Pay and Race in World Championship Boxing

Abstract

What does race have to do with it? Nothing, really, when it comes to thepurses professional boxers receive in world title bouts. The contracted purses for 32 worldtitle bouts were analyzed using a multivariate regression model with the boxer's purse asthe dependent variable and five explanatory variables (winning percentage at time of bout,career knockout percentage, white/non-white, champion/non-champion and Olympic GoldMedalist/non-Gold Medalist).Race proved to be a non-issue in the study, as only career knockout percentage, statusas reigning champion and possession of an Olympic Gold Medal proved to have astatistically-significant impact on boxers’ purses in world title bouts (L83).