Former world champion in the second middle and light heavyweight categories, American Andre Ward during
communication with fans and journalists touched on the topic of paying sanctioning fees from title fights.
Ward, who ended his boxing career at 33, wants transparency and flexibility in this matter, hinting that not everything is clean here and the money is not going to benefit the fighters. As you know, each of the main sanctioning organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) is paid a fee of 3% of the title holder’s fee.
I’m trying to do my part. I want to talk about things like sanctioning fees. We don’t talk about it, but it makes sense to me. Funny thing is, someone said to me, “You dropped those titles, what are you talking about sanctioning fees?” I paid them. If we give these sanctioners houses, cars and training, and we can’t tell… They tell us, “You guys have to watch your money and be responsible.” Part of my responsibility is that I know where my money is going. And they can’t tell us where the money went.
I know Mauricio Suleiman sends me messages, all these documents about these funds and things like that… It’s invisible to me. Firstly, I don’t see how it helps people, and secondly, if my money goes to someone else, I have to decide whether I pay them or not.
Is Naoya Inoue the new Pound leader? Ward couldn’t answer definitively.
How does it help me? Where is my retirement plan? Where is my medical care? Where is my health? That’s what I say to the sanctioning organizations. I don’t challenge. I’m not going to argue with them, but I really want to understand. Let them reason with me that I don’t know about it. I would love it. I would calm down.
I don’t want to get into personal conflicts. I have good relations with them. But let’s have an open form of what we’re talking about. This may be individual; WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF. Where is the money going? Who gets 3%? Why paying for it is not an option? Why is boxing the only sport where you have to pay to compete for the championship? Who watches the ratings to make sure people in certain positions go to fights for certain belts? Let’s talk about it.
“It seems that sometimes they do what the promoters want them to do. They announce one fight, they say that this is now the mandatory challenger, then the call comes in – and everything changes.
We know what we know. I want to give them the opportunity to speak on their behalf. And let’s be clear for the fans, let’s be clear for the media, let’s be clear for the fighters who are paying for this. Because how would they survive if we didn’t pay them? That’s how I think. If we didn’t pay, how would they all eat? So there is nothing to tell a fighter that he does not end his career when he has seven hands in the cauldron. They give me a check – the sanctioning fee, this, this, this, that. If I didn’t have a contract for a second fight with Kovalev, I would have dropped all these titles. I do not need them.
Earlier, Sergey Kovalev called the main reason for the defeat of Andre Ward.