Pavlik’s trainer. He stands to receive $300,000 in February, but is sure the money won’t change them.

“I’m like Kelly. We’re not extravagant people,” Loew said.

Rewards like that are common in boxing — if you work with a champ.

It’s a different world from the boxers who slug it out in anonymity.

That was Pavlik’s world.

Young boxers draw little attention from the public, so they produce little revenue. Managers, trainers and promoters stick with promising fighters through the lean years, hoping for a payday later on.

Now is ‘later on’ for Pavlik and the other members of Team Pavlik.

“He’ll make a lot more in his next fight,” said Nick Lembo, an attorney for the New Jersey Athletic Commission.

“The Taylor fight was his coming out party.”

The party boss

One of those who waited for the Pavlik party to start is his promoter, Top Rank of Las Vegas.

Top Rank stands to benefit greatly from arranging Pavlik’s early fights on anonymous undercards. The promoter now can feature Pavlik as a nationally known headliner.

That should help the company’s bottom line. Unlike managers and trainers, a promoter’s earnings have no cap, and big-time fights can mean big profits.

Promoters use revenue from ticket sales and TV rights to cover the expenses of setting up the fight, including paying the boxers’ purses.

They hope their revenues exceed their expenses.

“He takes the risk,” said Rusty Rubin, managing editor of RingSports.com. “Sometimes he makes a lot of money, and sometimes he doesn’t.”

As with the trainer and manager, a promoter doesn’t have illusions of making a quick buck.

“The profits come later in the game unfortunately. But it’s an investment,” said Carl Moretti, vice president for DiBella Entertainment, which is the promoter for Taylor.

Moretti said promoters identify strong fighters at a young age and sign them to multifight contracts.

The goal: Be the promoter when the boxer becomes a contender.

As the stakes go up and large sums of money become involved, it’s the manager who’s charged with looking out for the boxer’s interests.

Team Pavlik

The people in Pavlik’s corner have been waiting years for him to get this chance.

One of Pavlik’s managers has been with him his entire life — Mike Pavlik Sr., Kelly’s father.

Loew, his trainer, came along next. He’s been working with Pavlik at Southside Boxing Club in Youngstown since Pavlik was 9 years old.

Loew saw potential in the boy and developed him into a contender for the U.S. Olympic Team by the time he was 17.

That’s where Cameron Dunkin, a well-known boxing manager from Las Vegas, took notice of Pavlik — at those 1999 trials.

He became the next member of Team Pavlik when Loew and the Pavliks agreed that he could help turn the young boxer into a national star.

Dunkin, who has managed 11 world champions, took over as Pavlik’s negotiator in the hard-hitting world that exists outside the ring.

It was Dunkin who suggested having Pavlik sign on with Top Rank, one the biggest boxing promoters.

Pavlik’s moneyman

Dunkin is the one in Pavlik’s corner for negotiations with promoters.

A promoter and manager working with the same fighter, such as the Pavlik duo of Top Rank and Dunkin, have almost competing objectives.

The promoter is out to keep his expenses down, while the manager tries to get as much as he can for the boxer.

Dunkin knows the business well, Loew said.

Loew said that Top Rank will suggest a purse for a fight, and then Dunkin will take up the negotiations on the boxer’s behalf.

Pavlik’s other manager, his father, Mike Sr., has been managing the boxer’s local affairs, Loew said.

Dunkin and Pavlik Sr. did not talk for this story, but media reports indicated that the elder Pavlik took home $105,000 from his son’s Atlantic City bout with Taylor.

What Pavlik pockets

Of his $1 million Taylor purse, Pavlik was left with about $667,000 after the shares to his cornermen. That’s a good amount by industry standards. Moretti said boxers can end up with anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent of their winnings.

But Pavlik still had to pay one last bill — Uncle Sam.

After taxes, Pavlik took home about $450,000, said Lembo from the New Jersey Athletic Commission.

Pavlik’s attorney, Louis Schiavoni of Austintown, said the public often forgets the taxes when hearing boxers’ winnings.

“People say Kelly’s rolling it in, but he’s not,” Schiavoni said.

No big spending splurges are planned, he said.

“Some fighters go through their fame and fortune before they can snap their fingers,” he said.

Pavlik’s earnings mostly are being invested to provide income for him when he leaves boxing, the lawyer said.

Pavlik also is building his endorsement revenue.

Before the fight with Taylor, Pavlik filmed commercials for a local motorcycle dealer and law firm. He also has appeared in ads for Everlast, which makes boxing equipment.

Several national endorsement deals are in the works, Schiavoni said.

The goal is to build up enough money so Pavlik can fight four or five more times and then “leave with all his faculties,” Schiavoni said.

Loew said, however, that Pavlik will be in the ring longer than that.

He said Top Rank is planning four fights in 2008 alone, though that could be reduced.

He said he expects the 25-year-old boxer to fight until he’s 30, a plan Pavlik has acknowledged before.

$3 million next?

Pavlik’s next match looks like it will be a Taylor rematch.

Details are still being finalized, but a February date in Las Vegas is the talk. Purse amounts haven’t been released.

Sean Sullivan, editor in chief of Boxing Digest, said Pavlik should receive at least $3 million in his next fight.

Typically, a champion in a title bout receives about three times what the challenger receives.

A large factor in determining purses is whether a bout is televised. Pavlik’s September fight with Taylor was the headline event for HBO. A fight on pay-per-view raises even more revenue.

Sullivan said he expects a Pavlik rematch with Taylor would be on pay-per-view.

Moretti cautioned, however, that moving from HBO to pay-per-view is tough because viewers have to pay. He said he expects Pavlik’s next match to be on HBO again, but added that pay-per-view is possible.

“He’s mid-America. It’s a great story. He’s a great kid, so people could be turned onto it,” Moretti said.

What happens next, however, will be up to the promoters. Only this time, Pavlik’s side comes in as a champion.

“Kelly Pavlik has the upper hand in the negotiations now,” Sullivan said.

shilling@vindy.com