A chorus of fighter lawyers and managers from the US have raised questions about the deduction of a UK-stipulated 2 per cent portion of fighter purse money to help pay for the British Boxing Board of Control to regulate the high-profile February 22 fight card in Saudi Arabia.

Objecting to Queensberry Promotions’ “commission tax,” which isn’t a part of boxing business in the US, agents have won back concessions in some cases even as Warren adamantly defends his stance and the Board’s longstanding business practices.

“The British Boxing Board of Control is a private entity that is not supported by public funds, unlike many athletic commissions and boxing control boards around the world (including the state commissions in the United States),” Queensberry Promotions said in a prepared statement emailed to BoxingScene.

“The BBBoC is funded by the levies imposed on its license holders, including all boxers who fight under its jurisdiction. The basis for these levies is enumerated clearly in its rules and regulations and the promoter bears responsibility for complying at all times with the same.”

Among those who were due to be taxed are former light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, ex-junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov, middleweight belt holder Carlos Adames and interim junior middleweight titlist Vergil Ortiz Jnr. 

After Queensberry gathered signed contracts for other fighters to pay the commission tax in prior Saudi Arabia-based shows regulated by the BBBoC, the promotion was met with more defiance this time around and has waived or reduced some of the fighter-paid levies that complement the promoter’s own commission fee to the BBBoC.

Powerful East Coast-based boxing attorney Pat English, who represents Bivol and Madrimov, told BoxingScene that when he learned of the fighter levy, he had choice words for a Queensberry representative.

“It could slip by very easily. It didn’t slip by me,” English told BoxingScene. “We look at the commission as a governmental entity in the US. Over there, they’re not.”

A 2 per cent levy by the non-taxing authority BBBoC is treated as an expense, not a tax, when fighters file taxes in the US – meaning the fighter would only be eligible for a fraction of a tax return on the money, not a full refund.

Veteran American promoter Lou DiBella, who helped write the federal Muhammad Ali Act aimed to protect fighter interests, said Queensberry’s commission tax should be the promoter’s “event expense,” according to Ali Act mandates, while a powerful American commission head added, “The Ali Act exists to protect fighters putting their lives on the line, not members of the commission.”

Knowing that such a commission tax doesn’t exist in the US, another American agent said he originally missed the proposed deduction when first reviewing his fighter’s contractual form and was stunned on his double-take to notice the tax was inserted without any special alert.

“I’ve never seen anything like that, and we would never pay something like that,” Ortiz manager Rick Mirigian said.

Queensberry has basked in Saudi Arabia’s newfound interest in boxing, headed by Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority Turki Alalshikh.

A review of Queensberry’s publicly reported accounts revealed the company increased its year-to-year pre-tax profits 166 per cent into 2024 after staging its first Riyadh Season card in October 2023.  

Alalshikh and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season asked Queensberry to recommend a commission since Saudi Arabia has lacked sufficient regulators, according to Queensberry.

Some of the US officials who discussed the issue with BoxingScene spoke on the condition of anonymity because they expressed concerns over being retaliated against and restricted from future fights in Saudi Arabia, where Alalshikh and his events partner Sela are delivering unprecedented purses to fighters lured to the Middle East to fight on mostly Queensberry-promoted cards.

It’s not in dispute that the fighters are earning better purses than they ever have. Bivol, for instance, is likely earning three to four times more than he would by fighting Artur Beterbiev at another locale without Saudi involvement.

Despite Saudi’s greater purses, the heads of some of America’s most prominent commissions said this arrangement contradicts the essence of how the fight business should be conducted by removing the firewall between the promoter and the commission.

“There’s so many things wrong with this,” said Andy Foster, executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission. “The commission is not a business. It’s a government agency. We are here to protect the public, not profit off of our licensees.”

In this interim period before a full-fledged Saudi Arabia commission can be constructed, however, it’s a case of different nation, different rules, counters BBBoC General Secretary Robert Smith, who previously reported to BoxingScene that he’s added an extra staff member thanks to the boost to their finances.

The Board is not a government agency but self-funded. “Everything we make goes back into the business,” said Smith. “We’re very proud of our high standards; the medical infrastructure we have in place always puts the safety of the fighters first. We can’t do any of it without charging for it, however.”

“I know it’s an international sport, but this would never fly in the US,” said an American promoter.

In an email to BoxingScene last week, Smith cited “confidential provisions” for declining to reveal what the BBBoC will collect in February 22 commission tax from the fighters.

But if the fight card totals $75 million in purse money, that could conceivably generate $1.5 million in the coffers of the BBBoC under this scenario – a mind-boggling detail to those who considered the commission tax.

