El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-18
GET LITTLE MONEY;
RECEIPTS co TO THE FIGHTERS
New York Fight Organizers Find that After Paying the
scrappers' Guarantees an d Expenses of the Match
They Have Little Left; Percentage Plan Seems
Only Way They Ca n Make Fair Profit.
FRANK G. NTENKE.

NV YORK. Nov 1S-The fight
n promoters ought to get together
IN and form a little trust for the
purpose Of thwarting the fighters IN
tbeir efforts TO get about 90 1900 per
cent Of all the money that IS taken III
d. P Sr,T prize fighters in this
tt-f,rfne- metropolis and In other cities
ie iusr as profitable as raising cnlckehs
in ones back yard, since lhe ~ -
started demanding guarantees anu mug
In the olden days the promoters
uuI1ed down a fairly sizable Wad LOT
their trouble in staging uOut, ~
times have changed. Tne greedy 10 =
ors want about all the money ma 49,, -
taken in at the box office AFTER me
fighters get their guarantee IL leaNes
the promoters just about enough 70 ~
out and buy themselves couple OF
packages Of chewing gum. In soIne IN
stances the promoters suffer IlnaliclaA
loss.
long as the promoters permit the right
ers to dictate their own eXorDltant
terms. The longer this condltlon e4lsL Ls
the worse it will be for the fighI game
for with the fighters continually IN
creasine their demands il means that
the promoters must boost the ADMISSION
prices 10 meet the increasing guaran-
ices for fighters. That will hurt the at
tendance.
Should Fix Scale.
There is just one way Tor Ihe promoI-
ers to beat the money mad fighters ana
that is for the promoters to get to-
gether and agree to fix certain scale
for fighters-and stick to that scale
The promoters to enable themselves
"a "ref ont from under in all boxing
bouts without suffering loss should
force the fighters to fight for certain
percentage Of the gross receipts: me
business of guaranteeing the fighters
a fixed sum isn't 1alr TO the promo Ter
It's a gamble with him. He may clear
something on the bout but If the
weather is bad or something else turns
I'D to decrease the attendance, ne not
only doesn't get a dollar for MS time
and labor, but he loses money on the
Too Much Competition.
However. the fighter VIII continue TO
get the bulk of the gate receipts as long
as the promoters continue to compete
with each other and try TO Outbid each
other to get star bouts Fighters will
play both ends against the middle in
trying to shake down" the promoters
for the largest sum possible, and the
best the promoters will get is the worst
OF it,
Gibson Was Disguised.
Billy Gibson, connected with the fight
game in New York for many years, quit
it a short time ago. Gibson was re-
garded as the most successful fight
promoter in the east-and also the
shrewdest Yet Gibson quit the game
in disgust and gave out figures to show
that the fighters get nearly all the
money taken in at the gate and that
the promoters get little and sometimes
nothing for their efforts.
Conditions are bad now, but they
will get worse" said Gibson. Those
fighters each day are yelling for bigger
guarantees or bigger percentages"
Promoters Made Little.
Gibson staged the Ritchie-Leaeis
Cross fight in New York last winter.
The house was packed. The fight drew
nearly $4,000. Everybody figured that
this would mean a harvest for the pro-