Hearns, Leonard Helped Usher in the Megafight

LAS VEGAS — By the time Sugar Ray Leonard leaves the ring Monday night, he will have earned at least $25 million for two fights against Thomas Hearns.

Hearns won’t have done too badly himself, amassing at least $16 million for two bouts spaced nearly eight years apart.

Fight fans, meanwhile, will have paid more than $100 million to watch the two do battle, and in the process ushered in a new era of megafights.

“People pay for who they want to see,” said Leonard. “Look at how much Michael Jackson makes. They pay to see him like they pay to see us.”

When Leonard and Hearns met Sept. 16, 1981, for the world welterweight championship, they broke all records up to that point in a fight that grossed nearly $35 million.

When they meet again Monday night, it will more than likely set a new boxing record, with promoters predicting a gross of $80 million for the scheduled 12-round bout.

“You’ve got two of the most recognized names in boxing and these fighters appeal to a lot more than just the hardcore fight fans,” said Rick Kulis, whose Choice Entertainment has the Southern California broadcast rights to the bout. “This should be bigger than Tyson-Spinks.”

Advances in broadcast technology and inflation are the reasons a rematch featuring two fighters both on the downside of their careers can make more money than the first fight, which was a classic confrontation won by Leonard with a 14th round knockout.

For the first fight, a pay-per-view system in its infancy could only reach 2 million homes and the closed circuit locations were limited by satellite technology to only about 300 big arenas that generally seated more than 5,000 fans.

This time around, the so-called “universe” of addressable homes is 9 million and improvements in satellite transmission have promoters charging rights fees in more than 1,000 locations, many of them smaller supper clubs or bars.

“It was a much different situation then,” said Dan Duva, whose Main Events Inc. promoted the first fight. “But the technological limitations were overcome by the fact that 1981 was a rare occurance. It was two all-time great fighters fighting each other in their prime. In boxing, that’s very rare.”

Duva said nearly 800,000 homes bought the fight for $15 and hundreds of thousands watched the bout on closed circuit. The broadcast revenues alone totaled $28 million. “They’ll generate more in sales for this fight, but they won’t come close to the 40 percent buy rate we had in the homes we could reach,” Duva said. “They may not even match the 800,000 homes we sold to.”

Arum, ever the promoter, talks about a buy rate of 14-15 percent across the country, meaning more than 1.2 million homes would pay to see the bout. Others, including Kulis, say a more realistic figure is about 8-9 percent, which would be about the same amount of homes that Duva contends watched the fight the first time around.

The price tag is at least double, though, with cable outlets offering the event anywhere from $29.95 to $49.95. “It’s the highest ticket in boxing so far,” said Kulis. “But you’ve got two of your most recognizable names in boxing today and people of all ages are buying this fight.”

“It’s supply and demand and on a big fight like this you can drive the price higher,” said Arum. “This will be bigger than Leonard-Hagler was two years ago simply because the fight is selling for more money.”

In the first bout, Leonard was guaranteed $8 million and ended up taking home $11.9 million with his percentage of the broadcast revenues. Hearns, meanwhile, barely added $100,000 in percentages to his guarantee of $5 million.

This time around, Leonard is guaranteed $13 million, and could make $16 million if Arum’s optimistic predictions are achieved, while Hearns is guaranteed $11 million and get with $14 million.