“1.5 million is pie in the sky,” said Smith. “There might be six figures for certain shows, but certainly not all of them. We don’t get hundreds of thousands from gate and broadcast revenues like American state commissions for major events, nor do we get any money from the government. If we didn’t charge a fee for our services, our services would not exist. We negotiate for each major show depending on the size of the show and the requirements needed; it’s not a flat percentage off every purse. Let me make that clear: It’s a fee for the whole show. If the purses are huge, of course we’re not going to demand 2 per cent from that purse.”

California – America’s busiest boxing state – can only collect a maximum of 5 per cent of live-gate money and 5 per cent of broadcast revenue for a maximum regulatory fee of $235,000 for its biggest shows.

And while a $210 year-long license fee is often required from the fighter ($60) and three cornermen ($50 apiece) to participate in California, one of the February 22 fighters in Saudi Arabia was on the hook to pay $40,000 for his bout before his representative argued it down to a far lesser figure in order to preserve the fight.

Of course, the massive benefit of fighting in Saudi Arabia is that it frees boxers from paying onerous income taxes they’re hooked to when they fight abroad in other states and nations, Queensberry officials explained, noting that its former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury saw 37 per cent of his purse deducted by income taxes when he fought Deontay Wilder in California in 2018.

Also, a 2 per cent commission tax aimed at least partially at ensuring fighter safety seems a more reasonable charge than the 3 per cent that sanctioning bodies collect from title fighters.

BBBoC’s Smith noted that the commission needs to pay significant expenses and secure insurance for the event. “Running a show in Saudi is exceptionally expensive,” he told BoxingScene. “Our biggest cost is the medical indemnities for the doctors and taking the doctors over. For a doctor to work a boxing show, they have to be indemnified for insurance purposes. Our doctors have to be indemnified to go to Saudi Arabia, and that’s an extra cost.”

Once there, doctors will carry out medicals and testing, as well as their duties on fight night. “That’s expensive,” said Smith. “They have no experienced doctors over there, so our doctors are teaching their doctors. That is another cost.”

The BBBoC’s undisclosed fee for February 22 “is solidly in multiples of six figures,” according to an official familiar with the arrangement.

That’s far more expensive than the flat fee charged by the Mohegan Sun (Connecticut) commission when it oversaw Golden Boy Promotions’ “Latino Night” card in Saudi Arabia in November.

“If you start taking money like that, that’s a big difference between [the BBBoC] and U.S. commissions,” California’s Foster said. “And, yes, the money [fighters earn in Saudi Arabia] is better over there. But let’s say there was one fight with $25 million in purses … that’s $500,000 in fees. Holy smokes!”

Smith firmly denies anything close to $500,000 would be taken from $25 million. A fee, for the entire show, is agreed upon with the purses in mind and it is not a blanket 2 per cent taken from every purse. 

Bivol and his February 22 opponent, undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev, should easily exceed $20 million in combined purse money.

A Beterbiev spokesman declined to comment on how he dealt with the commission tax.

An American promoter countered that the rich purses and tax freedom in the Middle East are required to convince some fighters and their handlers to risk their belts and record.

“Why would I go to Saudi Arabia if I wasn’t getting that [tax break]?” he asked.

Others wonder how aware Saudi financiers are of the hard feelings. 

“Are the Saudis concerned with, or going to have to pay, this overcharge? Does Turki even know about it?” asked an American commission head who requested anonymity because of his dealings in the sport.

Some purses for the card that include Queensberry’s IBF heavyweight titleholder Daniel Dubois were negotiated differently – some with the commission levy included, some without it, to be paid separately.   

“The BBBoC is within its rights to reduce the quantum of the levy it takes based on various factors upon petition by a boxer or promoter,” Queensberry wrote in its statement. “Similarly, promoters may take on responsibility for payment of the levy as part of the normal commercial negotiations for any bout.”

The Americans, Smith argues, are failing to comprehend this is business as usual in England.

“There’s a tournament tax that has to be paid,” Smith said. “We have an agreement with the promoter for a fee in Great Britain. Every boxer who earns over a certain amount has to pay a tax – that’s always been the case. That’s not new.

“We agree [to] a fee for the whole show with the promoter and they allocate that to themselves to recoup. This has been going on for years. Part of our rules and regulations is a fee with regard to purses.

“Every show in the country – and bearing in mind this [Saudi show] is under our jurisdiction – pays what is called a tournament tax.”

The BBBoC setting the fee collected from a fight card is a negotiation.

“It’s not a conflict of interest,” Smith said. “It happens to British boxers and foreign boxers. … It’s the same process for all boxers – British, American or wherever they’re from.”

The disruption follows a November incident in which top-ranked lightweight contender William Zepeda and former junior lightweight titleholder Tevin Farmer were not subject to drug testing in their Riyadh Season bout supervised by the Mohegan Sun commission.

The Saudis have recently consulted with US commission heads and the leaders of the major sanctioning bodies in an effort to create their own gold-standard commission.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

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